New Rights? New Scammers: How to Protect Yourself from Privacy Scammers
On July 1, 2024, the Oregon Consumer Privacy Act (OCPA) went into effect, giving Oregonians more control over their personal data, as well as many new privacy rights. (To read more about the OCPA and your new rights, please visit our Consumer Privacy page.)
Unfortunately, anytime there is something new and unknown, scammers will capitalize on it by finding new and creative ways to get personal data from you.
That is why the Oregon Department of Justice is warning Oregonians to be on the lookout for a scam in which imposters call, email, write, text, or message you on social media claiming to be from a business that holds your personal data in accordance with the OCPA. They might send you “proof” by linking to a company’s privacy notice, or other legitimate aspects of a real business to confuse you, then ask you to provide personal data to “verify” your account directly to them.
It is important to understand that a business or non-profit should not be contacting you under the OCPA to gather information about you. Under the law, you as a consumer must contact a business to enforce one of your new privacy rights.
How do you protect yourself from this potential scam?
If you want to enforce your new privacy rights under the OCPA, only use a company’s privacy form/contact person on their verified website (or the contact information you are provided in-person in response to a request). Do not respond to unsolicited requests for information about yourself.
Sometimes, depending on your privacy request, a business may need to follow up and verify that you are who you say you are (so that business can confirm it isn’t releasing your data to scammers). This should be a confirmation of information the business already has about you, and not a creation of a new account, new information, etc. It should also only be in response to a privacy request you have recently made.
If you think you have fallen victim to a privacy imposter scam, be sure to report it to the Oregon Department of Justice online at www.oregonconsumer.gov » or by phone at 1-877-877-9392.