UC Davis has learned that names, Social Security numbers and other personal information for some members of the UC Davis community may have been used in attempts to open unauthorized bank accounts at financial institutions such as Chime and Go2Bank. Some of these UC Davis community members are receiving emails from these institutions asking them to confirm a new account by clicking on a link in the email. It is unclear how personal information was obtained to open unauthorized accounts.

UC Davis Information and Educational Technology has notified the affected community members.

UC has been in touch with both Chime and Go2Bank, and both companies are currently cooperating with UC to investigate this incident. It appears that personnel at other companies have also received similar emails from Chime and Go2Bank. Chime has closed some accounts and is researching whether other accounts are authorized or not. UC is currently awaiting more information from Go2Bank.

While this incident affected a small number of the 70,000-plus email accounts at UC Davis, community members are urged to take steps to ensure that their information is protected.

What you can do

• Watch out for communications from Chime/Go2Bank — Be on the lookout for email or physical mail notifications suggesting you opened an account, but, in fact, you did not open. These may come in different forms — notification of a new account, requests to confirm your email address or physical debit/credit cards sent to your home address.
  • If you receive an email from Chime or Go2Bank asking you to confirm a new bank account you do not recognize, do not click on any links in the email; forward the email to abuse@ucdavis.edu.
• Promptly close unauthorized accounts — If you believe an account has been opened without your permission, contact the company immediately and inform them you believe someone has fraudulently opened an account. Ask the company to close the account and confirm the closure with you once complete. Contact Chime at 844-244-6363 and support@chime.com. Contact Go2Bank at 855-459-1334 or by using one of the methods listed here.
• Monitor and set up alerts for bank account(s) — Monitor bank account(s) for suspicious transactions and report any to your bank. Ask the bank for online monitoring and alerts on your account.
• Place a fraud alert on your credit file — We recommend impacted individuals place a fraud alert on their credit file by contacting one of the three nationwide credit bureaus listed below. If a fraud alert is placed on a consumer’s credit file, certain identity verification steps must be taken prior to extending new credit.
  • Equifax
  • Experian
  • TransUnion
• Sign up for credit monitoring — If you have not already done so, we recommend you sign up for the Experian credit monitoring service being offered by UC.
• Reminders for protecting personal information — Here are five rules for protecting your information. In addition, you may take additional identity theft measures described here.

What UC is doing

• UC continues to communicate with Chime and Go2Bank to learn more about this incident, and is working with them to monitor accounts associated with UC email addresses.
• UC has contacted the relevant law enforcement agencies.
• UC is monitoring systems to determine whether there are additional similar communications from these or other institutions.