Fraudulent Charge

ComplaintsFinancesMNI Credit Report Monitoring

Complaint

0
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

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  • 0
    mp
    In looking at these and other consumer complaints websites, I'm seeing a lot of victims that had Chase as their credit card company, which is mine, and it's had at least a couple major security breaches reported in the news in the last year.

    On the other hand, what's strange in my case is that the Experian charge on my card happened the same time I requested a free annual credit report from Experian using annualcreditreport.com ( and I most definitely did not sign up or buy any of Experian's other services or give Experian my credit card number at that time).  I've seen one other post on some other site where someone had the same experience.  Do the hackers/i.d. thieves/miscreants have access to Experian's credit report request/purchasing info in addition to the stolen credit card numbers?  
       
    I don't see any complaints about this type of thing happening with TransUnion or Equifax.
  • 0
    BETTY DEHART
    I check my mastercard online very often although I don't have a lot of items on it; however, today I checked it and had that freereport charge of $14.95.  I immediately called them and was rather rude to them because of what they did.  I was asked for my card number but I refused.  I was then told to contact mastercard and we would have a 3-way telephone conversation about the charge.  I called mastercard and was told to give free report my card number as he would be on the phone to talk to the free report worker which I did.  So the other 2 had a conversation which I could hear and mastercard then told me the charge would be erased.  I strongly encourage anyone to keep a sharp eye often on your charged to your credit card as these type of people are a bunch of crooks.
  • 0
    Frauded
    Last night I decided to check my banking account and guess what?.... A $1.00 charge from Experion for a credit report. I have not signed up with them at all, and got a free credit report more than a year ago from all 3 of the vulture companies. I tried to call them 3 times and could never get a hold of a real person. I will try tomorrow with the number "Erica" provided above. Thanks for that.  How they got my credit card info is beyond me. I called my friend in Cal and she said her roommate had the same thing happen to her yesterday too, but for $80. We both cancelled our cards, but I am leaving on vacation next week and the only way to get a replacement card in time is Fed Ex for $40. This is my main debit/credit card, and need to use that account, so thanks to the slime bags that prey on hardworking people- I'm now out $40 and a big hassle!
    When will somebody who is a lawyer start a lawsuit against this company and get them shut- down?
  • 0
    krish
    Day before yesterday experian charged my credit card for $19.95. I called up them they asked my dob and zip code i did not gave all this information. immediately called bank to dispute this transaction. I took report 2 months back and now they are charging for that though they said it was free and i do not signed for any membership or anything. I hope i can get this fixed
  • 0
    John
    I just got the same thing on my wife's credit card - $1995 and it is six months after this problem has been reported to Experian by all of you - they apparently have not looked at their policies and procedures to be sure they are not accessories in multiple fraud cases. They should have known, would have known, could have known they were participating in fraudulent charges to peoples' accounts.
    After reading this board - I think I'll push a few buttons beyond the refund. How do I know they don't request my credit report and use all that info to open new bank credit applications?
  • 0
    Fernando
    I was charged 21.20 by the same people TODAY! Why are they still able to process credit cards?
  • 0
    Seattle
    Both my husband and I got charged $12.95 on our completely seperate credit card.  When my husband called Bank of America they replaced his card right away.  When I called I was told I had to wait until the charge went through before I could dispute the charge.  When I called after the charge when through some cranky lady named Angela snapped at me and told me the she had to loop Experian into the call because they couldn't stop the charges otherwise.  Experian told that someone with a completely different name was on the account.  I told them I didn't know that person and they canceled the account and are sending refund.  How could Experian let someone with a different name use my credit card account number? My co-worker had a false charge from Experian and was able to get his credit card replaced without waiting for the charge to go through.  The manner in which this is handled seems to depend on who you talk to at Bank of America.  How about some consistancy Bank of America? Now I know why our friends switched banks.
  • 0
    Seattle
    | 1 reply
    Protect yourself.  Contact the FTC.  My husban just got another charge from Experian after getting the first fraudulent charged straightened out a couple weeks ago.

    http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/idtheft/idt07.shtm
    • 0
      tj replies to Seattle
      Once you find one fraudulent charge, you must assume your card number is in the hands of thieves.

      Always dispute fraudulent charges through your bank, and block the card number to prevent further fraud.  Halfway measures just expose you to risk.
  • 0
    Peed Off
    I just found a 19.95 charge on my credit card for Experion and called the bank about it. The bank said that in addtition to that charge there was another one that would appear on my next statement. I have had this card only since August of last year. I used it twice in August 2011 in reputable stores. Since then I used the card only once to pay for an order over the phone. That was in October 2011. There is no way the card number could have been seen by anyone. I always cover my numbers when I use a credit card so nobody can see them at all. The company I paid over the phone was WEN Shampoo. Has anyone made payments to them with their card???????
  • 0
    Liz
    | 1 reply
    I never orderred a credit report and saw a charge for $ 21.20 from Experian on my credit card statement. I called the number listed and spoke with a rep. She said someone by the name of Kevin M had ordered a credit report using my credit card number. She said she cannot give me any details of this Kevin M. I am highly suspicious. I am obviously the credit card owner, how come she cannot tell me who ordered their report using MY card? She immediately was willing to refund the charge and said she will block the user who was trying to use my card. This all sounds extremely fishy to me.
    • 0
      Frank replies to Liz
      Same story 21.20 charged.  called  877-297-7790  spoke with Randy, he said they do not require a address match for the card or require the security numbers on the back of the card.  

      They said another person ordered a report using my card.  They are not going to look into it, just refund they money.  They said the other person may not be a thief they may also be a victim.  I asked if they would be alerting that person that their report was pulled with a stolen card number. He said he did not know.  

      He said they do not do an address match because many of their costumers order reports for family members.  ???

      I pointed out that it seems the only entity that benefits is them as many people do not dispute the charge.  He read more of a scrip about them taking security seriously......
  • 0
    Pam Diedrich
    This happened to me also.  I am sick of being taken for services I do not want.  I had to call the number next to my charge on my credit card listing.  They cancelled it.  I opened the account (it said it was free) while looking to rent a house on craigslist.  

    This is disgusting.  I could have paid $60.00 in bills.  They are disgusting
  • 0
    mj
    Saw this charge appear for 5/2012,6/2012,7/2012.  I only use this credit card for consolidation purposes so this is definitely fraudulent in my case.  I confirmed this by calling Experian.  They had my card # on file but it was linked to someone I had never heard of before.
  • 0
    Eddie Smith
    I have received $155.00 in Fraudulent charges from Strong Credit. It started when I called Experian
    at 1-800-613-1332. My call was answered by "Bob Shields" he gave me his extention 301. I did sign up
    for the credit repair kit he was selling. The details of the order are non-refundable $50.00 down payment
    and a balance o $269.00. I was supposed to call  Bob back to authorize the rest of the payment. After the phone call ended I consulted the BBB on-line review Strong Credit had a Rating of F. So called 1-800-613-1332 x 301 no answer so I left a message stating that I was cancelling the order. Bob called me back to try and convince me to keep the order. I did not agree to keep the order but my account
    had charges of $105.00 6/29/2012 and $50.00 7/9/2012. I had to close this account and open a new
    one. The address and phone number of Strong Credit is PO Box 1131 Mercer Island, WA 98040-1131
    800 356-1100 Fax 586 314-8113. I was trying to contact Experian, I got the 1-800-613-1332 from the
    Experian Contact Us. So they could be a part of Fraud for all I know.
  • 0
    Kelly
    did anyone else have issues with their email accounts prior to this happening? my email account had 3 hacking attempts a couple weeks ago. i changed my email password but now i have a charge on my bank statement for $19.95 for this credit report thing. i called my bank and canceled my card and then i felt comfortable calling the experian people again to give them the credit card # so they could authorize a refund and cancel that membership. they also gave me the first name and last initial of the membership that was gained by using my card. definitely no one i've ever heard of. they were very friendly and didn't sound at all shocked that this was happening. i am appalled by the fact that they don't request the 3 digit security code on the back of the card, because it would be so random if whoever used my card to by this membership actually had that number being that i have my credit card in hand as i type this. this is so frustrating... now i have to wait a week before I get my new bank card. Not ok. Anyway i ask about the email thing because google notified me 3 times that someone had attempted to hack my email account and the IP address they used was from california.. which is conveniently where this experian place is....
  • 0
    Melanie
    I have never ONCE pulled my credit scores on my own.... I think there may be another factor in all of this. Do any or all of you have At&t for your wireless provider? Not ONLY did I have the monthly $14.95 charges from FreeCreds, but the same person hijacked the fact that I had my at&t wireless phone bill on auto pay and incrementally started adding additional money to it, all the while paying for my bill as well as part of his/her bill IN AN AT&T STORE (Texas and Georgia). So not only is At&t accepting payment from people who don't have physical credit cards in front of them (which is a HUGE problem in itself), but these [***] had enough information about me to know that I was paying my bill automatically. I'd advise all of you to go back and check your phone bills!!!!!!

    If anyone knows of a way to submit a police report or file a formal complaint please pose here so that I may do so as well.
  • 0
    Amanda
    I had a 19.95 charge for the last 5 months, my husband is the one that finally noticed it. I called and after asking for other ways to check for my account, I finally relented with my credit card number. It was used by a man named Layman, I'm to expect my refund in 7-10 business days. Once it goes through I'm canceling the card and transferring the credit to my new card. I'm not sure who is doing the scam, I do plan on reporting it, but I was thankful for the nice man that is refunding it with no fuss.
  • 0
    sarah
    just had to cancel our card twice for similar reasons - fraud called me about a charge on the card in Malta and one from Experian for credit report, also there were 2 from pro active acne solution 25$ and 60$ (found out the order was sent to someone totally unknown in canada). When the Pro active showed again on the new card - I asked how come they got my new number when I had to notify all my auto pay companies?  Answer from Wells Fargo rep was that Experian and Pro Active have an agreement with Wells Fargo where they get automatic updates on new cards issued if there has been a previous sale!  Humm interesting! Why do these companies which have so many fraud issues have these convenient auto update agreements with WF? - well my hubby found one interesting link  between WF and Experian.  
    www.linkedin.com/pub/victor-nichols/3/a66/5b2  
    check out the background the current ceo of Experian V. Nichols - he was formerly the Chief Info officer of Wells Fargo!
    I am thinking I don't want to do business anymore with WF if they are giving such agreements to companies with fraud records like Experian and Pro Active. unless we get some good answers - this seems a very convenient situation - they also asked me if I wanted to hear about "products that could save you money" in otherwords ID theft protection or the like for another fee.
  • 0
    Stephanie
    As pretty much everyone else in this thread has stated, I too am receiving a recurrent charge of $19.95 every month from Experian. It's too late in the evening to call my bank right now, but I will certainly be doing it first thing in the morning. I expect that I'll have the same results as everyone else on here has had--full refunds of the unauthorized charges--so I almost didn't even write anything on here. But I wanted to agree with something that I've only seen two people (out of the 50 or so testimonials I read regarding this issue) voice. If this is a scam by Experian to increase their Fraud Alert service sales, which it certainly seems to be, this is something that we all need to come together and fight. I urge EVERYONE that is a victim of this to log complaints with the FTC, and contact anyone you know who might have knowledge of how to start a class action lawsuit or something similar. Things like this will keep happening to innocent people if we all just stand by and do nothing. Don't just think to yourself, "Oh I'm sure someone else has already called and reported it." DO IT YOURSELF. The more people that speak out, the more seriously they'll take this issue. I can't believe I'm having this problem now, in 2013, and some of the complaints on here are dated 1/2009. They've been getting away with this for FOUR YEARS. This has been going on far too long. Let's do this, people.
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