The Credit Score Alert Scam

Flggd Scam School · Identity, Credit & Benefits Fraud · Lesson 5 of 12

A credit score dropped alert text can make your stomach drop with it. Before you tap anything, here's how to tell if the alert itself is the scam.

The message looks like this

Why this is a scam

Real credit alerts come from services you signed up for: your bank's app, your card's app, or a monitoring service you chose. They arrive inside those apps, addressed to you by name, and they never need your SSN to show you your own alert.

This text names no service because you have no relationship with the sender. The number "87 points" is invented; specific numbers feel true.

The "review" page asks you to confirm your identity first: SSN, date of birth, address. That's the harvest.

Red flags checklist

• An alert from a credit service you never signed up for.

• A dramatic, specific score drop with no named bureau.

• A link to a domain that is not your bank or bureau.

• The review page wants your SSN before showing anything.

• Pressure to dispute "now".

The manipulation tactic

Fear of invisible damage. You can't feel a credit score change, so the only way to check is to click; and that's the trap.

What to do, and what not to do

• Don't tap the link.

• Check your score inside your own bank or card app; most show it free.

• Get your actual reports free at annualcreditreport.com.

• Worried about new accounts? Freeze your credit free at all three bureaus.

Not sure about a message you've received? Check it in seconds with the free Flggd app.