EFF breaks news on how Comcast released thousands of unlisted numbers, threatens customer privacy

On Thursday August 25th, 2014, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) released a news article detailing how Comcast (now Xfinity) accidentally released thousands of phone numbers into the public domain from customers who had paid monthly charges to remove their numbers from phone databases and no-call lists. This breach affected an estimated 74,000 people, most of whom had tried contacting Comcast years prior to report that they were receiving calls from scammers and other people who found their phone number online. What does this mean to you? Well, if you are a Comcast customer and have been receiving unknown calls or calls that you do not recognize, or an increase in telemarketing calls, this could be affected by the latest Comcast breach and you could be eligible to join the lawsuit (copy of lawsuit filing is provided here).

It’s important to realize that while this may have only affected a small amount of Comcast’s total customers, it’s still important to be safe when receiving calls from unknown people or numbers. Senior citizens are especially at risk for these types of calls, as the scammers usually target them because they are vulnerable to phone scams.

Be sure to read the how-to guide “Protect your Identity over the phone” if you are concerned about scammers due to this breach.