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All The Information You Need To Avoid This Is In Our
Credit Secrets Bible
The alert points out the following precautions consumers
should take when visiting sites or responding to email
that offer credit reports:
• Do not
reply to or click on the link in an email credit report
offer. Instead, contact the company by phone, or visit a
Web site you know to be genuine.
• Always
be skeptical of credit report emails. Be cautious of
email originating from a domain other than .com.
• Check
whether the company has a valid phone number and
address. Use Web sites such as
www.switchboard.com
and www.anywho.com
to verify phone numbers and addresses.
• Check
for misspellings and grammatical errors. Look at the
company’s Web address to see if it is a real company’s
address or a misspelled version of a legitimate company.
• Check
to see whether the company’s Web address takes you to
the sender’s site or re-directs you to a different Web
address.
• Find
out the owner of the site using a “Whois” search such as
the search at
http://www.networksolutions.com
• Leave
any Web site that asks for unnecessary personal
information, like a PIN for your bank account,
three-digit code on the back of your credit card, or any
passport information.
• All
legitimate sites will respond to an electronic request
for a credit report by asking for an additional piece of
information to verify who you are.
• Look
for the “lock” icon on the browser’s status bar, and
“https” in the URL for a Web site to ensure that the
site is secure. All reputable sites are secure.
• Watch
your mailbox and credit card statements to look for the
credit report you ordered and unauthorized charges on
your credit card.
• Report suspicious activity
to the FTC and the U.S. Secret Service. Send the actual
spam to the Los Angeles Electronic Crimes Task Force at
LA.ECTF.reports@usss.dhs.gov and to the FTC at
uce@ftc.gov. If you
think you’ve been scammed, file your complaint at
www.ftc.gov, and then
visit the FTC’s Identity Theft Web site (www.consumer.gov/idtheft)
to learn how to minimize your risk of damage from
identity theft.
All The Information You Need To Fix Or Improve Your
Credit Is Here
To obtain copy of your credit report from one of the
major credit bureaus, contact:
• Equifax –
www.equifax.com or 1-800-685-1111
• Experian –
www.experian.com or 1-888-397-3742
• TransUnion –
www.transunion.com or 1-800-888-4213
To order copies of this or other FTC Consumer Alerts,
visit
www.ftc.gov/bcp/online/pubs.bulkordr.htm. The FTC
works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive,
and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to
provide information to help consumers spot, stop, and
avoid them. To file a complaint, or to get free
information on consumer issues, visit
www.ftc.gov or call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP
(1-877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The FTC enters
Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other
fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a
secure online database available for hundreds of civil
and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.
All The Information You Need Is In Our Credit Secrets
Bible
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