#Check Your Credit Score? Check This First

When U.S. News “Money” Senior Editor Kimberly Palmer got an email about her credit score, she was smart enough to recognize it as a scam and she didn’t click through. But she came close, because she had recently gotten a credit report from a legitimate source, and for a moment she thought the email was legitimate, as well.

Kimberly’s instincts were good, and it led her to dive a little deeper into the whole credit score issue, including talking to BBB:

“The experience reminded me how easy it is to fall for a so-called phishing scam, where a fraudulent email masquerades as a legitimate one and leads you to a website that asks for your personal information. As soon as you enter it, the fraudster behind the scam has your information and can use it to steal your identity or money.

“With more people getting their free credit scores online from legitimate companies such as CreditKarma.com, CreditSesame.com and Mint.com, these kinds of credit score phishing emails are also becoming more prevalent. The information technology team at U.S. News reports that our company received about 140 spam messages in the last week with the words “score changes” in the subject line.”

Here are excerpts from Kimberly’s top tips for avoiding a phishing scam related to credit reports and credit scores:

1. Always check the domain name. [Make sure] any emails that you receive that claim to be from specific companies are actually coming from the domain name they claim to be. That means double-checking the URL in the “from” field as well as in any embedded hyperlinks. Also, the Better Business Bureau​ recommends a general attitude of skepticism toward unsolicited emails, especially ones that ask you for any information. Government agencies, for example, usually communicate through the mail, not text or email​. (One common scam involves a fake email claiming to be from the Internal Revenue Service and requesting information.)

2. Avoid links and attachments. If you receive any unsolicited attachments or links, the BBB recommends avoiding them. If you want to log into your bank, for example, type in the URL directly on your browser instead of clicking on any embedded hyperlink, which could take you to a impostor site.

3. Don’t provide your credit card. Many websites… now offer access to your free credit score for free; you don’t have to enter your credit card at any time. If a site does require your credit card information before sharing your credit score, it could be a sign that it plans to charge you or enroll you in a monthly service, so you might want to consider going elsewhere.

4. Use the official free credit report website, AnnualCreditReport.com. [T]he only free credit report service BBB recommends is AnnualCreditReport.com. The government requires that consumers have access to their credit report once every 12 months from each of the three credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

5. Skip sites that are not secure. The BBB also recommends never entering your personal information, including your Social Security number, address or banking information, on websites that are unfamiliar or nonsecure. The URL should include “https” or “shttp” in it. If you are ever suspicious of an email or website, the BBB recommends turning to a more traditional mode of communication – the telephone – to check on it. Just don’t call the numbers included in emails, which could be fake.

6. Password-protect your phone. Your phone probably contains a lot of personal data, which is why you should password-protect it, just in case you lose it. You wouldn’t want a stranger having access to all your emails and accounts.

NOTE: Credit Sesame, Mint, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion are BBB Accredited Businesses.