Avoid Phishing Scams this Season

Analysts predict that the occurrence of "phishing" fraud could increase as much as ten-fold over the holidays — particularly during the post-Thanksgiving shopping rush. Phishing involves the fraudulent attempt to collect consumers’ personal information by sending e-mails that appear to be from reputable companies (charities, stores, banks, etc.).

Phishing can also occur through SPAM messages by using enticing offers or bogus attachments. Learn to recognize phishing attempts, and never click a link or download an attachment from a suspicious e-mail. These links or downloads are often the first step in pharming schemes — which aim to redirect a legitimate Web site's traffic to another, bogus Web site. Not clicking on suspicious links or opening suspicious attachments is one of the few steps you can take to protect yourself from phishing and pharming attacks.

Setting Up your Member Center Alerts

If you're a current Equifax Credit Watch™ subscriber, your customizable alerts are a wonderful way to find out about key changes to your credit file, almost as soon as they occur! That way, if an erroneous change is detected, you’re able to act quickly — putting you back in control of your credit!

To access and change your preferences, simply log into the Member Center and scroll down to the "Credit Watch Alerts" section. From here, you can decide what sort of changes to your credit file would result in an alert. For example, you can set up your alerts to notify you if your charge card balance increases by a certain dollar amount or percentage. And, you can choose to be notified if a dormant card suddenly becomes active. You can even choose to receive wireless alerts on your cell phone whenever key changes occur.

Not an Equifax Credit Watch™ subscriber? Enroll today!