There needs to be a better alternative to credit reports. They only exist because banks and lenders could no longer discriminate on race directly, so they created a roundabout way to discriminate based on "credit score", which happened to be worse for the people the wanted to exclude in the first place.
It's still easy for anyone to become you at Experian
111–120 of 347 posts
Re: It's still easy for anyone to become you at Experian
#112i froze my credit across all providers a few years back. only experian failed with silly bugs. tried again just now and it worked. progress!
Did the same, but it looks like this security issue would allow someone to just unfreeze before taking a loan in your name.
true. one hopes they also improve their opsec over time. would it be better to not freeze?
Re: It's still easy for anyone to become you at Experian
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which case did someone go to prison for viewing the page’s source?
I think they are talking about this case, it was thrown out. https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/15/missouri_html_hacking...
> Governor Parson's office maintained that Renaud had unlawfully hacked the school website: "The hacking of Missouri teachers' personally identifiable information was a clear violation of Section 569.095, RSMo, which the state takes seriously. The state did its part by investigating and presenting its findings to the Cole County Prosecutor, who has elected not to press charges, as is his prerogative."
It wasn't thrown out by a judge. The governor still maintains that the reporter "hacked" and violated state law but the prosecutor's office declined to pursue the case.
Re: It's still easy for anyone to become you at Experian
#114My Experian was hijacked, unfrozen, and used to get a $100k loan from Ford Credit. Took me ages to clean up. Bastards.
> used to get a $100k loan from Ford Credit This sounds like it was used to get a vehicle - which are fairly trackable things. How did the ordeal unfold and conclude?
Same exact thing happened to me. I only dealt with the various credit agencies and Ford. And I had to make a police report to my local PD despite the crime occurring at a dealership across the country — the officer was very kind, and made clear that they would do literally nothing other than produce the case number I needed for the credit agencies.
I wonder if Ford in particular is more susceptible?
In any event, I’ve no idea whether a law enforcement eventually looked into it. But the sense I got was no one was going to do a damn thing.
(Oh and Progressive, because they got insurance for the vehicle in my name and also didn’t pay that. But it was 1000x less dollars, literally, so when I told the debt collector “lol not mine” they just went away).
Re: It's still easy for anyone to become you at Experian
#115My Experian was hijacked, unfrozen, and used to get a $100k loan from Ford Credit. Took me ages to clean up. Bastards.
This sorta happened to me, except as soon as I got an email from Experian that my email address had been changed, I got to work talking to customer service to get back in. The CS rep had “no record” of anything out of the ordinary happening, just a regular email address changed “initiated” by me, when instead it was this brain dead system they have where anyone with the relevant SSN and security question info can register your account anew with a different email.
Once I got back in I saw credit pulls and immediately contacted the companies to figure out the car dealership in question, then called them to let them know that they should under no circumstances sell that car.
Re: It's still easy for anyone to become you at Experian
#116Maybe this is why for the past few weeks I am receiving countless emails from major retailers like Casas Bahia or Americanas and even Magazine Luiza with purchase confirmation listing several smartphones and notebooks whose invoice bare my name and cpf. I tried contacting every retailer. Only Magazine Luiza seem to have acknowledged the fraud and issued a warning but to no avail, as I am still receiving invoices from…
I've been on a similar situation once, this is what I did, and I think you're on the right path.
> I tried contacting every retailer. Try to reach out to the ombudsman (ouvidoria) and explain your case. Even if they don't actually solve the problem, you documented that you tried to friendly resolve the issue.
> I am expecting fallout from this.
Very worst case scenario, the retailers will send the fraudulent invoices to collection agencies and might report you to the credit bureaus. Don't ever pay any cent toward this fraudulent debt. Don't negotiate. The only option is the debt going away as it is fraudulent. It's their money that's on the hook and paying it shifts the responsibilities to you.
Once it hits the credit bureaus, as you already have a Boletim de Ocorrência, and proof of contacting the companies (protocol numbers + dates), i.e. documentation, sue them and ask for damages. It's a simple and common suit that both the credit bureaus and the retailers will want to settle. Make them pay for your time. They don't have any proof that it was your person that made those transactions.
> I am utterly powerless in protecting my identity.
Yeah, but the thing is, if the retailers, banks, credit cards, etc. really wanted to avoid fraud, every purchase/subscription would require the same level of protection as a real estate transaction. Everything signed, in-person meetings, upfront payments, banks, lawyers, notaries, cryptographic signatures (hey, we have e-CPF and nobody uses it!). But as you see, 100% fraud avoidance means friction, and no sane retail business likes friction. It's a business decision on their end. They accept risk so they can take your money easier.
Re: It's still easy for anyone to become you at Experian
#117Given there are 3 credit bureaus, is there a way to avoid having a credit score at one of the credit bureaus? I think that's a way that we as consumers could try to increase competition in the field. I did some Googling and it didn't seem like there's an easy option.
Plaid just started a Credit Reporting Agency (what Experian et al are). First company to attempt to compete in the space seriously in a long time.
Re: It's still easy for anyone to become you at Experian
#118Of course, we aren’t the customers for these spying companies. But it is surprising that the total lack of security isn’t a deal-breaker for their actual customers. I mean if you can basically impersonate anybody using this service, what is the point of using it?
> what is the point of using it? can you opt out? is there even a choice at all? where i live I can’t opt out of Experian or other credit rating services.
The actual customers can, consumers can't though.
I'm pretty sure the OP was meaning that there's little point for the businesses that make use of the credit bureaus, if they can't be sure the bureau is accurate, rather than that consumers might be better off opting out (even if they could).
Re: It's still easy for anyone to become you at Experian
#119Maybe it is designed like this on purpose.
Re: It's still easy for anyone to become you at Experian
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
How does this fraud work? They buy the goods, and provide the seller some random individual's (your) identity?
I have no idea. There are, however, many official invoices (notas fiscais) being issue in my name. I believe there might also be fraudulent credit cards issued in my name that ate being used, or something like that, which would explain the physical retailers not questioning the purchase. That is why I am expecting fallout from this.
> I believe there might also be fraudulent credit cards issued in my name that ate being used
As tmcz26 said, it's very unlikely they issued a card on your name, but if that happened, contact the bank's ombudsman AND report it to the Central Bank, as they failed the KYC process.