Free Credit Report - Great Idea, But Be Careful at the Website

The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions (FACT) act, passed last year, offers consumers the opportunity to obtain copies of their credit reports for free. While consumers may use the telephone or mail to order the reports, the most common method used by consumers is to access a Website set up by the three credit bureaus expressly for that purpose. Not only can a report be had for free, but the law entitles every American the opportunity to obtain one report per year from each of the three credit bureaus. Millions of Americans have taken advantage of the program, which is easy to use and takes only a few minutes. There is just one problem with the system. Several hundred companies have registered domain names that are very similar to the that of the official free credit report Website, and thousands of consumers have gone to these Websites by accident. These mistaken visits often lead to sites that charge for the reports, or worse, sites that appear to be the real site but exist only to steal financial information for purposes of identity theft.

At last count, there were more than two hundred domain names registered with names that were similar to the official site, annualcreditreport.com. Names such as annualcreditreportonline.com are typical, as they represent the sort of thing that a consumer might type in by accident. Most of these sites exist to sell reports to consumers who otherwise might get them for free. Since they make it clear that they are selling the reports, they aren’t really committing fraud. They are just taking advantage of an opportunity created by people who type incorrectly. On the other hand, some sites have been set up to look exactly like the official site, and are intended to fool the visitor into thinking that they are at the real site. They ask for the Social Security number of the visitor and then fail to provide a copy of the requested report. Once they have the Social Security number, they can use it to practice identity theft, all at the expense of the unsuspecting Website visitor.

The Federal government and concerned Internet Service Providers are shutting down such Websites as quickly as they can, but these sites are often established outside the U.S., which makes enforcement difficult. Consumers who do not frequently use the Internet or who are not overly familiar with how domain names and URLs work should ask for assistance from a knowledgeable friend or relative before typing in the name of the Website. Otherwise, it might be a good idea to obtain a copy of the report via mail or telephone. Failure to exercise precaution when going online may result in a rather expensive lesson in crime.

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