TradeMotion trademotion.com TradeMotion data breach: what happened and what to do
An unauthorized party used compromised account credentials to take payment card data from TradeMotion's Parts.com site on five occasions between October 2017 and May 2018. Names, addresses, card numbers, expiry dates and security codes could be involved. The number affected wasn't published.
View all 13,177 breaches- Breach date
- 13 Oct 2017
- Made public
- 25 Jul 2018
- Data exposed
- Names, Physical addresses, Email addresses, Phone numbers, Credit cards
- Last updated
Reviewed by Anthon Wansland
Head of Product & Co-Founder
Serus is a privacy company with paid tools to find and remove your personal data. This page is free and based on official sources.
TradeMotion is a payments company that also ran the online auto parts store Parts.com. In July 2018 it filed a breach notice with the California Attorney General.
What happened
TradeMotion's notice says an unauthorized person or group used compromised account credentials to extract payment card information from Parts.com on five separate occasions between October 2017 and May 2018. The breach was reported to the California Attorney General on July 25, 2018. The notice doesn't say how many people were affected.
TradeMotion said it deactivated unused accounts, reset certain passwords and limited access to personal information. It also said it was re-engineering how the site collects and stores payment information, and it offered affected customers one year of LifeLock identity protection.
Sources checked: oag.ca.gov, consumer.ftc.gov, identitytheft.gov
Last verified against the official page:
What was exposed
The notice says information from a Parts.com order could be affected: names, addresses, email addresses and phone numbers, plus card numbers, expiration dates and CVV security codes.
What that means for you
A full card number with its expiry date and security code lets someone make purchases online. Names, addresses and contact details also make phishing messages more believable, for example a fake fraud alert from your bank. This breach isn't about Social Security numbers, so a credit freeze is optional, not the first step.
If you ordered from Parts.com between October 2017 and May 2018, the card you used is the thing to deal with first.
What to do if you were in it
- 1
Call your card issuer about the card you used
Tell your bank or card company you may have been part of a breach and ask for a replacement card with a new number. The FTC's data breach guidance says to do this when card numbers are exposed.
- 2
Review old statements
Go through statements from October 2017 on for charges you don't recognize, and dispute any you find with your card issuer. Setting up transaction alerts helps catch new ones.
- 3
Treat messages that mention the breach with suspicion
Criminals send fake notices that use real breach details. Don't click links or call numbers in an unexpected email, text or letter. Go to the company's website yourself, or use a phone number you already trust.
- 4
Consider a credit freeze
The data listed in the notice is card information, not Social Security numbers, but a free freeze with Equifax, Experian and TransUnion is cheap protection. See the FTC's guide to credit freezes and fraud alerts.
- 5
Check whether your email or phone number shows up in this and other breaches
A free Serus scan checks your email and phone number against breach databases and tells you what to do about anything it finds. Serus can't remove data from a breach, but it alerts you when new exposures appear.
Official filings
- California Attorney General , filed 25 Jul 2018
Timeline
-
The breach happened
-
The company made it public
-
Reported to the California Attorney General
Frequently asked
Was I affected by the TradeMotion breach?
If you ordered from Parts.com between October 2017 and May 2018, your card details may have been involved. TradeMotion said it notified people by letter.
What was exposed in the TradeMotion breach?
Names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, card numbers, expiration dates and CVV codes entered on Parts.com orders.
How many people were affected?
The California Attorney General's listing says the number is unknown, and TradeMotion didn't publish a total.
Should I replace my card?
If you used a card on Parts.com in that period, ask your issuer for a new number. The FTC says to contact the issuer when card numbers are exposed.
Sources
Something wrong or out of date? Tell us and we'll re-check it.
