Credit Karma Fraud Alert

[bichonmom]

I am confused and angry. After hearing so much about CK, I decided to give it a try. It doesn't even give a full CR and only FAKOs, so I just don't get the appeal -- or any benefit from it. I had forgotten about it until this morning when I got an email with a "fraud alert"!!!

I clicked on the link in the email and logged in, but it gives me NO information. All it says is "the following fraud alert has been added to your account:#XXXXXX. Then there's a bunch of letters. It doesn't refer to any creditor or account number. That's it! It doesn't refer to any CRA -- EQ, TU or EX. It doesn't say what or why or anything. This is infuriating.

Can anyone tell me what this means, or how to get more info about it from CK? (BTW, I did click on the link that says, "show more." But all that did was repeat the exact same sentence. NO info.

Thanks!

[RobertEG]

Fraud alerts are regulated under the FCRA.  They may ONLY be placed in your credit file based on a request from the consumer, and can be removed at any time simply by contacting the CRA.

If a fraud alert was placed in your credit file without your direct request, it most likely originated from some action that you took, such as a dispute, that someone interpreted as an assertion of potential fraud or identity theft.  If you dont want that alert in your file, you have the total right to instruct the CRA to remove it.

[bichonmom]

Yeah, but I did NOT put any fraud alert on any of my CRs. Plus, this "alert" doesn't tell me WHICH CR the alert is supposedly on. I want to cancel this CK service, but can't even figure out how to close my account. All it does is advertise credit cards and give useless information, and now it has me in a total panic, probably over nothing -- but I'm just not sure.

[Anonymous]

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@bichonmom wrote:

Yeah, but I did NOT put any fraud alert on any of my CRs. Plus, this "alert" doesn't tell me WHICH CR the alert is supposedly on. I want to cancel this CK service, but can't even figure out how to close my account. All it does is advertise credit cards and give useless information, and now it has me in a total panic, probably over nothing -- but I'm just not sure.

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CK only monitors your Transunion report. I wish I knew what to tell you about this FA though. I believe this is the first time I've seen someone mention anything about a FA on CreditKarma.

[arlibguy]

Sounds like it might be a spam message or malware/virus/spyware. Is your computer acting strange? I'd run your virus checker and malware, at a minimum.

[RobertEG]

CRAs are required, under FCRA 605A and 621(f), to notify all other major CRAs of their placement of either a fraud alert or an allegation of identity theft in a consumer's credit file.

Thus, a report to one should be forwarded to all.  It will most likely filter down to all your CRs if not removed.

[bichonmom]

I called TU and EX, and checked my full EQ rept. There is no fraud alert on EX or EQ. TU *did* have one from January, which was supposed to have been removed! I don't know why that would trigger an alert w/CK, since it's from January. In any case, the rep from TU removed it. So, it looks like that stupid email caused me a whole lot of stress over nothing. I'm just so paranoid that something from my past is going to come back and haunt me, after all of the work I've done and time I've waited, to rebuild my credit.