ODESSA, Texas — The City of Odessa is warning citizens of a slight security breach impacting some debit and credit card information.
The city says they use the third party software Click2Gov to allow customers to pay utility bills online. The vendor experienced a security breach and informed the city about it on December 11.
According to the city, only those who made a one-time payment for a utility bill had their debit and credit card information compromised. Additionally it only impacts those who paid through August 27 and October 14 of 2019.
Those who make recurring payments or paid through any other means were not impacted.
If you did make a one-time payment during this time period you will be receiving a letter.
The city has issued the following tips for if you believe you were affected.
- As a first step, we recommend that you closely monitor your financial accounts and if you see any unauthorized activity, promptly contact your financial institution. We also suggest that you submit a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission by calling 1 (877) 438-4338 (1-877- IDTHEFT) or online at www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov
- As a second step, you may want to contact the three U.S. credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) to obtain a free credit report from each by calling 1 (877) 322-8228 or by logging onto www.annualcreditreport.com
- Even if you do not find any suspicious activity on your initial credit reports, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recommends that you check your credit reports periodically. Checking your credit reports periodically can help you spot a problem and address it quickly.