I found an ad for a free credit report on my AOL brouser from Privacy Matters 123. I found by searching that they offer a free 7 day trial of their service. (They have several ads on Google through AOL search). After completing the information it asked for a one dollar fee. I submitted my credit card number although one dollar is not free.in my opinion, I was suckered.
In no way would any sane person agree to pay $29.95 per month for an annual free report, but that is what it seems they try to do to you. That would come to approx. $360 per year for one annual 'free' credit report.
Any reasonable person would find this offer to be ridiculous, at the very least, and far worse than that in all likelihood. I hope others will be warned to be aware of what they are getting into when they apply for a 'free' report.
I found the charge for one dollar on my visa account record dated Sept 8. I found a charge of $29.95 posted on Sept 13th, five days later.
I was able to find a section of fine print later, not on the original web page, that said by pressing 'submit' I was subscribing to a monthly rate of $29.95. To the best of my knowledge this section of fine print was not on the original offering page for my free credit report.
I later found and called the 1 877 993 6264 number found in the fine print and after waiting approx. 1/2 hour and protested the charges. I was told my subscription would be cancelled. I received that same day an email stating my subscription was, indeed, cancelled. The same confirmation number I was given on the phone was also included in my email. I have not received, as yet, a refund of the $29.95 but have filed a dispute with my Credit card provider. They will hold this charge in obeyance until they notify Privacy Matters 123. It may well be that Privacy Matters will refund the charges because I met the criteria of notifying them within the 7 day period.
I urge everyone to check their accounts frequently to see if they have a problem like this one. You have to act fast to fix it, it would appear.
I urge everyone to be extremely careful when using their credit card on the Internet. I will never, ever, do it again. There are ravening wolves out there who are laying in wait for suckers like me, and perhaps like you.
When I first found out I had been scammed I called my Visa provider and had my credit card number cancelled to stop this process from continuing. I do recommend anyone caught in this type of scam to immediately cancel their card, and get a new number. At least this will stop future billing on your card.
Just type in "free credit report offer from Privacy Matters 123" in your Google search engine to see their offers, and see a link to a consumer complaints on this same company from a lady named 'Adaria' posted on 3-18-08 on the Rip-Off website. Rip Off reports has the date and time of posting as 10:34: 08 AM on 3-18-08.
Thank you all for reading this report... Beware of Free offers... There is nothing free, it only appears so. Be very careful, and God Bless you all.
PS Experian, Trans Union, and Triburon are all a party to this ripoff thing. It is a national disgrace. We are bombarded constantly by ads on TV for the Free Credit reports... Don't be taken like I was.
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