CONTACT

Katie Carrol - Director of Communications
Better Business Bureau of Southern Colorado
Telephone: 719/636-5076 Ext. 118
Fax: 719/636-5078
Email: katiec@bbbsc.org

(Colorado Springs, CO, July 28, 2005) - The Better Business Bureau of Southern Colorado, along with Colorado’s 18th Judicial District Attorneys Office is advising consumers to be very careful when ordering copies of credit reports on-line.

As more consumers learn about a new federal law that entitles every US citizen to obtain a free copy of their credit report each year, requests are up, but so is the number of bogus websites. There are now an estimated 233 imposter domains with almost identical spellings as the domain of the only official website.

What’s worse is what internet thieves do with the information they obtain. Some of these imposter domains solicit social security numbers and then sell them; others obtain information and sell it to mortgage and debt consolidation companies. To protect yourself, the BBB of Southern Colorado recommends the following:

• Only log onto www.annualcreditreport.com to obtain your free credit report.
• Don’t use a website address that has been sent to you, or even one you’ve found yourself.
• If you don’t want to order on line, you may order a report by calling toll-free 1 877-322-8228.