-------- Original Message -------- Subject: New Credit Report Laws and Scams Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2005 14:15:02 -0600 From: <roberthelmer@private> To: Declan McCullagh <declan@private> References: <4223FCFC.6040509@private> Declan, your readers might be interested that The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is reporting http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/5F1A5BF244C3D9C586256FB7001C1312?OpenDocument&highlight=2%2Ccredit%2C that "Today is the day consumers in ... 12 Midwestern states can start getting free copies of their credit reports from each of the three national credit bureaus. But be wary. Consumers who order their reports via the Internet could be inundated with sales pitches and become victims of various scams. The World Privacy Forum, a consumer watchdog group, tried calling up the official online site to order reports. The group found so many problems, actual and potential, that it recommends consumers avoid using the Internet at all to get their credit reports." It looks like attempting to obtain the free credit reports online can cause you to experience all sorts of "phishing-type" scams as a result of fake sites being set up. What's more, even the official sites are misleading, "the credit bureaus blur the lines between what is free for consumers and what is available for a fee..." For example, "The TransUnion section of the official site automatically selects consumers to receive marketing materials and to have their information shared with affiliate companies and partners." Bob Daily Rotation (Headlines from 300+ Tech Sites) http://www.dailyrotation.com Shell Extension City (Cutting Edge Software) http://www.shellcity.net Project Geek (Web Hosting) http://www.projectgeek.net St. Louis, Missouri _______________________________________________ Politech mailing list Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)
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