It’s hard to admit when you have been the victim of a scam. In hindsight, it’s so obvious that just a little more attention would have averted the whole thing. You feel stupid. But you also feel used. After all, the scammers have spent a lot of time perfecting their scam and finding the best ways to trick you. And when the scammer is a large corporation, they have a certain resource advantage as well.

I am the victim of a credit report scam perpetrated by the biggest credit reporting company in the U.S. – Experian. Here is how it worked.

I am aware that I am entitled to one free credit report per year, thanks to federal legislation. Of course, however, I do not have the website address memorized where I can get that free credit report (answer: www.annualcreditreport.com). So, I Googled it. While the top search result was the one I wanted, I made the mistake of clicking on the second search result since it was titled “Free Credit Report”, and that seemed logical. The website www.freecreditreport.com looks quite respectable, and lists Experian, Equifax and TransUnion along the top. There is a very prominent button on the right with large print that says “Click Here to see your Free Credit Report & Score”. There is also some fine print on the left side that explains that it is not free. But like most people, I didn’t read that. The intentional design of the website encourages this, and like most people I was in a hurry to get past the minutia and get what I wanted. After clicking on the button and getting what I thought was my free credit report, I exited the website. They asked for my credit card number, but said they wouldn’t charge me and that it was required to “set up my account”. That was a clue, I know, but I didn’t pick up on it. I also ignored some more fine print that I should have read under the label “Privacy Policy”. Three weeks later I received my credit card bill and noticed a $15.88 charge from “info.ExperianDirect.com”. (I’m lucky I happened to look closely at my bill this month – it’s not something I usually do.) This, by the way, is not a one-time fee – it is a monthly fee. A little searching online and I found their customer service number and called to tell them they made a mistake and that I never intended to join their “Triple Advantage” monthly service. I had never even heard of the “Triple Advantage” service that I had apparently joined. But, looking back at the fine print that I had missed on the website, by asking for my “free” credit report I was in fact signing up for this service – unless I called within 7 days to cancel.

It is very clear that the business model of this website is to trick people into signing up for services and fees that they are unaware of and have no intention of agreeing to. When I called the ExperianDirect customer service number to complain, they told me they were unwilling and unable to refund the $15.88 already charged to my account. Requests to speak to a supervisor resulted in me being disconnected. A scam, pure and simple. And probably perfectly legal.