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No one should be surprised in this age of cybercrime, but fake websites claiming to be the places to process Equifax security breach claims have been popping up.

In a blog post uploaded on Monday, Michael Atleson acting assistant director of the Division of Consumer & Business Education for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), said to avoid being taken, start at the FTC’s website to process a claim.

“Wouldn’t you know it? People may have already started putting up fake websites meant to look like the official Equifax settlement claims website,” he wrote. “To be sure you’re going to the right place, start at the FTC’s page: ftc.gov/Equifax.

“A couple more things to remember,” he added. “You’ll never have to pay to file a claim for these benefits. And anyone who calls and tries to get you to file a claim is almost certainly a scammer.”

From the comments section, there was this: “I received two text messages on Sunday, July 28th from two different numbers … both indicating Equifax alerts showing that my history was flagged,” Consumer3 stated. “I have ignored them since I feel they are not legitimate. Both provided websites links as well.”

The Equifax breach announced in September 2017 raised the risk of identity theft for an estimated 145 million people. The credit-reporting company reached a $575 million settlement with the FTC, which was announced last week.

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