“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.”
The defendants marketed their credit monitoring programs, MyCreditHealth and ScoreSense, through at least 50 websites, including FreeScore360.com, FreeScoreOnline.com, and ScoreSense.com.
According 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.”
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
