3 ms·
In the UK much the same racket is going on. A couple of years ago I was the target of identity theft, which involved somebody walking into a phone store, and gi
by fyfy18 8y ago
In the UK much the same racket is going on. A couple of years ago I was the target of identity theft, which involved somebody walking into a phone store, and giving for 'security purposes' my full name, address and date of birth, and walking out with a new iPhone on contract. I am a director of a limited company, so all of this information is freely available online.
I eventually got it sorted (the suggested route of contacting Action Fraud did nothing; I had to make numerous proactive calls to the network's fraud team), but in order to prevent it from happening again they suggested I mark myself as high risk with the credit agencies (CIFAS protective registration), which involves paying a £10/year fee to set a boolean on my file.
I'm tempted not to renew it, and if it happens again send a strongly worded letter telling them to cease all communications as there has been an error on their part (maybe GDPR gives more powers in this case?). I'm not a heavy credit user, so the impact on my credit score isn't a concern.
For anyone concerned, the best way I found to monitor this is through free credit score monitoring services such as ClearScore. Through their website I can see any searches on my credit score (unfortunately they don't notify you). If a search appears for a company you don't recognise, it is most likely an indication of something similar going on.
- jackweirdy 8y agoI use ClearScore too (which covers Equifax), as well as the MoneySavingExpert Credit Club which covers Experian, and is also free: https://moneysavingexpert.com/creditclub https://moneysavingexpert.com/creditclub
- rutthenut 8y agoI don't believe that these 'free' credit score services are free, you just don't pay them a monthly fee. Instead, they make money from having your financial details, presumably to sell you other services. Same as farcebook et al, not really free at all.
- Spare_account 8y agoI use Noddle (operated by CallCredit) and I don't recall ever having been upsold anything. Edit: After logging back in to have a look, it turns out that the website has a bunch of cross-selling adverts mixed in and around the 'free' credit-reporting service: https://imgur.com/bBl8y2T https://imgur.com/bBl8y2T Going through the process of drawing red circles around the adverts made me realise 80% of the page is in fact advertising but for some reason I just never noticed them. I like to think I have a built in uBlock in my brain although I'm probably subconsciously absorbing their marketing message without realising it.
- kalleboo 8y ago> unfortunately they don't notify you That sucks. In Sweden it's the law that credit reporting agencies have to send you a copy containing the same information every time someone does a pull on your credit. Seems like a common-sense regulation.
- barrow-rider 8y agoYou have to pay 10 quid a year to put a boolean (presumably 1 if high risk/freeze, 0 if not) on your account? That seems... exploitative.