Home Consumer ‘Free Credit Monitoring’ Scam Racks Up 200-Thousand Complaints!

‘Free Credit Monitoring’ Scam Racks Up 200-Thousand Complaints!

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“Free Credit Monitoring” Scam busted by the FTC with $20-Million dollars being refunded to consumers….following some 200,000 complaints.

Same old scam…..”Free Credit Monitoring ” that really isn’t free. Unauthorized credit card charges showing up on consumers’ credit cards according to the FTC which adds, “The FTC and the states of Illinois and Ohio secured the consumer redress as part of a settlement of charges against One Technologies in January 2014.”

credit-score-scamThe defendants marketed their credit monitoring programs, MyCreditHealth and ScoreSense, through at least 50 websites, including FreeScore360.com, FreeScoreOnline.com, and ScoreSense.com.

merchantAccording to the FTC’s complaint, the defendants bought advertising on search engines such as Google and Bing so that ads for their websites neared the top of search results when consumers looked for terms such as “free credit report.”

Faith Based Events

The most prominent ad stated, “View your latest credit ccores from All 3 Bureaus in 60 seconds for $0!”

The FTC release said:

The Federal Trade Commission will return almost $20 million to more than 145,000 consumers across the country who were victimized by One Technologies LP and its two partner companies, in an online scheme that lured consumers with “free” access to their credit scores and then billed them a recurring $29.95 monthly fee for credit monitoring they never ordered.

“It’s our goal whenever possible to put money back in the hands of hard-working American consumers who have been victimized,” said Jessica Rich, Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection. “We are pleased to announce that $20 million in refunds are going to back to consumers this week.”

You can read the rest of the FTC notice HERE

 

[vc_message message_box_style=”3d” message_box_color=”turquoise”]By Al Sunshine, SouthFloridaReporter.com, Consumer Investigator Sept. 28, 2016 [/vc_message]

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Al Sunshine is a South Florida-based Broadcast and Digital Journalist whose career has spanned more than 40 years at the local and national levels. His award-winning investigations have triggered more than a dozen state and local consumer protection laws and his work’s been cited in Congressional Testimony before the U-S House of Representatives. He is best known for his “Shame On You” features for CBS Miami which sought to expose businesses, agencies and individuals defrauding or deceiving consumers, as well as endangering the safety and welfare of the general public. In 2013 Al retired from CBS Miami to set up his own Digital News Business, “Sunshine News, LLC” and Al continues to blog for the Radio, Television, Digital News Association, sponsors of the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Awards”. An avid environmentalist, Al is one of the founding members of the “Miami Pine Rocklands Coalition”. The Florida Non-Profit is fighting to save and restore the last 2% of Pine Rocklands found only in South Florida and nowhere else in the continental United States. Al was recently elected its President.