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Scam: Experian - 'A Key Change Has Been Posted to One of Your Credit Reports' Email Phishing Scam

Phishing and Vishing Identity Theft Scams
The Experian - A Key Change Has Been Posted to One of Your Credit Reports Scam
Redirects to spoofed (Fake) website: https://experian.experiandirect.com/credit/login.aspx?nav=alt&cid=1099

You may have received an email like the one below that looks very authentic, like it came from Experian, or a phone call about the same subject. It is an attempt to get you to enter confidential information (typically a social security number, name, address, bank account information, etc., to allow the scammers to steal your identity and open credit cards in your name.

This email was not sent by Experian; Experian is a victim as well. This is referred to as spoofing (making a fake email that looks legitimate, "phishing" (when by email) or "vishing" (when by telephone). If you receive an email similar to the one below, DO NOT click on the link, and do not enter any information on the forms there.

The website that the link leads to is a spoof; a fake website, not created by Experian. It goes to https://experian.experiandirect.com/credit/login.aspx?nav=alt&cid=1099, not Experian! When you enter the information they ask for, you will simply be handing the thieves the keys to your bank accounts.  That is how spoofing, phishing and vishing works.

Remember, no reputable business would send you an email or a phone call requesting your personal account information. Any such email you receive asking for this information should be considered phony and brought to the attention of the business being 'phished'.

Anytime you need to go to a website for your bank, credit card companies or other personal, financial or confidential information; do not follow a link in an email; just type their address in your browser directly (such as www.Experian.com )

Below are actual phishing emails that started circulating in early 2008. We have put a warning over the links to the phisher's website, which is https://experian.experiandirect.com/credit/login.aspx?nav=alt&cid=1099

It is possible that the owners of the website (https://experian.experiandirect.com/credit/login.aspx?nav=alt&cid=1099) are not involved, and that their server has been hacked, but the fact remains that this is the address the scam  goes to.

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----- Forwarded message -----

 

This email was sent because it contains important information about your account. Please note that if you have previously unsubscribed from Experian.com, you will no longer receive newsletters or special offers. However, you will continue to receive email notifications regarding your account. To ensure that you'll receive emails from us, please add support@exprpt.com to your address book.
	Membership ID #780444581 A Key Change Has Been Posted to One of Your Credit Reports A key change has been posted to one of your three national Credit Reports. Each day we monitor your Experian', Equifax and TransUnion Credit Reports for key changes that may help you detect potential credit fraud or identity theft. Even if you know what caused your Report to change, you don't know how it will affect your credit, so we urge you to do the following: View detailed report by opening the attachment. You will be prompted to open (view) the file or save (download) it to your computer. For best results, save the file first, then open it in a Web browser. Contact our Customer Care Center with any additional questions. Note: The attached file contains personal data. Your Experian.com membership gives you the confidence you need to look after your credit. We encourage you to log-in regularly to take full advantage of the benefits your membership has to offer, such as unlimited access to your Credit Report and Score Tracker. Notifications like this are an important part of your membership, and in helping you stay on top of your credit.
	*If it has been less than thirty days since you joined Experian.com, your monthly credit statement includes your information for the period of time you have been enrolled.

 

 

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More details:

Notice one of the statments in the email: "To ensure that you'll receive emails from us, please add support@exprpt.com to your address book." Obviously, that would be a dumb thing to do, since Exprpt.com is not connected to Experian!

 

Here's where the links in the scam email actually go to:

• https://experian.experiandirect.com/credit/login.aspx?nav=alt&cid=1099

 

The images in the email where hosted at these locations:

• http://f.chtah.com/i/42/387761451/ExperianBlue.gif

• http://f.chtah.com/i/42/387761451/Border.jpg

• http://f.exprpt.com/i/42/387761451/30RockFooter.jpg

• http://exprpt.com/a/hBRGoV3AXHMUrAXH5qzDKbeP7.AXHMUriO/column.gif>

 

What is Phishing?

Phishing is an attempt by an individual or group to solicit personal information from unsuspecting users by employing social engineering techniques. Phishing emails are crafted to appear as if they have been sent from a legitimate organization or known individual. These emails often attempt to entice users to click on a link that will take the user to a fraudulent website that appears legitimate. The user then may be asked to provide personal information such as account usernames and passwords that can further expose them to future compromises. Additionally, these fraudulent websites may contain malicious code.

Learn More About Phishing

The following documents and websites can help you learn more about phishing and how to protect yourself against phishing attacks.

• Avoiding Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks
• Protecting Your Privacy
• Understanding Web Site Certificates
• Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG)
• Federal Trade Commission, Identity Theft
• Recognizing and Avoiding Email Scams

Methods of Reporting Phishing Email to US-CERT

• In Outlook Express, you can create a new message and drag and drop the phishing email into the new message. Address the message to phishing-report@us-cert.gov  and send it.
• In Outlook Express you can also open the email message^* and select File > Properties > Details. The email headers will appear. You can copy these as you normally copy text and include it in a new message tophishing-report@us-cert.gov .
• If you cannot forward the email message, at a minimum, please send the URL of the phishing website.

* If the suspicious mail in question includes a file attachment, it is safer to simply highlight the message and forward it. Some configurations, especially in Windows environments, may allow the execution of arbitrary code upon opening and viewing a malicious email message.

For more information about phishing, see this page.

 

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For a comprehensive list of national and international agencies to report scams, see this page.