ROCHESTER, N.Y. — You know that old saying, trust but verify. I’ve put a new twist on that old adage – never trust, always verify. That’s because of the major data breaches that compromise the personal information of millions across the globe.

According to the Annual Data Breach report, just last year there were more than 3,200 of breaches. The recent breach announced by Ticketmaster is huge. The data of 560 million customers around the world was compromised.

A couple of weeks ago, folks started getting a letter in the mail from Ticketmaster. It says that from April 2 to May 18, thieves skulked around in their cloud data base, stealing a boat load of information. They got names, phone numbers, as well as credit and debit card numbers and their expiration dates. The letter says Ticketmaster is providing a year of credit monitoring service.

A very smart News10NBC viewer got that letter. And he shares my motto: Never trust; always verify.

Deanna Dewberry: “You get this letter in the mail and immediately you were skeptical. And you have reason to be. Tell me what your immediate thoughts were.”

Clifford Stewart, Pittsford resident: “I always investigate everything. And when I went to the website that was suggested in the letter, it’s asking me for the last four of my social security and my date of birth. And right then and there that sends up all the red flags to me.”

So, Stewart contacted me, and I did some research. The letter asks you to sign up for credit monitoring with this company, www.mytrueidentity.com. That’s the company that asked for Stewart’s social security number and made him suspicious.

My True Identity is owned by TransUnion, one of the three big credit bureaus. So I can verify that it is indeed a credit monitoring service and not a scam.

So, if you were one of the 560 million folks who got one of those letters from Ticketmaster here’s Deanna’s Do List:

• Sign up for credit monitoring with My True Identity. It’s free. You’ll need the activation code in your letter.
• Consider canceling the credit or debit card you stored on Ticketmaster’s website and get a new card.
• Check your credit reports often.
• And if you want to be really safe, freeze your credit. it’s free.
• Watch out for scam phone calls. If Ticketmaster had your phone number, the thieves have it too. Scammers could call you pretending to be from Ticketmaster in attempt to fool you into giving them more personal information.

If you have a story idea for consumer investigations, send it to consumer@whec.com. Here is an example of the letter from Ticketmaster: