Been Cheated By...

In The News: Free Credit Reports, High School Seniors, Scammed?

‘Free’ credit report scam

When does “free” mean “you have to pay for it”? Answer: In advertisements on TV and the Internet promising you a “free” credit report! Sadly, what you actually end up with is a charge of $40 and/or regular monthly charges to your credit card.

Can you really get a free credit report, and should you?

The answer to both questions is yes. You are entitled to a free credit report once a year. Ensuring that your report is accurate is important. But there’s no reason to be scammed. You don’t have to pay a single penny to get your credit report or to correct mistakes on it.

One company boasts that more than 20 million people have already responded to its humorous TV ads about what happens if you don’t check your credit report. Its website is FreeCreditReport.com. But it isn’t free.

Seniors may be out of trip to Jamaica

A Rutherford County parent believes she’s one of many parents whose children may be out of a senior trip to Jamaica.

Andrea Knox, whose daughter attends Siegel High School, said she has paid more than $700 for her daughter’s cruise to Jamaica, including bus fare. The trip is planned for May 25.

The whereabouts of that money is unknown, Knox said.

Knox said she met with Cynthia Anderson, an independent marketing agent with Your Travel Biz, at her home about three months ago. Anderson then held a meeting at Siegel High, but Knox was unable to attend.

Scammed?

Yesterday as I was driving to work, I heard one of the morning shows on the radio talking about beggars on the street who are scamming people because they actually have home and make quite a bit of money. One example was a 17 year old girl who was followed by a news station for four weeks.

After the four weeks of following her without her knowing, they interviewed her and she said that she moved to Washington (I think) to live with her boyfriend but he kicked her out and she was trying to get home to some other state and was trying to raise money for a bus ticket by begging.

What was actually happening? She would beg for money in the same place every day for a few hours then go to a house and spend the night. They followed her to the mall where she bought several hundred dollars worth of clothes and purses. They said she had a ratty backpack, looked disheveled and did the same moves over and over that portrayed a message that she was in despair.