Security → Credit bureaus exploiting click for free report

Beware of clicking for your free credit report at
»www.annualcreditreport.c ··· ndex.jsp which is the only federally mandated source for free, no-strings-attached credit reports. According to a World Privacy Forum in depth report it is much safer to phone for your free report.

From the Yahoo article:

"The WPF report uncovered dozens of confusing sites, many of which are operated by Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion, the big three bureaus who together run the government-mandated and authorized free report site.

Fraudulent, deceptive and misspelled domains
An estimated 50 impostor domains are active and luring unsuspecting customers to questionable sites -- including to Experian, Equifax and TransUnion sites that charge for the very same service they are offering for free. In other words, while they run one Web site jointly that offers free reports, they're also running dozens of other sites -- often under different names, such as ConsumerInfo.com -- that charge for the same or additional services...."

»biz.yahoo.com/brn/050602 ··· 145.html
»www.worldprivacyforum.or ··· ick.html

holy crap
how can they get away with that??

Bastards

»news.com.com/Phishers+go ··· 174.html

Typical Corporate Greed....Bastards indeed...

I tried some very near misspellings and nothing would work, all of them bounced with "Not Found."

Phishing as we think of it is not the main thrust of the worldprivacyforum.org's report. That is bad, of course, but what is happening with the credit bureaus themselves is worse. The three credit bureaus are setting up THEIR OWN PHISHING SITES is what is happening.

The free reports became available first in Hawaii and on the West Coast and are now working their way across the nation and the free reports are not yet available on the East Coast. I noticed when they became available, last December, in Hawaii that the three credit bureaus were already doing everything possible to steer you to sites where you have to pay for the reports and evidently that practice has become much worse according to this in depth report. I think it reprehensible that the credit bureaus try to skirt the law like this. Plus, this problem with the bureaus themselves is in addition to the more ordinary phishing sites that try to exploit these free reports.

Another warning: When you call to obtain your free report(s) be sure to demand that ONLY the last 4 digits of your Soc. Sec. number be on the report, otherwise, the full number will be on there ripe for picking from your mailbox.

Maybe the answer is for everyone to bookmark this site:

»www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/ ··· orts.htm

try:

annuilcreditreport.com

Basturds

When you call one of the big three, call that company direct.

Be sure to insist on ONLY the report from THAT company (Experian, Transglobal or Equifax). That way you can request three times a year, once from each company. If you don't insist, they'll give you a report from all three(essentially the same information, since they share anyway) - and you only get ONE report per year instead of three.

What I do not like about this whole Credit Agency stuff is that they are making money off of mine and your credit. That is MY information they are using. I ought to be able to control MY information. Try calling them and blocking them from issuing you anymore credit(a great way to stop identity theft). Usually that only happens after something bad happens. You can then have it blocked for up to 6 months but after that they are up to their tricks again. I ought to be able to pick up the phone, call one, and say DO NOT issue any more credit on me unless you get a call from me and get my password. That would make it very hard for anyone to suceed in identity theft anymore.
And while were talking about it, do you know that based on odds your social security number could be in use by as many as 30 different people? You'll never know until all of a sudden you get hit with a overdue or non payment payment notice. Then you have to prove that is wasn't you although the SS numbers match.

Please either justify that statement or provide a URL for where you got that information.

»people.howstuffworks.com ··· ber2.htm mentions "The nine-digit SSN, which has been issued in more than 400 million different sequences," "Since 1972, the SSA has assigned numbers and issued cards based on the ZIP code in the mailing address provided on the original application form." , "According to the SSA, SSNs are not recycled", and "statisticians say that the nine-digit SSN allows for approximately one billion possible combinations."

Sorry, don't have a link. Was listening to a local radio talk show several months back. He had a guest on that was telling of this issue. These are stolen SS numbers. However a short Google search turned up this MSNBC link to back up my assertion. Sounds similar to what I heard on the radio. Must have been after this report that I heard it locally.

»www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6814673/

Yeah they suck. They also spam you like crazy with credit crap. I even opt out of it and still get spammed by them. The government is trying to stop spam but yet they spam you. Go figure.