A North Carolina man pleaded guilty to running a nationwide online rental-ad scheme that prosecutors said steered prospective renters to his credit-monitoring websites and automatically enrolled many of them in paid monthly memberships.
Michael Brown, 41, of Indian Trail, North Carolina, pleaded guilty March 30 before U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of wire fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. He faces a total maximum sentence of 40 years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 1, 2026.
Prosecutors said Brown owned and operated Credit Bureau Center, LLC, formerly known as MyScore LLC, which ran credit-reporting and credit-monitoring sites including eFreeScore.com, FreeCreditNation.com and CreditUpdates.com. From at least 2014 through at least Jan. 10, 2017, Brown and affiliate marketers posted fake rental ads on a classified advertising website to drive traffic to those sites.
The ads featured desirable properties at below-market prices in cities including New York, Miami, Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles and San Diego. According to the release, the properties either did not exist as advertised or were not actually available for rent through the posts.
When renters responded, they received emails purporting to be from property owners directing them to Brown’s websites to obtain a credit report before scheduling a tour. Prosecutors said the emails typically claimed the renter was the second respondent, that the first no longer wanted the property, and that the owner was ready to lease it.
Once users entered credit-card information, they were charged $1 and automatically enrolled in a monthly credit-monitoring membership, typically billed at $29.94 until canceled. Prosecutors said the scheme generated about 2.7 million unique visits to Brown’s sites and at least $6.8 million in revenue from at least 169,000 customers who were automatically enrolled.
The FBI investigated the case, with assistance from the Federal Trade Commission.
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