Friday, February 3, 2012

FRAUD ALERT: “Experian” Charging People’s Cards Without Authorization

UPDATE: BE SURE TO READ THE COMMENTS, AS THERE HAS BEEN A LOT OF USEFUL AND INTERESTING INFORMATION POSTED THERE.

Today I received my CC Bill and noticed a charge from Experian (which is a credit reporting agency).  I have never signed up for anything from Experian, nor have I authorized them to make any charges to my credit card.

The charge was for $19.95 and listed a number of 877-297-7790.  The company name listed for the charge was EXPERIAN *CREDIT877-297-7790 CA.

American Express let me know the charge actually came from ConsumerInfo.com.  When you type that address into your browser, you guessed it… FreeCreditReport.com; the landing page even has a photo of that douchebag musician from the annoying commercials.

I asked Amex why then my statement said the charge was from Experian (a “reputable” company and one of the three major credit reporting agencies in the US), and they didn’t seem to have an answer for me.  Really, Amex?  Any old company can use another company’s name to make (fraudulent) charges to my card, and you don’t seem to have a problem with that?  Not only that, but you can use a fake name (ConsumerInfo.com) instead of your real name (FreeCreditReport.com) and then LIST your name as someone else’s company (Experian)?!

I also can’t believe Experian hasn’t done something about this. There is a company (FreeCreditReport.com) using their name for some really shady activity!

FYI: when you Google the above phone number, there are hundreds of posts reporting fraudulent charges to people’s credit cards (under the guise of legitimate credit reporting agencies).  There are even reports of people calling the number, being asked for their CC number for identification (who are these people giving out their CC#’s just because someone asks for it?!), being disconnected, and then receiving more fraudulent charges (not surprisingly).

Bottom line: Freed Credit Report dot com is fraudulently (illegally) charging people’s credit cards for services they do not sign up for or authorize.  Be aware, and check your credit card statements regularly. [UDPATE] In most cases, it’s not FreeCreditReport.com initiating these charges, but a third party who has obtained the credit card numbers making a purchase at FreeCreditReport.com with your card.  However, if FreeCreditReport.com made ANY EFFORT WHATSOEVER to make sure these were legitimate purchases by checking the name of the person making the charge against the name on the card, or even requiring a billing zip code or card authorization number, this wouldn’t be happening.  Instead, FreeCreditReport.com is (of course) happy to receive the money from these illegal charges, and your credit card is happy to receive their percentage.  IMO, this is why no one wants to do anything to prevent this activity… they’re all making money!  Judging from reader comments, the credit card companies are usually quick to reverse the charges, but the credit reporting companies (Experian) and FreeCreditReport.com/ConsumerInfo.com are VERY reluctant to help in any way.

If this has happened to you, call your credit card company and REPORT IT TO YOUR STATE’S ATTORNEY GENERAL.  Call them (this is a link to the AG for every state in the US).  Do it now.  Eventually, the attention brought to this huge (and still growing) problem will surely cause someone to do something about it (instead of banks, credit reporting companies, and the Attorney General simply continuing to ignore the problem).

180 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes this also happened to me. I got charged 19.95 and found out that 3 other transactions tried to go through as well. I got on the stick and contacted my financial institution to let them know what was going on. Thank goodness I did otherwise I may have woken up with a negative balance in my account

Anonymous said...

I got two charges nine days apart. Both fraudulent and shown as EXPERIAN. Disputed with credit card company. People need to check their credit card activity each month.

The Invisible said...

Not only that, but report the activity to your state's Attorney General. This is being done on a regular basis by "FreeCreditReport.com" (under various names) and I can't BELIEVE they haven't been sued and put out of business. They are charging people's credit cards without permission, and they are doing it all the time.

Anonymous said...

Yep. Happend to me too. 19.95 from Experian that I didn't authorize.

Don't bother calling them if it happens. At most, they'll just reverse the charge, but you can bet they wont bother investigating how the fraudulent charge was made in the first place. They're probably involved anyway.

Call your bank/credit card and have them reverse the charge and investigate.

Hopefully, with enough investigations, they may get closed down.

Makes you wonder, for every person like us that actually caught the fraudulent charges, how many others did not and just paid them for services they didn't provide.

The Invisible said...

Thanks for your comment. It's not enough to just hope bank investigations will make something happen though. Call your state's Attorney General to tell them about this. Once the AG's realize how often this company is fraudulently charging people's cards, they will shut them down. Unfortunately, it's up to us to make it happen (otherwise, they will just keep doing it)!

Demetrius said...

I similarly have never signed up for services from *any* credit reporting agency, and was mysteriously charged 31.95 by "Experian" on 4/28 without my consent and without any notification. What's worse, the exact same thing happened to my mother at the same time. How did they even obtain my credit card information? I've never given it to any firms even remotely related to them. It is wholesale identity theft, and it's very unsettling.

The Invisible said...

It's also disturbing that these guys (FreeCreditReport.com) advertise on TV, as if they aren't an incredibly deceptive entity preying upon consumers. And I am BAFFLED as to why Experian hasn't gone after them HARDCORE, considering they are using the Experian name to make illegal charges to thousands of people's credit cards! Don't forget to call your state's Attorney General to let them know that this happened to you.

Anonymous said...

This is very odd. I requested a free credit report from annualcreditreport.com (the site that the Federal Trade Commission says is the website to use for making such requests) choosing Experian a few weeks ago. I noticed on my CC statement, I believe the same day I requested the free report, a charge for $19.95 on my credit card (the CC statement said " Experian*credit report" as the business. I never signed up for any membership services or any other products from Experian, never provided my credit card number or anything--just did the request for the free report. When I called Experian (call service center located in the Phillipines) they told me someone named Samantha G. had purchased a copy of her credit report using my CC number?! Is this an inside job from someone at Experian?

Brenton said...

Got me, too. btw, Experian has an ownership interest in consumerinfo.com / freecreditreport.com. see this page: http://www.freecreditreport.com/about-us/

The Invisible said...

Good information, Brenton. I didn't realize Experian had ownership interest in FreeCreditReport.com. This would seem to be in direct violation of their "non-partisan" credit reporting status. Hopefully these shysters are brought to justice soon.

Dustin Davis said...

I have identity theft insurance. I called them when this charge showed up. They said it was quite common, but it seems like it is the first place identity thieves go with a stolen credit card rather than Experian actually charging you fraudulently. They reversed the charge and then I cancelled & reissued my credit card through my bank because the fact is, if this charge shows up, it's likely that someone has stolen your credit card number. In my case I think it came from an online transaction my wife made.

Anonymous said...

We just found out our card was fraudulently used at Experian on 5/5/19. We were told by our issuing bank that we might have malware on our computer. Has anyone else looked into this?

Jennifer said...

I too, found two unauthorized charges for for $19.95 from Experian, with the same phone number attached.
I called the number & they found that "Naim S." used my card. I was told they would refund my money within 7-10 banking days; the customer service rep was very kind. I did the same as Dustin Davis & had my bank reissue my card.

The Invisible said...

Hopefully people are reporting this activity to their state's Attorney General. If the AG is not notified of these occurrences, nothing will change.

Anonymous said...

Same thing happened here. 3 charges from Experian and 2 more pending. They said it was from 4 different names. What I want to know is why Experian would let someone use a credit card to purchase a credit report in someone else's name. Very fishy...Seems like an inside job. Contacting the AG Monday!

JC said...

This has also been happening to me for a few months now. Today is Sunday so I cant call Experian or my bank but I plan to take an hour of time off of work tomorrow to make sure this gets resolved.

@The Invisible, I plan on reporting this to any and everyone I can. My question about Attorney Generals would be that I just moved from the east coast to the Rocky Mountains but my bank accounts are still in New England until I can get everything squared away here. and the Charges are coming from CA. Do I contact the AG in New England, my current state, CA, or all three?

Anonymous said...

Ditto, twice in April. One for $14.95 linked to 877-300-2507 and one for $19.95 linked to 877-297-7790. Called one of the numbers and was promised a refund...we'll see. Going to my financial institution tomorrow to cancel the card and apply for a replacement.

The Invisible said...

Welcome to the Rockies, JC (I'm in Denver)! Regarding which AG, I would contact the Attorney General of the state which your credit card bill was sent to (your prior state of residence). It probably wouldn't hurt to call CA, since the charge originated there, but you're likely to get a better response from your prior state of residence, because they probably get fewer calls than CA (unless your East Coast is NY). Keep up the good fight!

Anonymous said...

Called Experian today to cancel the second bogus charge. The first was $19.95 and the second was $14.95. Checked my account tonight and found a new $12.95 charge pending. The timing seems to be within an hour of me telling them to cancel the second charge. I'll call tomorrow and see what they say this time.

Anonymous said...

3 people at one branch of Wells Fargo in Santa Cruz, CA reported this today.

Anonymous said...

The same thing has happened to me. I have had to replace my credit card 5 times now. I reported it to the Secret Service but they were totally unaware this was happening. Surely someone can do something!!!

Anonymous said...

I am also experiencing the same issue. I noticed a charge on my account from a company called Get Satisfaction Inc. It was a $1 charge and was pending. I called the bank and let them know I did not authorize this charge. They told me I would have to wait to dispute the charge until it was no longer in pending status. In the meantime I google this company and came to found that they make iPhone games such as Draw Something. While doing research I noticed people saying things about fraudulent charges from this company followed by unauthorized charges from credit reporting agencies. The next day when I checked my account online, sure enough, I had charges from "Experian". I called the bank back and was told again that now both charges are pending so I still need to wait. I went to the bank and took all my money out. The next day the original charge from Get Satisfaction Inc was no longer pending but had simply dropped off. Currently, the Experian charge is still pending for $1 but who knows how much it will be once it is done pending. Here is my theory. This company, Get Satisfaction, is using iTunes accounts to get peoples card information. They then place a $1 charge to simply see if the account is open and active. Once they do they reverse the transaction so the amount will drop off and then start hitting up your account using a fake company...in this case, Experian. So my question is this...does everyone experiencing this problem notice a charge that disappears before the Experian charges? Also, are we al using iTunes? I really think I'm on to something here!

Anonymous said...

Dan - I had exactly the same experience. I paid for and wanted a one time credit report. I just looked at my online statement and they have charged me another $17+ amount for ?. I am really upset. I will be filing a complaint with the better business bureau and also you can file a complaint with the State's Attorney General Office as others have said. I'm also going to contact my bank and dispute this charge. What a huge scam! Thanks for reporting this to all. I back you up fully.

Anonymous said...

This is happening to me too. I requested a free credit report and it was through Experian. You dont even give any bank card info. Then one night I noticed a 1.00 charge from the mentioned Experian and phone number. It dropped the next day, but now I have after a couple of weeks a pending 21.20 charge. Same Experian company. Something is very odd.

Anonymous said...

I too have had the "Get Satisfaction INC." charge on my card just two days ago, but have not had a credit report nor do I buy music online. I guess the banks are catching on though, because BOA called me about fraudulent charges. Just glad they caught it before it went though because then I would have really freaked!

Anonymous said...

Hello,

Glad to here I am not alone
I had 7 charges on 3 different cards

In response to the May 18, 2012 5:06 PM comment.
Yes I do use iTunes and recall a $1 charge but it's no longer visible.

What I don't understand is how any Web Business is allowed to charge my account without asking basic security info. The card # alone should never be sufficient.

Anonymous said...

Get Satisfaction is a legitimate company, someone is fraudulently using their name. Call them at 877-339-3997 x1, they have a recording that gives you more information. To sum it up, it's not them, they've notified authorities, and you should make sure you contact your bank to cancel your card and have any charges refunded.

Anonymous said...

I just noticed the same thing. I saw that there was a charge from a company called "Get Satisfaction, INC., San Fran.". I have never had any dealings with such a company and so I was immediatley suspicious of it. I looked for a few minutes on line and saw where this was happening to other people and so I called my bank just a few minutes ago and had the card cancelled. Of course they couldnt stop the pending debit, so I will have to wait until it hard posts to dispute it. Has anyone heard any additional information regarding this problem? Also, in response to one of the other posters, I do have an itunes account that was linked to that card.

Anonymous said...

Wow boy am I glad I found you guys I thought I was alone. I know I'm not crazy I know exactly what I put on my card and this was not something I purchased. I Just got a charge from "Experiancreditrepor877.....CA" so I called my bank and filed a claim. Blows my mind how its so easy for people to get a hold of our cc number. For the person that said theyr on to something, I think you are. I remember seeing a $1 charge a month ago and it fell off, I think they are seeing whose cards are open. Anyway, ill call "experian" on Monday and see what they say as well as the AG. Gotta stay in our toes these days.

Anonymous said...

So I had two recurring charges of 19.95 etc. Filed dispute with the bank, then called Experian the Experian Number says they'll refund the charges, also both were under different names.(Ciera B. and Muse T) I asked if they could tell me more info like the State of residence, I wanted to know if my card was stolen from my mailbox(I am missing my new card)
Although I see a theme iTunes.. can everyone else here confirm that it itunes that links all these issues?

Anonymous said...

I posted previously and I am still watching this $1.00 debit from the fake account set up as "Get Satisfaction". So far it is still pending and has not yet hard posted or dropped off. Since I cancelled my card as soon as I saw it, I did not get pinged with any other charges from the fake "Experian" but by the sounds of it, I surely would have had I not cancelled the card. I asked some questions on the the facebook page belonging to the legit company, "Get Satisfaction" and they were VERY helpful. They are very involved in this whole ordeal since they are being vicitmized as well (the criminals posing as them is bound to be screwing with their business pretty badly). The lady told me that since the first started almost a month ago, it has grown into a widespread problem and has gone from just being investigated by the Santa Cruz Police Dept. to being investigated by the FBI and Secret Service and that this past Friday, they were given an update by the investigating officers to let them know that the fraudulent accounts (the accounts that are actually making these charges onto our cards and where all of the money from these bogus charges is being stored) had been located and that they were in the process of shutting it down. She said that this was the last update that they got and that they would continue to post updates as they got them from the investigating officers. Now I am sure it will take them a lot longer to figure out where the criminals actually got our card numbers, but I am still in agreement with the previous poster, thinking that it may be a breach of the itunes system (especially since it has been breached several times in the past). Once my new card comes in, I am not linking it to iTunes. I will instead just go and buy those prepaid iYunes cards and go that way....better safe than sorry!

Anonymous said...

Noticed this morning an unauthorized $19.95 charge from Experian on 5/25. Listed as a "recur debit crd Experian*Credit 877-2977790 CA".

Have never been near any credit reporting sites. Its fraudulent.

Phoned bank hotline immediately, card cancelled and reissued, bank has reversed charge (within 48h), and said they will investigate. They were really good, no hassle at all.

Frightening how easy it is for thieves to do this. Card has not been out of my sight, nor have I purchasd anything online the last month or so.

Please everyone check your statements weekly.

Also I have not been near iTunes, so my cc details were not obtained through them.

Am not going to bother contacting Experian, they won't be any help by the sounds of it.

Anonymous said...

This happened to me and Experian told me the following...

"It's common for identity theives to get a hold of a credit card number and use it to buy someone else's credit report."

I guess it's like using a stolen car to commit a robbery.

Anonymous said...

The same thing happened to me. Two charged two days apart. So I called Capitol One and they did a 3 way call with an agent from Experian. Capitol One took down everything that was said and are looking into it. I hope they get taken down.

The Invisible said...

There are a few people on here that seem to be suggesting that this issue (people's credit cards being used to process transactions) isn't Experian or FreeCreditReport.com's fault. This is ABSOLUTELY untrue. Sure, some individual is using stolen information to make a transaction, but the companies TAKING THE MONEY are at fault for not making it more difficult to use stolen information (they aren't even verifying that the names used to process the transaction match the card number!!!). This is fraud, through and through, and Experian and FreeCreditReport.com MUST be held accountable. Experian is one of only three CREDIT REPORTING AGENCIES. Stopping this kind of nonsense is their JOB, and instead they are contributing to the proliferation.

Anonymous said...

I just discovered that this happened to me... A charge for $21.20 on 5/29 from "Experian *CreditRepo 877-2977790 CA" also marked "Recurring," so it's a membership? Luckily, I noticed before any additional charges. To add to the mystery, this was on my debit card. The bank account has only been open for about 6 months, and I don't use this card at all. I have bills paid electronically with the full bank account number and I use a cc (because of great rewards) for all in-store and online purchases. I've literally never entered the debit card number anywhere. How did someone get hold of this???

Anonymous said...

I was only pinged by the fraudulent merchant account set up as Get Satisfaction Inc. and I contacted the Secret Service and the FBI Cybercrimes Division and reported it. Since cancelling my debit card, I have seen the $1.00 charge that was holding against my account drop off, so I was lucky to have caught it early. However, I have been told that the fraudulent merchant account posing as Get Satisfaction Inc. has been located and sucessfully shut down. It seems that this was linked to another fraudulent merchant account set up under the name Experian, but since I was not impacted by that one, I have no idea the status of that fraudulent merchant account. Hopefully they were able to locate it as well and get it shut down.

Just remember that criminals can set up merchant accounts under the names of existing legit companies, so just because the charge came through with the name of a particular company, it doesnt necessarily mean that the charge was made by the legit company. In a case such as this, the legit companies are just as much of a victim as are the people who had their card numbers stolen and used. I am more concerned with where the breach of security came about, because that is where the criminals got our card info and I want to know what company had that breach. For now I am still thinking that iTunes is the most likely suspect and so I think someone over there needs to reevaluate their encryptions and securities over there.

Anonymous said...

Capitol one needs to wake up. Experian needs to wake up.
Check your transactions every month. Also check them online you won't have to wait for your statement to come in the mail.
Cash is king and allways will be.
Plastic money still has a LONG LONG way to go.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone out there know how to send or forward this whole blog to every Attorney General in the states? Would save a lot of time.

qcurly said...

Happened to me AND my mom. All within this month. They charged my bank acct so tomorrow I will go change accounts and I called and canceled my credit cards and now have new ones on the way. I have a question, though. I NEVER put any bank information OR credit card information online when I did my credit check. How did they get this info? Did they steal our social security card numbers? When I get my new cards and new bank acct, will these people be able to get access to those, also??

Ryan The Jenks said...

Everybody calm down. This isn't a conspiracy. Clearly someone is fraudulently using your card and they're probably doing it through a fake "business" account that they've set up. When you set up a business account, you can pick any name you want to appear on people's bills. You could call yourself "Barack Obama" if you wanted to. Then they just set up a redirect on their website to FreeCreditReport.com. They could have sent you to Google.com if they wanted to, but that doesn't mean that Google is involved with this.

These guys are very conniving and know the ways to mess with your head. I once received a phishing email that included a link to Bank0fAmerica.com (notice the zero in there?). When I clicked on the link, it opened a pop-up box for me to log in (because at the time browser pop-up windows didn't show a URL). Meanwhile the underlying web page redirected to the real bankofamerica.com website. Of course all this happened so quickly that I assumed that the pop-up originated from the real site and almost put my login info in. I'm positive that neither FreeCreditReport.com nor Experian had anything to do with this. The thugs just plastered those names on their merchant account so that you wouldn't question the transaction in your bank register.

Ryan The Jenks said...

P.S. It's worth a reminder to change your email account password (and make sure it's a complex password). All someone has to do is guess your email password and they have an open door into your whole life. Need bank access? No big deal, just search the victim's inbox to see who their bank is and then go request a password reset. They'll have to click the "confirm reset" email that shows up in your inbox, but then they'll delete it and there'll be no sign that anyone was there.

Anonymous said...

I noticed that I've been hit with this $19.95 charge for the last 2 months. Luckily, I caught them in time for my credit card company to cancel the charges. They said that I have to contact Experian to ensure the charges don't happen in the future, but when I call the Experian number, they can't help me unless I give them my full credit card number. Is there a way to get Experian to cancel this bogus membership without giving them your cc details?

Anonymous said...

Same thing happened to me I really wish someone would put them out of business they do not ask for the billing zip code or the security code on the back of the card Experian knows exactly what they are doing, they are trying to et every penny they can at the expense of the unknowing consumer, I would never do business with them.

Anonymous said...

So glad I just googled this. I live near Santa Cruz, and I have had 2 charges-one to my Amex at the end of April, and one to my debit card the second week of May. My bank called me with the Experian charge, and immediately changed my debit card, and I was never charged the fee. I'll call Amex tomorrow. It is interesting about Get Satisfaction. When I purchased a new phone through ATT, I noticed that I was being charged $3 a month for some game. I figured my teenage son had done it, so I cancelled it, and didn't think twice. I have used both my AMEX and debit card at the ATT store in Monterey, so I wonder if there is a connection there. I called Experian today and they wanted my credit card number. Like I was going to give it up! Wow, I really hope they catch these guys and figure out where the breach is. I'm glad to hear there is some progress. Keep us posted invisible!

Anonymous said...

They are still at it. I had an Experian charge of $21.20 on my Chase credit card statement and they had just posted one for the next month when I called. I called them and they issued a credit for the charges. I had never contacted Experian or even visited their website. Wrote to the Maryland Attorney General who could care less and passed the buck to another division. Basically a big "we don't care". This is the second time in 6 months that I've had to change my Chase card due to fraud. The first was with Home Shopping Network. I'm starting to wonder about Chase Bank. I guess the only thing we can do since the government doesn't care is to spread the word about this stuff and take away the bait.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for putting this out there. It almost seemed better to just deal with the credit card company...cancel the card and let them dispute it. Experian "acted" like they were appalled by the charges and then proceeded to tell me they would refund them for a certain amount when I hadn't even told them how much and how often I was charged. It's all part of their scam and they need to be shut down so keep this info. going.

Anonymous said...

Add me to the list of victims. I called Chase directly and since it's pending, they can't file a dispute claim yet.

Thought I would share this article published yesterday:
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_20892548/consumers-report-unauthorized-experian-charges

I noticed a few of you mentioned you're in Santa Cruz, which I am as well. Could it be possible that a store or restaurant we collectively shop at sold our info?

Anonymous said...

Responding to: "Anonymous said...
Does anyone out there know how to send or forward this whole blog to every Attorney General in the states? Would save a lot of time.
June 7, 2012 3:33 PM"
I agree. With everyone reporting this problem and nothing happening, there must be a better solution. B of Am told me they would block the company placing the charge and did not think it necessary to give me a new card. B of Am also told me that the company would give me only the first name and initial of last name, which turned out to be: "Tony B". The agent at 877-297-7790 told me that most likely if the name could be found, it would not be a real name, but he could not give me the last name for "security reasons". Also, he is located in the "Central Time Zone", but his location could not be given out due to "security reasons".
I use my B of Am card, a MC, about once a month and live in Massachusetts,
I have a satifaction form to complete for B of Am concerning this dispute, which was handled easily of the phone. I think it was routine for them. My main use card is Discover and I have never had such a charge with them.
I thank everyone who has participated on this blog for giving your stories...all basically the same. Great site.

Anonymous said...

Same thing happened to me. I noticed three months worth of charges from Experian for $21.20. I called my bank who said they would refund my money but only after the latest charge had gone through, which means I'll have to call back tomorrow. Meanwhile, they gave me the same 877 number for Experian and the lady there told me a "Natasha B." and any "Amy V." were authorized to purchase a credit report with my debit card. They said they would refund my $60+, but I'll believe it when I see it. I'm calling my bank back tomorrow regardless. Dirty thieves!!

The Invisible said...

Just wanted to reiterate to those people kind of defending the credit card companies... if they had ANY measures in place to stop people from using false information to charge people's cards, none of this would be happening. You shouldn't be able to make an Experian or FreeCreditReport.com "purchase" with only a credit card number. (You shouldn't be able to make ANY purchase with just a number). They should at the VERY LEAST require expiration dates and verification numbers, also cross checks with addresses and billing zip code and/or billing phone number.

Anonymous said...

still happening as of 7/1. contacting Santa Cruz DA as it seems to be localized here.
robin.gysin@co.santa-cruz.ca.us

Bachfool said...

Got charged on 7/7/12 with $19.95. does calling the attorney general help at all? its pretty much bull. a;lksjdflkasjd;f.

Anonymous said...

Just adding to the pile:

I just caught this same charge that has been happening once a month since April 2012. Called AMEX and they're investigating and reversing the charge.

Thanks for the post!

Anonymous said...

I'm actually on the other side of this fraud. I just received my free Experian credit report from AnnualCreditReport.com and there were 7 "soft" inquiries from ConsumerInfo.com and one from "Experian" between November 2011 and April 2012.

I've been a victim of identity theft several times in the past and currently have a fraud alert and credit freeze with all three of the major credit reporting agencies plus Innovis.

What I think is happening is that identity thieves are using sites like ConsumerInfo.com to order credit reports on their victims using stolen credit card numbers.

I tried calling ConsumerInfo.com for more information on why they were accessing my credit report and, after asking for my full name and ZIP code, the telephone assistor said she had no record of an account. She gave me Experian's regular toll-free number for more assistance.

I'm going to try calling them later on today, but I don't have much hope they'll be able to provide any information. When I've dealt with Experian in the past regarding my incidences of identity theft, they've been extremely unhelpful and even told me the police report I provided "didn't meet FCRA standards."

On the other hand, the other credit bureaus, especially TransUnion, were much more willing to assist.

If they stonewall me, I'm going to have to consult a lawyer. I'm sick of irresponsible companies, like Experian, making it easy for identity thieves to do their thing and then protecting their information when the fraud is brought to their attention.

The Invisible said...

It is certainly a sad state of affairs when Experian reports that Experian is one of the "soft inquiries," yet they do nothing to prevent this from happening (or combat it after the fact... or ASSIST those affected). There are several parties who could do something about this (the credit reporting agency, the bank, the attorney general), but no one wants to take the responsibility. How long will this go on before someone does something about it?

Totorodad said...

Experian and Free Credit Report not scrubing the CC user by using the security code or verifying name is why they should be sued for fraud. How is that online website have higher security then a Credit company????!!! Experian I spank your wank for this and have reported you to the fraud agency via my CC.

El Macho said...

This is happening in Texas as well. I received a $12.95 charge in June from "Experian", and was able to get the charged reversed from my bank. I thought it was a one-time mistake. Last week, another $12.95 charge from "Experian" went through. Again, my bank was very helpful. I found this blog, and mentioned it to my co-worker. She just happened to log in and check her accounts, and sure enough, two charges (one June, one July) from "Experian" have been charged to her account. We each have a different bank. Very fishy.

Anonymous said...

Its happening in North Dakota too.
It was for $21.20 here.

Anonymous said...

I'm in Santa Cruz as well! It was my husbands debit card that was charged. I finally noticed the different charges on our BOA account:
Experian
Rewardsnow.co.uk
Quiccreditscore.co.uk

BTW, We've never bought itunes.

Hillarybomb said...

My husband and I have been victims of Experian several times over the years, and discovered a link between Experian and Amazon. Every time we got charged by Experian, we cancelled our debit card as compromised. The only other place we used our debit card online was Amazon, and within a month of putting the new card # on Amazon, we would receive a charge from Experian. Also, when we once had a fraudulent charge from Amazon and disputed it with them, they gave me the name of the person in whose name a fraudulent account was opened - and it was the same name that was used in a fraudlent Experian account.

Hillarybomb said...

Also, some of the Experian charges we received came through on previously cancelled debit card #s, it turns out Bank of America allows charges to come through on old card numbers if they are considered ongoing, annual charges - It allows the charge to come through on an updated card number. We were finally able to stop further charges by having Bank of America completely block the merchant, in this case Experian, from charging our account ever. But we had to specifically request this with our bank - previously they had put a stop payment on the individual charges only, and Experian was able to charge us again months later.

Hillarybomb said...

Also, I'm from Santa Cruz! What a weird coincidence??

The Invisible said...

Astounding (and AWFUL) that BoA would allow charges to come through from a cancelled card. I understand the "theory" of why they would do this, but the whole point of cancelling a card is that it has been compromised! And it's EXTREMELY possible that any recurring charge would be coming from a fraudulent source! Ugh.

Anonymous said...

I'm from Santa Cruz and got the $19.95 charge too. I called my credit card company and they called "Experian" for me and the two were on the line together. The "Experian" rep wanted my credit card number, then said they had no record of my account, so could do nothing. She then asked for my birth date and other information, but I refused. So, then the credit card rep said she would cancel my credit card # and issue a new one. In reading some of these other posts, I'm wondering now if we were really speaking to an Experian rep rather than a scammer and this is a way to get my credit card number? Luckily the number is cancelled. I reported this to the DA and to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Anonymous said...

Something similar just happened to me using a Capital One card... Dollar transactions on a previous card, followed by two $19.95 charges on the newly issued one after Capital One caught the fraudulent dollar charges.

After reviewing my statement, I realized that the only online merchant I've given the new number to is Ticketmaster, and I remember doing so either via my iPhone or via my work computer. Considering the strength of the security of our network at work, I strongly doubt it could be obtained via my work PC. So, I'm guessing someone either obtained it through my iPhone or through Ticketmaster.

Anonymous said...

This has been happening to me since February 2012. I called the bank and they gave me my money back but noticed that Experian kept doing it and the bank didn't stop it. They had to cancel my card today. What if they keep charging me? Why is FreecreditReport.com lying? No wonder they can afford the annoying commercials.

Anonymous said...

I also had 19.95 for the last 4 months from experian. I cancelled my card also, it was my debit/visa card attached to my checking account. The bank would not refund my money, so I called the 877 #. The guy (foreign) needed my CC # to look up my account, and I figured since I just canceled that card it wouldn't hurt to let him look. He was very nice and told me Someone named Hannah T. had used it to order a credit report. And I should be getting a refund in 7-10 days. We shall see. At least I was able to cancel the card.

Anonymous said...

I live near Atlanta and haven't yet made it to California, so it's definitely not limited to Santa Cruz.

Anonymous said...

Happened to me too. The big red flag: it was on a card I NEVER use and has a zero balance. Plus, I haven't ordered a credit report in years. And two consecutive months have racked up so far, with the CC company seeing it as a "subscription."

Has to be some kind of inside job either at the bank or Experian or an elaborate coop deal. George B. was the name on my charges, there is clearly a convention to how they do this! No questions asked, even though that's not the name on the card???

I asked to be provided any more info yielded by both Experian's & the CC's investigation. I plan to put a password on all CC accounts and lock this account. Not enough I think that they are cancelling that number and giving me a new one.

Anonymous said...

my card company caught the 19.95 charge and have i just finished my letter to the attorney general for the morning mail. i'm not some conspiracy theorist or anything, but it just seems that there should be better security with experian and their consumers

Anonymous said...

winner winner, chicken dinner. i've been getting charged 19.95 on a cc card that i never use for the last 14 months! called the number listed with the Experian charge and after talking with the operator for several minutes, felt comfortable enough to give her my card number. she said they'll be refunding the last years worth of charges, but after reading this blog, i'll be calling my wells fargo visa to get the charges reversed and card cancelled. i would love to know how this whole scam works. i did request a credit report awhile back, but can't remember exactly when.

Anonymous said...

I'm in Seattle and this just happened to me too. I don't beleive the 877 number listed on my cc bill is a legitimate Experian phone number. I have spoken with my bank and they are disputing the charges. I emailed Experian from their actual website and they gave me a number to call. The person on that line didn't have any record of me. I didn't give them my CC #. But now that this has happened, I want to check my credit report. Who can I trust to check it?

The Invisible said...

From the FDIC website (http://www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/news/cnwin0203/three.html):

The Three Major Credit Bureaus

Here's how to contact the three major credit bureaus to ask about or obtain your credit report or credit score, alert creditors to a possible fraud using your name, or for any other reason:

Equifax: 800-685-1111 (general) or 800-525-6285 (fraud); P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374; www.equifax.com

Experian: 888-397-3742 (general and fraud); PO Box 2002, Allen, TX 75013, www.experian.com.

TransUnion: 800-888-4213 (general) or 800-680-7289 (fraud); P.O. Box 2000, Chester, PA 19022; www.transunion.com.

Note: To "opt out" or remove your name and address from mailing lists provided by these three credit bureaus and another nationwide company (Innovis) to marketers, call toll-free 888-567-8688. See "Call the Credit Bureaus to Limit Unsolicited Offers" for more details.

Anonymous said...

i was also charge for 5(FIVE) TIMES. April till july i just knew that i was charge when i opened my OnLine banking in wells fargo today. they've been charging me $19.95.. its the first time i heard "Experian" never did i visited or apply their whatsoever company. neither did i lend or tell anybody my account/debit number. So i called my bank and they will cancel my card and send me a new Card. Will that stop them charging my account?

Anonymous said...

About a year and a half ago, I went to freecreditreport.com to apply for their services. I paid the 19.95 fee for a trial period that would include the credit report from the three creditors (so they said). Once I started utilizing this site, I realized that they only displayed one of three creditors and it was inaccurate. I then proceeded to call their customer service hotline to cancel my subscription because I thought it was misleading in presenting your report from the creditors. They told me that all was well and that I wouldnt see any more charges on my account from them. It has been over a year and I have spent numerous hours on the phone with them and my bank (chase) trying to figure out why I am still getting charged. My bank ended up canceling my card several months ago which seemed to help until lately. I have seen about two 19.95 charges this month from the experian site. Now I have to change my account completely. This really bothers me because I am a single mother, worker and student....I dont have a lot of money to begin with and being a victim of some sort of fraud is just cruel. I hope that this issue gets put in the spotlight so that the company will have to either pay for damages to consumers or close the business down and sue them.

Anonymous said...

I just got hit for it today... still going on... nothing has been done about it yet as it would appear. First reported in February now its August... mine still showing as Pending, and i don't know if there are charges in past months. Might be looking at a new card here as well. Even the Chinese restaurant has better security than these guys do, asking for Billing Zip, EXP date and CCV Code... just to get some fried rice, yet a financial/credit institution cant use any of these measures to prevent fraud?!?!?!

Anonymous said...

I actually spoke to someone from Experian who claimed I signed up for some service of theirs for $17.95/month. I absolutely did not. There was no way for me to log into their website even, as I had never created an account there. In my case, Experian was legitimately the company I was being charged from. I called and told them to close my account and if a charge was made to my card it would be disputed as fraudulent. We'll see.

Cameron Little said...

I have a pending charge from PISCES III INC from APLINGTON IA, a company that does not exist. It is for less than $25. My bank says I have to wait to see if the charge goes through or not, but I did not buy anything from this company and when I googled the name, nothing came up. I checked the Sec of State for IA, no such company. The town of Aplington IA has 1200 people and its business listings does not have anything close to PISCES III INC. This is a scam. Somehow someone took my debit info and ran a charge through my acct. My bank, West Coast Bank, said it could not look into this or even discover anything about this company until the charge was finalized and I have the $25 taken then I can file a Reg E claim and hope the bank does it's job. This is lame. No such company places a charge on my acct and I have to wait and watch while I am ripped off? I filed a police report and at least they were interested but it was out of their every day crime stuff so I have to wait as well. This is not right.

Anonymous said...

Just found 6 charges from experian for 19.95 on my bank account from the same day (the 26th) every month. I hope I can get my money back because I am a poor college student :( I am going to my bank tomorrow in between classes to fight this.

Anonymous said...

hi poor college student, same thing happens here, i was charged 19.95 by this experian 877 for the past 5 months, that's 100 dollar in total!! Wasn't aware of that because i was out of the country for the past few months, came back and talked to chase bank, they reversed the charges and i got part of the money back because chase said they can't do anything to a transaction that is made 90 days earlier. but yesterday i got an email from chase and say they contacted experian and experian actually gave credit to the charges they made on my bank account!!! They took the money back!!!!

Anonymous said...

I had the same problem in the UK. I found it impossible to close my account down through email, even though i supplied all the answers to their security questions they insist that i call. I called, i wrote, i emailed and they just wouldn't stop charging me so i had to change my bank details. They then charged my new bank account even though i'd given them no permission so i shut that down. Next month they charged a credit card that i had never even given them the details to! It took over a year to stop them charging them.

They talk about using their services to avoid fraud and ID theft. They're fraudsters themselves!

Teacher said...

A new wrinkle: I received an email from "Stacy" offering to rent a house to me at a very cheap price off of Craigs List. She requested a credit report providing a link to Experian's "free credit report," but when the site asked for my credit card number I shut it down -- obviously a scam. Today I noticed that the hyperlink to expedian has changed urls: http://chksvcxdt.co.cc/7Fjaq0tQOPIwInj6j92VGp52

Clicking on this link now reverts to Google. My guess is that the crooks shut it down after I didn't bite.

There is clearly a massive cyberscam going on here.

Anonymous said...

ive been charged from experian for the last 5 months. i dindt know what it was so i let it go, i thought id bought something that i forgot, until i check my checking account and noticed it again.. and went back and check and saw theyve been charging me, what do i do? will the bank refund me?

Anonymous said...

there are so many numbers on their websites, which number do i call?

Anonymous said...

so i just contacted Experian, and the rep was really nice, she asked how many times i was charged, for the dates and then waited a little until she said i will get refunded from 7-10 business days! so if this happened to u, just call them! the number should appear on your statement!

Anonymous said...

i gave my debit card number to that rep, should i be scared? can she use that card number to charge me? she said i will get the money refunded..

Anonymous said...

People. It is because Free Credit Report and Experian ARE ONE AND THE SAME. I surprised none of you can figure this out. What makes this so duplicitous is that on freecreditreport.com and freecreditscore.com Experian will tell you that your credit is just fine and dandy. Then when a lender makes an inquiry, Experian will tell you that you are a criminal. My freecreditscore.com told me I was in the 60th percentile. They told my potential creditors that I was in the 22nd percentile. The website are lying to you to get your $19.95 every month.

Anonymous said...

OMG, the same stuff happened to me. It was an old cc#, but the dang bank put the charge through!
Now I have some weird lawyer's office calling random people at my work for me, just a day after I disputed the charges and after another charge was denied. The bank refunded an overdraft caused by two accounts. Maybe it's the free magazine offer?
I tried to put a fraud alert on my credit report but I was denied accesd Some magazines are published through AME. I'm freaking out and will be reporting this to the police.

Anonymous said...

AMEX, for the free magazines (sorry about the typos)

Anonymous said...

1. Call your CC company immediately tell them its fraud if you did not order.
2. File a report with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau www.cfpb.gov . You can do this online. State it is fraud, if it indeed is.
3. Experian is a company with HQ in Ireland but trades on pink sheets in the U.S. File a complaint with the SEC at www.sec.gov
4. File a complaint with your State's Attorney General or the AG California, which is where they have their headquarters.
5. Write to your Congress person. (Probably the lowest chance of success.
6. Write to Experian US Public Relations officer: Greg.young@experianinteractive.com and request name and contact address of their Chief Compliance Officer and file a complaint. I you get no answer, file complaint with SEC.
7. You can call your CC and put a "Merchant Block" for any illegal charges, just name the company and that's that. Any future charges will be rejected.
Make sure you did not order anything, first of course.

Do act. If you don't it will just get worse.
Good luck!
Retired Banker

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your comment I have had a fraudulent
charge for 34.95 $ from AllGames Media which I m currently disputing with my Visa credit card issuer.

Anonymous said...

I also had unathorized charges to my account about a month ago 3 charges for 4.95 each to equifax had those reversed account closed and new account opened less then a month later my new card was charged again to equifax consumer but this time for 16.95 i have only made 3 purchases on it to 3 places, checked those with previous statement no common point of sale. 2 online orders but made on different computer. i am at a lost. dont know if i want another card issued. maybe the bank was hijacked. its wells fargo..

Anonymous said...

I just cancelled my Discover card, reported this company, since they were charging me without any authorization! I will consider Sending NY A.G. an email as well to alert them. They may start a class action suit. This is unacceptable, from a supposedly credtit rating company!!!

Anonymous said...

I just called their Customer Care phone number: 866-431-3471

http://info.experiandirect.com/TakeAction.aspx

At first the lady tried to tell me that since I did not opt out within the 7 days that the charges were valid. She offered to refund the last month's charges of $19.05. She then offered a 50% discount on future month's fees (Ha!!).

I asked "so out of the $120 in fees for a service I never signed up for you can only give me $20 back?"

She placed me on hold for about 3 minutes then came back saying that she had cancelled my membership effective immediately and that all the fees I paid thus far will be refunded to me.

Don't take no for an answer, people.

Anonymous said...

Got hit with the same scam above, except I'm not the type of person to wonder if I've "accidentally" signed up for something I wasn't aware of. I manage my identify and finances with a microscope. Long story short, I called the number in the post above to actually get a rep on the line. They took my card information (to pull up the account) and found it was setup a while back under some piece of shit named "Rebecca T." and agreed to refund all charges incurred. Nice gesture, but they were not forthcoming at all with how the account was compromised or what city/state Rebecca is based out of. I cancelled the card with the bank and will be filing a police report on the matter.

Anonymous said...

This is sad, that the scam is still continuing in 2013. The only reason I wanted to check my credit score was because my college had listed three websites that supposedly did free credit scores, that goes to show that you can't even believe colleges. Nothing has happened to me as of yet, I made my account yesterday and then after seeing a membership, I cancelled today in which they sent a cancellation email but said that they will send a final on the last day of the trial, which I will call again if I don't see anything.

Anonymous said...

I recently checked my credit reports via Experian’s on-line service. They claimed I was not eligible for a free report (which may not be true) and offered to provide a report for $1.00. Because it was only $1.00 per report I agreed, paid by credit card, and obtained my report and my wife’s report on Jan 21, 2013.

In February and March our credit card started being automatically charged by Experian, twice per month for $17.95. It turns out that by paying $1 to see each credit report we unknowingly signed up for some type of monthly credit checking service from Experian for my wife and me. I never asked Experian to be enrolled in this service and have no need for it. After calling Experian and questioning them, they said it was all in the fine print. I asked them to show me the fine print and they refused. I asked them to refund my money and they refused. I asked to speak to a supervisor at their off-shore customer service center and they refused.

I canceled the service over the phone, but am not sure that I trust them to stop charging us.

This appears to be a classic bait and switch case by a credit reporting company that we should be able to trust. I believe that Experian is implementing deceptive, aggressive, and potentially fraudulent on-line sales practices. I’m wondering how many others Experian may be taking advantage of with these questionable practices.

Anonymous said...

On January 24th 2012 (over a year ago) my fiancé and I went online to Experian to check our credit scores for $1 and we paid using his credit card. Over a year later now that we are married and combining accounts I noticed that his account was being billed $17.95 per month times 2 for both of our credit reports each month that's $35.90 per month that we never authorized. I contacted Experian and talked to a supervisor named Alicia and she said the best they could do was refund us 3 months at most, then I complained more and she said they could refund for 6 months back totaling $215.40 since she said they can't help it if the consumer is "click happy" and doesn't read the fine print that after 7 days the free trial ends and you HAVE to call and cancel otherwise your account will be billed $17.95 per month for their credit report service!!!

I am so angry that a credit reporting agency would try to take people's hard earned money in this economy when so many of us are trying to get out of debt and raise our credit scores! They are supposed to help us stay away from fraudsters not be the fraudsters themselves!!!!!!! She referred me to write a letter to consumer affairs in Texas Po Box 2390 Allen Tx 75013 so I will try our bank and consumer affairs to get the money refunded. I wrote to the attorney general in Ca here and the BBB to complain on them and I hope everyone else does the same who they stole from!

Odatpotter said...

I caught my scam today. Two charges of $19.95

Best I can reckon it was when I filled out an online job application that had me do a credit report back on April.

My bank is taking care of it. What I don't understand is why hasn't this been nipped on the bud.

Anonymous said...

I was also ripped of by FreeCreditReport. They hide the fees in the "Terms & Conditions" at the bottom of the page when entering your CC #. If you read the "Terms & Conditions" it lists the fees about halfway through a multiple pages of crap. You have a "Free" 7 day trial, then they charge you $19.99 a month afterwards. Please call 1-877-481-6826 to cancel.

Part of the "terms & Conditions" is listed below.

"Credit Monitoring Membership With Free Trial (Applicable to Single-Bureau Monitoring): You will be asked for valid credit card information when you sign up for the free credit monitoring trial. CIC will verify your credit card information before processing your order. An authorization in the amount of one dollar will be performed on your credit card to make sure it is valid and in good standing and the one dollar authorization amount may count against your credit or debit limit. Additionally, your credit card will be charged a non-refundable $1 fee, plus any applicable sales tax, for your Credit Report. However, CIC will not bill you the monthly membership price of $19.99 until the free trial period has ended. If you do not cancel your free trial membership within 7 days of the date you place your order, your membership will continue automatically and the monthly/annual fee will be billed to the credit card or other billing source provided by you when you enrolled in credit monitoring, on the first day of each successive membership term. The credit monitoring benefit may only be available for 5 days during your trial period; however, other product features and benefits will be available to you during your entire trial period."

Unknown said...

We tried to get my husband's credit report from freecreditreport.com about a week ago and chose the $1 option. There was nothing clearly stated that we were "enrolling" in anything. The worst part is that we kept getting kicked off the website and our card was never charge the $1 fee and we never saw a credit report. We even tried twice. And then today there was a $19.99 charge from Experian. Needless to say we are NOT happy.

Anonymous said...

I just found out I was paying this 19.95 fee for months. When I provided the credit card number to them, they said some other totally random person setup an account and they "must have typed the wrong credit card number".

I find it incredible that a company that was created to help people protect their credit would allow accounts to be created with someone with a totally different name and address "mistyping" a credit card number.

They so quickly refunded my money that I am sure they know it is a total scam.

Anonymous said...

I just noticed the Experian charge of $19.95 with the same # 877-297-7790 out of CA. I called Experian and was told that "Faulkner" had enrolled in Experian using my cc # and was pulling his own credit reports. Additionally, 3 other names, unknown to me, were somehow tagged on the acct. using my cc# but they did not use it (yet) for any membership. This has been going on monthly for awhile, but I just caught it now. Experian is supposedly refunding me the whole amount with backpay....we'll see!

Anonymous said...

Same thing happened to me. I just cancelled my BofA debit card. So...why hasn't the Attorney General done anything about Freecreditreport.com?

Anonymous said...

Experian is also highly suspect. Attorney General, and other consumer protection groups, why are you letting this continue? Look at all the people on this post alone who have been victimized!

Anonymous said...

REPORT THIS TO THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU!!!!

http://www.bbb.org

Anonymous said...

Just happened to me. "BENITO R." was the approving party (not my name). I called Experian and asked them to cancel my charges and all accounts and they did.

Anonymous said...

IMPORTANT UPDATE regarding HOW TO GET A REFUND FROM THESE CROOKED THIEVES! (sorry about the all caps here, but I wanted to share how I figured out how to get a refund).

I, too, was charged for both Experian and TransUnion related charges on my personal bank account about 7 days after I unknowingly signed up for this "credit monitoring service" from the freecreditreport (dot.) com service owned by Consumerinfo(dot.)com, Inc.

Basically, they scam you by making you think that you are obtaining a free credit report. When in reality, you (like myself) probably missed the fine print that states that you have 7 days to cancel this "free" service (for that moment in time) and then you shall be charged monthly at whatever rate (16.95 for one Experian and $19.95 for TransUnion in my case).

THE SOLUTION: Call up the toll free number listed on your actual bank statement where the charges are indicated. You will first call and talk to a general customer representative. They are the bottom of the totem pole and are encouraged to recite the standard speech to you that includes how you agreed to this service and that there is "nothing that they can do". (This may be true, but their supervisor can and will do this).

You have to choose tactful words, such as "attorney" or "lawyer" or "your website is misleading to consumers and the Federal Trade Commission and my Attorney General for my state would likely pursue this case"... "and if not, I will be leading a class action lawsuit", etc.

Once you have worn the customer service representative out, they will tell you they are transferring you to their manager. Once the manager comes online, act calmer, but try to be concise and firm with your belief that this is not fair and you are not happy with these services. They refunded both of my charges (supposedly: we'll see in about 5 days or so if that really happened).

This may only resolve individual's problems and not address the larger issue, but at least they will be surrounding the money they coerced you into giving them unfairly.

Good luck!

Anonymous said...

typo to my last comment...
surrounding should have been "surrendering".

Anonymous said...

This just happened to me. I woke up this morning to a charge from "Experian *creditreport" on my credit card that I have only used once in a few months. Called my bank first and had them shutdown the card. Then they gave me the number to call and sure enough it was freecreditreport.com. Someone named James A. had used my info to open an acct. I am also confused on how a "credit reporting agency" can allow this type of fraud. They should mandate that you use a card connected to your name and/or with an address attached to your report.

Anonymous said...

It happened to me too. I realized my AMEX was billed $21.20 every month for the last 21 months. Never spotted the charge because it was relatively small plus my typical AMEX statement has a few pages. I called Experian and they promised to refund me the charges. When I asked who authorized use of my card they said Nika.G - never heard of such a person. Can you believe this scam?

Laura J Harrison said...

10/24/13 RECUR DEBIT CRD PMT10/23 EXPERIAN *CREDI 877-2977790 CA 434257XXXXXX7558 303296619917256 ?MCC=5968
These charges are on my bank card. I just noticed them...
$24.95
09/24/13 RECUR DEBIT CRD PMT09/23 EXPERIAN *CREDI 877-2977790 CA 434257XXXXXX7558 463266622196781 ?MCC=5968 $24.95
08/26/13 RECUR DEBIT CRD PMT08/23 EXPERIAN *CREDI 877-2977790 CA 434257XXXXXX7558 583235596293108 ?MCC=5968 $19.95

Anonymous said...

I had 3 charges, $1, $32, $19 on a Citibank card within a week. I cancelled the card and disputed the charges. I wonder if Experian itself sprung a data leak as they probably have a lot of credit card numbers and monthly payments to compute the credit scores they sell.

Anonymous said...

It happen to me too, I have been charged 19.95 for 9 months and now 24.95 for the last 3. I called and was told "James M" and that i would be refunded. Did everyone actually get there promised refunded $? Or is this going to be a longer / bigger fight with these C**ksuckers?

Anonymous said...

This just happened to me. I called them and demanded my money back. I told them I was reporting them to the FBI and disputing the charges with my credit card company. This has pissed me off beyond reason. These people need to be shut down now.

Anonymous said...

Hi just wanted to thank you for havinng this blog.. Yes, I too , have had the charges for the last two months.on my debit card ( I think it may have something to do with the Target (hacking) just not sure.. but, I will be taking care of this in the morning.. thanks so much !

Anonymous said...

I have been charged over $131 by this company and after 2 calls I think got canceled yesterday. Refunded $32.95, big deal, will be calling my bank tomorrow to dispute charges. After reading these complaints going back 2012 why is this company still in business

Unknown said...

This has just happened to me. I went to the freecreditreport dot com or whatever the website is that allows you to look at your credit LEGALLY for free every year (Sorry, too lazy to look it up). Anyway, to get my score, I had to pay $4.95. I have done this so many times in the past and have never had a problem. This was supposed to just be a one time fee and I did not sign up for ANY MONTHLY CHARGES.

Just today I noticed that $14.95 was taken out of my account. I was beyond mad. I called the number on my bank statement and spoke with a foreign lady. I told her I did not authorize for this. She stated that I signed up for it when I payed the $4.95 in Feb. Then, she explained that my credit score can change all the time blah, blah. I told her I didn't have time to talk to her, I was at work and I want that $14.95 off of my account immediately. She told me she could cancel my account but the $14.95 was non refundable. I got very angry after that went back and forth with her. At the end, she told me that my account was cancelled and that she would refund me back the $14.95. She stated I would get an email within 24 hours. I guess I'll see whether or not I'll get a refund.

I feel sorry for those that don't check their account every week like I do. It could easily slip by them.

By the way, they did the same thing to my mom (as we looked up our credit scores together).

I am beyond mad but just thankful I caught it.

These people need to be put out of business!!!!

Anonymous said...

I GOT OVER GHARGE BY HOME PROJECTS THEY WILL NOT GIVE ME THE NO PAPER WORK ABOUT HOW THEY CHARGE ME WELLS FARGO WILL NOT GIVE ME NO PAPER WAYNE JOHNSON AND CUSTOMER SERVICE ARE CHARGING FOR CHEAP METAL ROOF I HAVE A LAWYER FOR HOME PROJECT AND WELLS FARGO

Anonymous said...

6560I received a charge from FreeCreditReport.com for 19.99 and three days later got hit for another 24.95 before i caught. I called them 1-877-300-2506, found two accounts had been opened under a name of Jackie A - never heard of. I did have to sit on hold for a supervisor for about 10min, but to stop the charges no issue. She was friendly enough and refunded both charges and blocked that card for further use with them.

Anonymous said...

Experian UK are the SAME !

There is a service called " Credit Expert " , ince you sign up for the 30 day free trial, which gives you absolutely NOTHING in the way of useful information! .. -THEY WON'T LET YOU CANCEL !

The membership cancellation number is always down, the service staff pretend they can't hear or understand you !

Anyone from the UK, please go here BBC WATCHDOG https://ssl.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mg74/contact

and fill in the form to report EXPERIAN CREDIT EXPERT ..they are currently under investigation and will soon fall if we all work together.

Anonymous said...

I cannot believe this has been going on so long. My daughter just discovered that she has been charged 19.19 since January this year. she requested a free credit report in March 2014 and authorized the $14.95 fee. after further investigation found that they had been charging her debit card each month. She called Experian or what she thought was Experian and they said they would only refund 1 month. After much argument they gave her a bogus email address of Experianinteraction.com to further dispute the charges. After i googled dispute experian charges i found this blog and she called Wells fargo to report fraudulent charges to her account. They said they would investigate but she had waited too long to notify them of the charges and they could not guarantee the charges could be removed. We are going to Wells Fargo tomorrow to show them the blog and see if they will take some action.

Anonymous said...

I went too get my credit report last month, and when i signed up i only got a summary of my credit report. it actually had the option too have it mailed too you, i've done it before so i said i needed it again. well not even 2 weeks later they charged me 24.95 i was like what the hell. So i was like ok maybe they will send my credit report in the mail. Yesterday they charged me again of 24.95, now i'm pissed. I called and the excuse they have is, you can not have your credit report mailed too you and it clearly says you are signing a membership. I was like no it only has a summary. I demanded my money back and they're only refunding 1 month. I think it's crap they can get away with this. I never received an email and they say it's optional. What the hell???? I am so disgusted with this company that NEVER again, if I can't figure out my credit with a person face to face then I am not that desperate. After it was said and done I said well you charged me 24.95 but you can't produce my credit report? the lady said no. wow. unblievable!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Well, I just wanted to add to the long list so that others know this is still going on. I paid for a one-time credit report at a web site that appeared to be Experian, the reputable credit agency. They pulled this "7 day trial" BS and then charged my credit card a recurring fee. I never signed up for any kind of subscription to a service. Total scam. The name of the scammer on the bank statement was similar to the name mentioned on this blog - Experian* CA plus a phone number. Will be contacting my bank and the Attorney General's office. Now these scammers have my sensitive information. Great.

Anonymous said...

Still going on. I've never had this problem before. (My acct is over 10 yrs old) I have charges of $1.00, 32.95 and 19.95 on my bank account. The 19.95 is a recurring charge. I DID NOT DO IT. Either someone used my card to do it and I have a security problem or my bank does or EXPERIAN has a security problem.

I look at my browser history and no such pages were visited

What gets me is that VISA wants a "written explanation" of the disputed charge. WILL THEY ASK THAT OF EXPERIAN?

Unknown said...

WOW JUST CHECKED MY BANK AND I HAVE NOT ONE BUT FOUR $1 CHARGES THEN A 32.95 A 19.95 AND TWO 24.95 CHARGES MY BANK WILL NOT OPEN UNTIL TOMORROW AND NOW I'M PISSSED

Anonymous said...

My wife was charged five accounts we validated none. Never heard of them. So I did allot of research here is what I learned. Experian isn't responsible. ThIer customer service adult first is horrible but ones you learn how to navigated it, it becomes much easier and they are aware of what's happening. They were very helpful once we talked to the right people. So how does it happen? Malware trjion back door virus. That kind of crap. It's all about identity theft. They use your cards to steal someone else's identity. How it works? Once they got your credit card. They buy credit reports under someone else's name whom they managed to steal. That credit report gives them additional information and gives then the ability to make credit cards in others name. Then they go on a doing spree. I talked with Experian fit a few hours. I told them they shOuld have a polIcy where if the name of the credit card dosent match the account it should be investigated. They argue that the service they provide is ment to help puerile build credit and normally they have other people pay on thier behalf. U still think the policy shOuld change. At any rate they will turn over names to you and if you push it they will supina people to court if you push the issue. Ironically. This company also helps prevent identity theft (not doing a very good job). Overall it's still very shady I wouldn't recommend using it regardless.

The Invisible said...

EXACTLY. If they simply did a "double check" when the card on the payment doesn't match the name on the account, this problem would be COMPLETELY eliminated. They are NOT a good company (yet they are in charge of telling the world if OUR behavior (credit/spending/payment) is up to snuff. Ridiculous.

Anonymous said...

Legitimate credit reporting agencies? Freecreditreport.com is run by Experian!

Experian is the one committing fraud. Do not go onto their website. You will be a victim of fraud perpetrated on you by Experian themselves!

The only website you should be accessing is freeannualcreditreport.com. That is the website that follows the law stating that everyone may receive a free copy of their crdit report.

Experian et al have instilled fear in people. Fear of some "individual" crime, credit card "fraud". In reality it is corporate monopoly finance capitalists that are stealing your money.

The best thing for everyone to do is, if you can, close your credit card and let the bank know your reasons why (that experian is stealing our money).

If you used your bank account debit card, change the card number and make sure Experian cannot access your banking number. If you did not authorize the charge and your bank does not credit you, open up an account at a different bank and then close your account with the current bank.

We have to get banks to stop processsing any payments for Expeiran but it won't happen. Experian and banks are part of the exploitation of man by man that is connected with the capitalist system.

Marxism Leninism and communism is the only way this will stop and society will move forward.

Anonymous said...

We have five fraudulent charges pending on my wife's account. Experian*CA is one of them. WEB*1Shopping, RN* and RN*REALPLAYER AND Choice Home Warranty. Choice Home Warranty seems to be a real company out of NJ. Called my bank and they say I have to dispute these charges with the companies first. Then if that doesn't work then they bank will investigate.

I'll be calling each, contacting the bank and the AG in my home state. I've already cancelled my debit card.

Anonymous said...

Same here.. cancelling the card anyway as I was about to pay it off. I'm going to go to the bank now and handle this.. You would think the bank wouldnt allow this transaction with this many people complaining!

Unknown said...

Thanx for the info they did the same thing to me a recurring monthly charge, thank God I checked my account today and caught a charge from them I called and they had signed me up for a membership which I never signed up for. They cancelled it and are crediting back my card for the last transaction... Thanx for their phone number..Troy

Anonymous said...

I have read all of the blogs and can not believe it has been going on for a long time and is still operating this way without consequence. My debit card was charged $29.95 per month for EXPERIAN. I did not authorize this and have to pay whatever fee's the bank will charge me, but that is better than paying a make believe company. I will notify the AG in this state.

Anonymous said...

This also happened to me last week, and I want to share a few things that I've found out:
1.Technically, we DID authorize the $19.95. It was just too difficult to notice, since it was written in tiny fonts that almost fade into the background.
2.Four days after I checked my credit report (i.e. gave them my personal info), I received more financial promotional materials by mail than I had ever seen. I knew then that something was wrong.
2.I found out that Consumerinfo.com has been sued and fined in 2007 for their fraudulent practices. But I couldn't find any info that can explain why this company is still in business.
3.I immediately called my credit card company, and they've agreed to reverse the charge and block this merchant from my account.
4.annualcreditreport.com, without any misspelled or omitted letters, is the ONLY credit report site authorized by federal law. I used Experian again via this site, and everthing is OK. Under my "recent request" section, I noticed that this bogus company have checked my credit history twice, once using the name CONSUMERINFO.COM INC, and once using the name CIC/EXPERIAN IDENTITY CH,on the same day that I gave my info on their bogus website. I've reported this to annualcreditreport.com, and hope they will block this company from checking my info again.

Anonymous said...

Consumerinfo.com Settles FTC Charges,February 21, 2007
Link: http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2007/02/consumerinfocom-settles-ftc-charges

Mark Cira said...

Hi All: I am latest victim. I was a valid customer of Experian's CreditExpert site and it was not until I cancelled that in 2014 that I noticed I was still being charged by Experian under a different credit card. I did not connect the dots until I had cancelled that someone else was fraudulently billing my card. As it turns out, CreditReport.com (Experian) has 4 separate fraudulent members billing under our household joint debit card, to a total of about $52 a month across (27.16 + 24.95), and this had been going on for 2 years. They got me for about $2400. My credit card co (Wells Fargo) will only refund about 2-4 months of these feeds, and the customer svc rep at Experian insisted my only recourse was to work through my credit card company. Even though she could see clearly that all 4 members were fraudulent, she in effect said "not our problem". It's it the ultimate irony and stick in the eye to me that Experian is selling credit protection services, but does NOTHING to prevent, and even invites, fraudulent users to monitor their credit using credit cards not in their name, not at the same billing address, not associated in any way with the persona info round on their credit reports. This is truely a scam of the highest order.

Unknown said...

A woman called claimed she was processing a loan so I authorized a one time one dollar hit on my debit card never heard anything more on the loan but they just hit my checking today for 31.95 without authorization leaving me with overdraft fees I called my bank to dispute but that takes up to 90 days

Anonymous said...

Checked my online banking statement yesterday - and THREE $1.00 Experian charges. Never signed up or visited their site - so I knew I had been hacked. Cancelled the credit card, and thought not much else of it... but today decided to call Experian to explain to them what happened - and ask if THEY were doing anything about it. They verified that 3 different "people" signed up for the service using my credit card (all on the same day by the way). The company line is they do not verify that the NAME matches , or ask for the 3-digit code - because people might be ordering it as a gift for someone. What was stunning to me is that even though this was obvious fraud - they had not bothered to CANCEL these accounts. I had to ASK THEM to do it. I've researched this and found that Experian will actually find the REPLACEMENT card # - and CONTINUE BILLING (which I thought was nuts - until I read how this had happened to many people). They said they had no plans to turn over information about these "people" that stole my credit card # - but that they would co-operate with the police if they were asked to. So here's what I don't understand ... what's the benefit to a credit card thief of getting a free credit monitoring service on someone elses dime? Doesn't that give them away - I mean , home address, financial info etc - all there for the taking? So who benefits? EXPERIAN. They are only refunding "current period" charges - EVEN WHEN OBVIOUS FRAUD IS FOUND. I wonder how much of a kick-back the "people" that are signing up using stolen credit cards are getting ?

Anonymous said...

Just found a $1.00 pending charge on my AmEx card this morning, from ConsumerInfo.com (who I'd never heard of until five minutes ago).

For the past year, I've been using the Experian credit monitoring for free, as part of the Target store breach settlement (they paid for one year of free monitoring to anyone who shopped during that time frame).

Last night, I renewed the membership on my own, using my AmEx number.

Today, a mysterious $1.00 charge appears under the name "ConsumerInfo.com."

The moment it moves from pending status to active, I'm filing a dispute, as well as keeping a close eye on all card activity.

The trusting side of me wants to believe this is a pre-auth for the $99 membership I just purchased, but if not, rest assured I will be contacting the Minnesota AG's office.

Anonymous said...

Yesterday, it was a mysterious $1.00 pending charge from ConsuermInfo.com.

This morning, it's a $16.06 charge from iTunes.

Neither is legitimate.

And, as mentioned before (in my April 1 comment) and others commenters, this activity began as soon as I paid Experian for credit monitoring. Suddenly, for the first time in my life, I'm seeing fraudulent attempts on a credit card---the same card used to pay Experian.

Calling the AG's office now.

Anonymous said...

Not only did fraudulent charges begin appearing the day after I paid for a one year membership, but now they refuse to provide a receipt for my payment. Unbelievable.

Just cancelled my membership and notified AmEx.

Anonymous said...

They do class action lawsuits for shit like this I been calling around but no one seems to wanna take case on I suggest you guys do same and post info here if any updates come up ;)

Anonymous said...

It is Memorial Day, and I've just discovered a second fraudulent charge on my bank debit card for 21.95 from "Experion." I will be contacting my bank first thing in the morning AND reporting it to the State AG. Why isn't the news media picking this up??

Anonymous said...

Just noticed a charge for 21.95 on my credit card (Citibank) as well from a vendor listed as:

"EXPERIAN *CREDITREP 8772847942 CA"
"DIRECT MARKETING-CONTINUITY SUBSCRIPTION"

I too went to the government's free credit report site (www.annualcreditreport.com) to check on all three of my credit reports. However, I never signed up for any services with any of them.

Citibank called Experian on my behalf and set up a 3-way call. The Experian representative basically TOLD me that I had signed up for a "trial" period of their credit protection program and that if I didn't call them back to cancel in 7 days, I would automatically be billed $21.95 a month for eternity. She claimed I had to tick a box to approve. She claimed that I had multiple warnings I was signing up. Funny thing is, I never saw ANY of these warnings!

Citibank basically gave me the impression this is a common problem with Experian. Citibank told me they would take care of the charges and Experian told me they would cancel my "membership". Ridiculous! What a scam! Should be illegal!


Unknown said...

Here it is June 2015 and this is still happening. The "Experian" charges on my prepaid Visa was first $1.00 and then $49.90. Looks like they're uping their game since it appears I've been charged more in a single transaction than anyone else commenting here. I never ordered a credit report. My credit is in the trash due to some unfortunate life changes so there's no reason for me to track what I already know is bad credit, hence the prepaid Visa. Luckily my cc company reversed the charge and is issuing me a new card but this is a load of crap that nobody is doing anything about it.

Anonymous said...

I regret to realize I've had bogus charges from Experian since 2012 for what appears to be 12.95 per month. Even after MULTIPLE card reissues. New cards, new numbers, new expiration dates, new 3 digit codes. Definitely contacting my bank and our Attorney General in the morning.

Yes, I should have caught it a long time ago but with as many transactions our family has, it's easy to miss 12.95 a month. By my math these idiots owe me 530.95 (since February 2012).

Anonymous said...

This just happened to me too! My card has only been issued for the last 6 months or so.

Anonymous said...

I got a charge for Experian also. The charge was made two days before I received the card. I found it when I activated the card online. Now I'm waiting for a replacement card.

Anonymous said...

Same thing here. I have been charged monthly since February 2012. It was $19.95 per month until increasing to $24.95 in September 2014. I somehow JUST caught this (August 2015)... so, Experian has been taking my money for three and a half years, totaling nearly $1,000. I called Experian yesterday and they were able to tell me that my debit card number was associated with an account under the name "Alberto E" (they could not give me this person's full last name). I doubt this Alberto person stole my information and ONLY used it for an Experian account (there are no other questionable charges on my card)... so, I'm very curious as to HOW Experian got my card number in the first place, and how it got attached to an account in this Alberto person's name. Smells like fraud to me. I've contacted U.S. Bank and their fraud department is looking into it. Crossing my fingers that I can get that $977 back...

Anonymous said...

This has happened twice to me. It happened in early August and in September on two separate cards. I called Experian, they told me that "William S" and "Robert C" had both charged my card for accounts with Experian. I tried to get additional information, but of course, they won't give it to you. The first time this occurred, they immediately charged $1300 to my card. I caught it this time. I'm sick of going through this twice in a row now. You would think with all of these complaints that they would start tracking these frauds down and getting some real resolution.

Chatty said...

We just received our cc bill and had a charge for 39.95 to Experian, so this is still happening 3 years later! We just cancelled our cards as they want us to dispute it in writing. Snail mail would take to long and we are afraid of other charges forthcoming. We did just make a purchase through Amazon so not sure if there is a connection there or not?

http://faintingfit.blogspot.com/ said...

to anyone who has these charges- dispute them, at your bank, credit union or who ever issued your card. There may be a time limit so don't wait. You can't loose and it will help others. I had 6 charges in a few days(2011) I wrote a letter and handed to my Credit Union. They disputed the charges, I was refunded nearly $300.00.
:)
but I am still going to let people know that this scam is still in action.
1.) inform my financial institution.
2.) the Attorney General of my state
3.) report this information to Experian
4.) tell all my friends. I suggest to watch one's own transactions, I check them every week at least.

Anonymous said...

DON'T TRUST EXPERIAN. They put $19.95 on my husband card each month for years, starting in 2012. Then it changed to $24.95 a month for years. Like someone else said he had a lot of charges each month and never paid attention to it. He didn't catch it until Aug. 2015, when someone else committed fraud on his card. So this went on four years. We have tried and never received a penny of our money back. I think Experian and consumerinfo are working together. I sent consumerinfo a letter requesting the money back. They mailed a letter back stating they were unable to locate the account with the charges that were referenced. Then they requested that we send a full credit card number and a copy of our bank statement showing the charges incurred. Don't trust either Experian or consumerinfo P.O. box 2390 Allen, Tx.75013 FRAUD! FRAUD!

BB said...

Because I’m interested in refinancing my home, I went online to look up my credit score on freecreditreport.com and was directed to Experian who advertised a “totally” free report, no credit card required. After completing all the required information, it then stated that if I wanted to see my FICO score, it would cost $1 and, of course, required a credit card. My score showed up as 704. That was on October 4, 2015. On October 15th I looked at my bank account online and saw a charge of $21.95 for a Experian membership, recurring monthly charge. I immediately called them and said I had not approved using my cc for this charge and did not sign up for a monthly membership, nor was it even mentioned. They said I had signed up for a 7 day free trial and it was 11 days, so it was a valid charge. I was furious and demanded a refund, to no avail. I told them I was going to report them to every agency I could find, which is what I am doing. The worst part is that they have now lowered my score to 666 and put a forbearance black mark on my mortgage. They need to be stopped! Do not ever do business with EXPERIAN, they are nothing but scammers and dishonest, unethical monsters who can ruin a person’s credit.

Anonymous said...

same here - 2 unauthorized charges in addition to that $1 one ! Eventually managed to speak with a C/S rep who reversed the one ( waiting to see if they did ) and gave me a website to try and recall the other.............still searching ! ..and came across these numerous cases that were the same scenario !

Anonymous said...

Just got a charge of $21.95 on my americanexpress card too from website called CONSUMERINFO.COM
I chatted with customer service they disputed and replaced my card.
No more trust on experian.
This plus the Experian's Data Breach on T-mobile database is more than enough to close down Experian forever.

http://www.t-mobile.com/landing/experian-data-breach.html?icid=WOR_NA_CLRSKY_RS70QGIWYYL3064

D in RI said...

Nice to find this blog as a sanity check. I also noticed a monthly recurring charge from "EXPERIAN". It started w/ a $1 charge w/ a recurring monthly charge for $21.95. I had previously received an email (assuming it was spam/marketing) and disregarded it. I called EXPERIAN w/ the "Member ID" listed on the email and they stated that during my free credit report request, I had apparently signed up for the $1 "Trial" EXPERIAN "Credit Tracker" membership; and that I never OPTED OUT of the monthly membership. Now, I've always been VERY aware of Trial memberships and the sucker-punch manual opt-out scheme. This is as predatory as it gets, a company that has access to everyone's financial data pulling this type of scam. I contacted my Credit Card company and had the charges reversed as FRAUDULENT.

So, my tips:
A) If you see a mysterious charge for $1 from EXPERIAN. Check for an email from EXPERIAN that may have your "membership" number. Call EXPERIAN w/ that number and request cancellation asap.
B) Call your credit card company to reverse any charges as fraudulent (try not to even allow them that $1).
C) Do not EVER trust Experian, FreeCreditReport.com, or to be safe... trust... no... one.

Dirty dirty dirty business.

Good Luck!
D in RI

Anonymous said...

EXPERIAN is a very crooked operation. Be very wary of doing any sort of business with them. I do not even have their credit monitoring service, yet they did 49 "soft" credit inquires about me over the last 2 years. This is creepy!!! What do they want? I consider this as stalking and harassment. The Experian organization is called "ConsumerInfo.com." I called Experian and spoke with their customer service. They could provide me with no logical reason as to why they had checked my credit 49 times. They even suggested that perhaps I had been checking my own credit. Whaaattt??? Stay away from Experian and their "services" at all costs.

Anonymous said...

I recently noticed that Experian has been charging me $22/month for last 4 years. It must have started in 2012 with their offer for a credit report for $1. I did not notice any monthly charges on the screen. Such online services usually send receipts for every charge to my card, but Experian never emailed any receipt informing me of the charge. The only emails I received was junk-looking messages with no mention of any charge. Their intention was to hide it as much as possible. I never logged in to their online service after the initial report in 2012. I called today, waited for 30 minutes to speak and cancelled it. This is disgusting to see that such a large firm is openly ripping consumers off. Is there a class section lawsuit against them?

Anonymous said...

Well its STILL going on! I just found this on one of my cards and it has been going on for YEARS! I have never even been to that site. I cannot believe that these companies with millions if not billions needd to resort to such shady crap just to get my 3.99 cents. This is so friggin sad. Its disgusting. Can they be any greater a respresntation of corporate greed? I am really getting to the point where I just give up on the world. Im not the one to go postal and Im certainly not saying to do so but I get it. I get it when people just lose it and do the crazy stuff you see on the news everyday. Can't we be better human beings than this? Oh yeah...they will gladly tell you on the phone anytime you call a company that they are not [insert company name here]. Thats the problem. No one ever feels accountable. But guess what...if you work for a company and you know they employ shady practices than you are suppporting that action and you ARE responsible!

Anonymous said...

This is still going on! I got dinged twice. I'm reporting it to my state AG even though he evidently won't do anything about it.

Sangee said...

They did it to me too. They don't send any receipt, you can't login to your membership account , there are none warning of 7 day trial, and I never gave them my credit card and the still do this. I am getting help from my credit card company and back and forth with Experian. This is daytime robbery and someone from Federal credit business bureau should stop this.

Fraud Buster said...

You're all missing the point. The scammers are being fed data by Experian. They've set up a shady business and make it appear as if they're exploiting Experian, when it's actually an Experian set up company exploiting phishing, spam, unauthorized credit card charges, etc. Their defense? "It said Experian on your banking statement!" Totally banking on the fact that people will say, "No way...".

That's how low we've sunk. All manner of businesses are giving your info to a company that's running a fraudulent operation on the side.

Anonymous said...

This is happening to me right now. Never signed up then I get charged for a so-called free credit report. Today got hit with a 3rd month charge and last month I went into the account and deleted the membership that I never signed up for and deleted the credit card on file and I got charged again!!! This is ridiculous and now gotta go through the whole bank process because I did this for my husband and I ---getting ready to purchase a home, and I don't want him to think that I can't handle pulling a simple credit report.

Unknown said...

Just got off the phone with a rep and her supervisor from Experian. I am embarrassed to say that I was not keeping an eye on my credit card statements and while digging in for tax reasons just found that I've been paying Experian to the tune of about $300 for a service I never signed up for. They refunded $24.99 (one month charge) and refused to refund anymore. I don't even have an email from them stating what I purchased or an update on my credit report activity. NOTHING. Wow. I've utilized many monthly online service over the years and have always known what I was getting into and how to cancel if I chose. I had no idea I was signing up for a monthly service with Experian. Shady as I've ever seen. I guess I'll chalk it up as a $300 lesson to take time to keep an eye on my accounts.

Anonymous said...

I checked my credit rating for a dollar December 2015. A year and a half later I learned they'd deducted almost $27 a month for 18 months. I'm out over $450.00 for a single credit check. I called and I waited an hour for the manager and I demanded my money back. They only refunded a single month. What a scam. Can't wait to join the class action and get some of my money back.

Unknown said...

I was charged $21.95 on my debit mastercard by Experian * Creditre 8667511326 ( phone number ) money was taken out without my permission on 09/29/17. I never signed up for a membership either and never would I have Credit Karma on my phone and it's spot on with my credit scores. Plus I would never pay to get my credit scores. I'm on SSI and Disability and don't have the money to be putting out like that. This is wrong and trust me I'm going to my bank tomorrow about this to get my money back

Unknown said...

I have a bank card and I just looked at my account history and I just saw where Experian or should I say this fake company posing as Experian took $21.95 off of my card on the 29th. I never signed up for a membership with Experian why should I when I have Credit Karma on my phone and it's spot on with my credit scores. I'm on SSI and Disability I don't have money to be throwing away to a company just to see my credit score when you can get a free app for that and they never charge you money for the services. I'm going to my bank tomorrow to get my money back. My boyfriend is going to have a fit.

Unknown said...

I just went on my online banking app to look at my transactions and I just saw where $21.95 was taken out of my account by the company that you are talking about. I didn't sign up for a membership through Experian I'm on SSI and Disability and don't have money to be putting out for that kind of things. I'm going to my bank tomorrow and getting my money back

Unknown said...

I used this company on Saturday October 1st. I agreed to what I thought was a $1 charge to view my credit report. Today is now Wednesday October 4th and I just checked my bank statement and sure enough I have been charged for $21.95 monthly recurring fee that I never agreed to. I tried calling Experian and was placed on hold for over an hour before I just hung up and decided to dispute to with my bank. I never gave permission to charge my bank account $21.95 a month. This is completely fraudulently and predatory!!!!

amy said...

I have called number on bank account about 19.95 charge on account for over 1 year< in between beinbg at james cancer center. They said couldnt remove had to be on there where i had purchased my car or something??????? oh my gosh thats a few hundred bucks ive tried and tried to get back and they act like im a idiot when i call. wow im 3 time cancer on disability and what are they doing this for and how can i prove i did nothing. i came across this tonight by accident for a reason im sure. i hope we all have good luck attorney general bbb or whoever. bless person that started this.

Anonymous said...

Credit card was charged around $39 for "Experian". We figured it was fraudulent and cancelled our Capital One mastercard. Guess what? Brand NEW credit card charged AGAIN! And I certainly NEVER signed up for anything remotely related to Experian. It took less than a month for brand new credit card to get charged. Definitely something fishy going on here.

Carol said...

Happened to me! 06/01/2018 Just want to document it here. EXPERIAN told me I joined their membership, which I did not. They cancelled it. By looking at all the posts on this blog I'd love to be a part of a Class Action Suit, no hesitation!

Anonymous said...

I haven't checked my PayPal statements for years but i have been getting charged 24.99 from supposedly Experian? They are super sneaky because there is no sign of the charges on the PayPal mobile app. You have to link over from PayPal to Synchronicity Bank and look at the statements. So bummed.

Anonymous said...

I am so happy I found this blog because I am dealing with the EXACT same thing. Got a charge from Experian* Credit Reprt XXXXX... for $1.00 beginning of October. From then on, up until today, twice a week I get a charge from iTunes, Playstation, Experian*, etc., all ending in some weird XXXXX77...CA number, for various charges as high as $53.11. I do have 2 debit cards (I ordered a Chicago Bears card from PNC due to extra rewards when I use it, so it gave me an extra card) and my husband has 1. The debit card I NEVER use was being charged on iTunes, which I also do not use. I do not have an Experian membership, nor have I ever had one, or even bought a credit report through either of the 3 agencies. I did have MyFico at one point, but cancelled it after a month. My bank refunded over $200 worth of charges! I agree that these people are VERY sneaky. They code their charges to look like memberships you may use (for example, we DO have a PSN account, but we don't pay the amount that was charged, and it is not coded like the above, in my statement, normally). I really hope it is only my bank cards, and not my credit cards, too. Such a mess...

Anonymous said...

Found a charge yesterday on my AMEX card for $107.40. It says EXPERIAN*CREDITREPORT. I never signed up for anything like this. Already called Amex to file dispute, but concerned about how this happened. Looks like this blog started in 2012 and yet this fraudulent activity is still occurring and presumably by the same perpetrator. What can be done about this?

DL said...

This just happened to me. Such bad business practice. This is identity theft!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this blog. This happened to me for a charge of $14.99 a week after using my free annual credit check for the first time. I thought I had accidentally signed up for a service, but I knew I never entered my debit card numbers. No idea how they got them, but the card has been cancelled and replaced.

A-1-MacMcKenzie said...

Thank You for taking the time to create and manage this website, I have been looking for others who have been going through this very same thing!! I could hardly believe it myself when the first charge appeared on my statement. To those of you who don't know how they got your CC# or Banking Info, I will tell you... Ya know how we order something online without so much as a second thought?? Well, this information is stored in your computer/browser/smartphone, or however you go online to make purchases, this information is saved in the memory/cookies/cache files, etc. Unfortunately, Google Play and its Browser is notorious for saving your information for future use and for convenience for you, Now this is how sometimes you get billed for something you didn't order. YES, IT HAPPENED TO ME TOO!! I was requesting my annual credit report from freecreditreport.com, I did Transunion, Equifax with no problem, then it wasn't until I did my free credit report with Experian that I had a problem and was billed $16.99 per month!! IT wasn't a one-time bill but rather it is an ongoing monthly debit, it has come out 3 times now and I am getting ready to do a dispute. Just a little FYI, I have heard if you report it to the Better Business Bureau that it will be addressed in a different way This comment is not meant to offend anyone in any way whatsoever, so if I have offended anyone it was not intentional, or deliberate.