At RBC, safeguarding and protecting our clients’ information and privacy is among our highest priorities. As we learn more about the cybersecurity incident at Equifax, this page will serve as a helpful resource for clients for protecting their information and safeguarding their accounts.

What information was impacted?

According to Equifax, the cyber incident involves potential access to information that may include name, address, Social Security Number (United States), Social Insurance Number (Canada) and, in limited cases, credit card numbers. Equifax determined that approximately 145.5 million U.S. consumers were potentially impacted. Credit card numbers for approximately 209,000 U.S. consumers and certain dispute documents with personal identifying information for approximately 182,000 U.S. consumers were accessed. Finally, the personal information of approximately 19,000 Canadian consumers was also accessed.

For more information and resources, please consult the following websites:

• Equifax
• Office of the Privacy Commissioner
• Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre

How do I know if I have been impacted?

Equifax will send direct mail notices to consumers whose credit card numbers or dispute documents with personal identifying information were impacted.

Meanwhile, Equifax has created this website, and clients who have a Social Insurance Number (SIN) can check this site for more information. Equifax is offering free identity theft and credit file monitoring to all impacted Canadians.

For our online banking clients in Canada, our CreditView Dashboard helps clients check their credit score regularly for free with no negative impact on their score.

I received a letter from Equifax. What do I do now?

If you were notified by Equifax via mail of a potential breach, please follow the instructions outlined in that communication.

If you did not, but believe you are the victim of suspicious activity, here is what you can do:

• Act quickly and immediately notify us of any suspicious activity or unauthorized transactions and we will investigate accordingly
• Place a fraud alert with the credit reporting bureaus to ensure that any company who checks your credit knows your information may have been compromised and that they should contact you by phone before authorizing new credit
• Consider filing a report with the police immediately; ask for a copy so that you can provide the evidence to the various companies you have to contact
• Contact all creditors you deal with and review your financial information

Was my information exposed if I don’t have a U.S. product or I haven’t applied for a U.S. product?

According to Equifax, the cyber incident involves potential access to information that may include name, address, Social Security Number (United States), Social Insurance Number (Canada) and, in limited cases, credit card numbers. Equifax believes that credit card numbers for approximately 209,000 U.S. consumers; certain dispute documents with personal identifying information for approximately 182,000 U.S. consumers; and the personal information of approximately 19,000 Canadian consumers were accessed.

How else can I protect myself?

We encourage clients to monitor their account statements daily using Online Banking to protect their personal information and to ensure they are aware of all transactions on their account(s).

For our online banking clients in Canada, our CreditView Dashboard helps clients check their credit score regularly for free with no negative impact on their score. As much as possible, clients should regularly check their credit reports from each of the major credit reporting agencies to detect any suspicious or unusual activity.

There are extra steps clients can take to protect their information, money & identity:

• Be alert for “official-looking” emails or texts. Equifax will send official notifications to impacted clients by mail. RBC will never send unsolicited e-mail or text messages with links or phone numbers asking you to update or verify your account details or other personal information. Pay close attention to these communications as scam emails often contain typos and other errors. If you aren’t sure about an email or text message, call us or the company it claims to represent. Do not respond to text messages from numbers you do not recognize.
• Change your passwords often and never use the same password for multiple accounts that contain your personal and/or sensitive information. Make sure to use a unique password — ideally a long phrase that only you would know — for each of your online accounts.
• Make sure websites asking for personal information are secure. A secure site has “https” at the beginning of the website’s address (“s” indicates secure).
• Ask your financial institutions about additional security measures for your accounts. For example, fraud alerts or code words can be placed on some types of accounts for additional protection. In many cases, you can also enable text and email alerts – especially for debit and credit cards – that will potentially notify you of any suspicious activity.

If, at any time, you detect any suspicious or unauthorized activity on your accounts, please contact us by calling, reaching us online or visiting us at your local branch.

• 1-800-769-2511
• 1-800-769-2555 (online services).
• 1-800-769-2535 (RBC Express online banking Client Support Centre)