I fell for a blatant scam, because I figured that because the offer was being posted all over the internet and even the TV that it should have been safe. I was wrong.
Freecreditreport.com is a usual internet scam. They get you to sign up for a 30-day free trial of their "Triple Advantage" report — which is supossed to give you your credit report and credit score.
Only after you submit your login information, and give them your credit card, SSN, and mother's maiden name, you get an error message telling you they were unable to authenticate you and to contact customer service.
I emailed customer service, and a day later for an email from a Mr. Joefer O. Who identified himself as a customer service rep.
The email claimed that sometimes they were unable to authenticate you properly online, and that they would send your login information and account activation through regular mail — for YOUR security of course.
It never came. 30 days later (having forgotten about it) i was shocked to see a charge on my bank account (thank god I check that every few days online) from CIC Triple Advantage for $12.
After looking for about an hour at this website, and seeing the identical complaints, I called the phone number.
It took me about one hour — but eventually I was able to get them to not only cancel my account and expunge my information, but to also credit my bank account the full $12 they stole.
Of course — I'll be watching with extreme caution to see if the credit actually shows up, and then I'll be instructing my bank to alert me to any future charges by the company.
One note — it appears (from my experience) that you can get your money back from CIC if you cause enough of a ruckus.
However — I'm a law student, and I had to use every threat and bit of formal legal terminology in my educational arsenal to get them to do anything. And it wasn't easy — they fought me tooth and nail for about an hour. So if you're squeemish about confrontations — you might be better off at the bank.
If anyone has difficulty getting anything done with CIC, I have another phone number that I used that came in the email I got from "Joefer O."
1-866-841-6379. Maybe that will help, I'm not sure if it's a different center, or what the situation is.
Regardless, I won't be taking up any credit report offers in the future. And I still intend to file the appropriate complaints and paperwork with my bank once the credit to my account does or does not come in.
0 comments