Fraudulent Charge
Complaint
A. Maurelli
Country: United States
I recently realized that I was being billed $12.95 from MNI Credit Reporting on a monthly basis. I have NEVER used an online reporting tool for my credit score. Even scarier, there seems to be hundreds of complaints regarding this company throughout the web. After calling them and being put on hold for over 30 minutes, I decided to try again with similar results. It appears that this company steal your information, and then you can't reach them to cancel the billing. If the charge is recurring your credit card company can not get your money back - they deem it as user negligence. Proceed with MNI and FreeCreditReport.com with caution - They are a slippery group of thieves!
Comments
It's completely ridiculous to me that Experian not only sends out credit reports on individuals whose names aren't on the accounts paying for them, but will also allow MULTIPLE individuals to use that same credit or debit card that isn't theirs to pay for a credit report! Seriously, how could anyone ever interpret this as legal activity?! There is no reason Experian should be allowing this to happen. If someone doesn't have the means to pay for their own credit report, they probably don't really need that credit report. By requiring the name on the report to match up with the name on the account paying for it, I'm confident that Experian would only be losing the money from these illegal transactions. If they refuse make these security changes after what appears to be thousands of fraudulent charges, then they are clearly a dishonest corporation that is eagerly profiting from this illegal activity. As I sit here and worry about my stolen account information, it's important to note that John D. and Katrina P. are most likely unknowingly being tracked by these criminals, and Experian has no interest in notifying them or preventing this from occurring further.
By the way, I'm not completely sure if this is related or not but my credit card was also fraudulently charged over the weekend for over $750 (not by Experian). I really don't know how any of my account information got out, but I've now had false charges to my debit and credit cards (which are both through the same bank). So just as a warning to anyone else being fraudulently charged by Experian, KEEP AN EYE ON ALL OF YOUR ACCOUNTS because there's a chance that your information has been sold to several third parties.
I went ahead and put a fraud alert on my credit report to make it more difficult to open up new accounts in my name. Just so you know, you can easily do this online through TransUnion, Equifax, or Experian. If you put up an initial fraud alert, they are required to show you your credit report for free, so you will be able to check that there is no other suspicious activity being carried out in your name.
The FTC website has a lot more information about recovering from identity theft: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/consumers/defend.html
Just trying to help out my fellow victims! Good luck to you guys.
I filed a complaint with my states Attorney General Office. I don't know what good it will do.
This is most assuredly a scam of some sort, I havent looked up my credit score in years, and it wasnt bundled with my taxes or anything that I can tell.
This is most assuredly a scam of some sort, I havent looked up my credit score in years, and it wasnt bundled with my taxes or anything that I can tell.
CreditReport 877-297-7790 ....
CreditReport 8772977790 ....
CreditReport (877)2977790 ...IT IS NOTEXPERIAN
Creditreport
Experian *CreditReport877-2977790 CA
I believe it's a scam. They randomly charge credit cards, and hope people don't pay attention (I believe many people don't!).
Experian has a history of deceptive marketing of credit monitoring services through subsidiaries, including two settlements with FTC.
However, what is appearing recently are an increasing number of reports that Experian is claiming the charges were by various named people, unknown to consumers calling about the charges.
If we assume that Experian is not just making up these names to deflect fraud complaints, that indicates that the credit reports of those people are being pulled, over the internet, using stolen credit card numbers.
Experian is vulnerable to fraudulent purchases of credit reports using stolen credit card numbers.
You don't use a stolen card to purchase your own credit report, as the theft is traceable directly back to you.
So who would do this? People wanting to get access to credit reports anonymously, and who have access to stolen credit card numbers.
Complaints of fraudulent Experian charges may be an indication that Experian is selling credit reports to id thieves.
See the following article, from Red Tape Chronicles. In particular, note this, which is consistent with these fraudulent charges: "the hackers' bragging about how easy it is to infiltrate websites like AnnualCreditReport.com or CreditReport.com."
Fraudulent credit card charges would be half of the trail left by this trade in credit reports. The other half would be credit inquiries visible on your own credit reports, if you caught it and realized you hadn't requested them.
http://redtape.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/26 ... ainst-consumers
"...
EXCLUSIVE: Hackers turn credit report websites against consumers
By Bob Sullivan
The most important tool consumers have to fight against ID theft has been turned against them by hackers, msnbc.com has learned. Websites that offer consumers a chance to see their credit reports are being brazenly used by hackers to steal victims' information.
The prices of the reports rise and fall depending on the credit score of the victim. For consumers with credit scores in the 750s, report data might fetch $80; reports from victims with scores in the low 600s sell for about half that, according to "for sale" pages viewed by msnbc.com.
"It shows how people with good credit and a net worth now have a bull’s-eye on their backs," said Dan Clements, who operates the Internet security firm CloudEyez.com. Clements gave msnbc.com a virtual tour of the marketplaces, which he has been observing for months.
The most troubling part of these markets however – many hosted in the .su domain, which stands for the now-defunct Soviet Union – is the ready availability of credit reports and the hackers' bragging about how easy it is to infiltrate websites like AnnualCreditReport.com or CreditReport.com.
"I'm selling super prime credit reports and scores which include all 3 bureaus and other information," brags one advertisement on one site.
Clements helped msnbc.com view dozens of credit reports on the forum, many of which had CreditReport.com stamped across the first page. But others viewed by msnbc.com indicated they were stolen from AnnualCreditReport.com and Equifax.com. Clements said most other online credit report and some credit score suppliers were hit, too -- he shared a page showing a victim's score produced at CreditKarma.com.
"We really have no idea how many reports have been used or put up for sale in the 'libraries,'" said Clements, who also operates a consulting firm.
..."
The funny thing is..... the only people who could have possibly seen my credit card were myself and the people at Wells Fargo Visa.....
And just to add insult to injury, the card customer service people "had never heard of anything like this"
Check with Wells Fargo to see if the charges on your new card were set up as "automatic" monthly charges against the prior old blocked card number.
Automatic charges often roll over to the new replacement card number, unless you specifically dispute the charges as "fraudulent".
They were the same as everyone elses, first name and last initial. All to different names, all canceled and reported as fraud.
On the 4th card- I even got 4 charges 3 days AFTER having canceled the card..... Game over. I am canceling the account as soon as charges are taken care of. I have already been sent a new card but there is no way I am activating it.
I have already begun legal action.
Called VISA today, they canceeld my card and will issue a new one.
RECUR DEBIT CRD PMT... EXPERIAN charge for $19.95 showed up on our March 2012 statement from Wells Fargo.
We have never dealt with Experian and never requested any such services.
I spoke with a claims specialist at Wells Fargo.
He has:
1. Filed a claim for a fraudulent charge.
2. Put a stop payment on Experian.
3. Issued a credit.
4. Canceled the card and is sending a new one.
I did suggest to the claims specialist that, since this problem seems so prevalent, he should provide customer feedback to his superiors suggesting the bank(s) start to take a more proactive approach to dealing with this problem since it is time consuming for both their customers and for the bank.