Consumer Alert: New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs Alerts Consumers Concerning Recent Data Breach at VTech Holdings, Manufacturer of Children's Electronic Learning Products
NEWARK – The Office of the Attorney General and the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs today alerted consumers that VTech Holdings Ltd. (“VTech”), a manufacturer of electronic learning products and baby monitors (www.vtechkids.com), announced that on November 14, 2015, an unauthorized party accessed VTech customer data housed on its Learning Lodge app store database. The breached customer database contains general user profile information including name, email address, encrypted password, secret question and answer for password retrieval, IP address, mailing address, and download history.
According to the company, the breached customer database does not contain any credit card information and VTech does not process nor store any customer credit card data on the Learning Lodge website. The breached customer database also does not contain any personal identification data (such as ID card numbers, Social Security numbers or driving license numbers).
For more information about this data security incident, visit www.vtech.com/en/press_release/2015/data-breach-on-vtech-learning-lodge-update/ or contact the company at vtechkids@vtechkids.com.
In the wake of this data breach, the Office of the Attorney General and the Division of Consumer Affairs remind consumers to remain vigilant and take proactive steps to protect not only themselves from becoming a victim of an identity theft, but also their children. A child's personal information could be used by unauthorized individuals to apply for government benefits, open bank and credit card accounts, apply for a loan or utility service, or rent a place to live. Please refer to the Federal Trade Commission’s guide to protecting your child’s identity. For more information and resources on identity theft, please review the New Jersey State Police identity theft victim's reference guide webpage at www.njsp.org/tech/identity.html and the New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell at www.cyber.nj.gov/citizens.
Consumers who believe they have been cheated or scammed by a business, or suspect any other form of consumer abuse,
can file an online complaint with the State Division of Consumer
Affairs by visiting its website or by calling 1-800-242-5846
(toll free within New Jersey) or 973-504- 6200.
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