Consumerist
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creepy
Bill Collector Accused Of Offering Debt Forgiveness For Sex
A Rent-A-Center employee near Detroit has allegedly found a new approach to helping consumers get out of debt: making their bills go away in exchange for sex. More » -
inappropriate
Hospital Sends $29,000 Bill To Parents Of Murdered College Student
Not only did the UC Davis Medical Center send a $29,186.50 bill to the parents of college student who was beaten to death by his roommate, they also sent a letter letting them know that their son was considered indigent and was no longer welcome at the hospital if he needed further treatment. He doesn't, of course, because he is deceased. More » -
get off my lawn
McDonalds Shakes Cane At Teens, Calls Police On Them For Rapping Their Order
Four teens in American Fork, Utah, have been issued citations for disturbing the peace after they drove up to a McDonald's and recreated this food order. Doesn't McDonald's know that they invented the food order rap genre in the first place? More » -
ponzi schemes
Madoff Victims Receive First Repayment Of $534 Million
The trustee who's liquidating Bernie Madoff's firm has released $534.2 million in repayments to some of his victims, reports Bloomberg. The half-billion is a drop in the bucket of total verified losses, which are now more than $21 billion. But hey, those 1,558 victims whose claims were approved for this partial payout are probaby pretty happy—which is more than you can say for the 2,500+ Madoff customers who may be sued to return fake profits.
"Madoff Trustee Advances $534 Million to Customers " [Bloomberg]
(Photo: Todd Huffman) -
crime
Yep, Trying To Trade Sex For World Series Tickets Is Illegal
We know you really want to go see the Phillies/Yankees World Series, but you'll have to find some way to pay for it that doesn't include sex acts. One Philly fan found out that hard way when an undercover cop answered her Craigslist ad. More » -
crime
5 People Charged With Robbing And Torturing Mortgage Modification Agents
KTLA says that five people have been charged with torture, robbery and false imprisonment after luring two loan modification agents to a location and then holding them for hours, beating and robbing them before one escaped. More » -
granny red shirt
American Medical Alarms Sends Elderly Neighbor To Investigate Next Door
Is it okay for an alarm company to ask a neighbor to check on its customer? By sending a 70-year-old woman over to check on their 80-something-year-old customer, American Medical Alarms may have helped prematurely end a robbery/beating in progress. On the other hand, they asked a 70-year-old woman to go investigate an emergency next door—basically turning her into a potential Red Shirt. As the heroic neighbor's daughter points out, "They should have already considered the possibility that something like this could happen, and have policies in place to prevent it." More » -
wire transfer fraud
MoneyGram Agrees To Pay $18 Million Back To Fraud Victims
MoneyGram International announced today that it would pay $18 million to the FTC to settle charges it allowed wire fraud to happen between 2004 and 2008. MoneyGram's press release notes that they disagree with the FTC's view of the matter, but $18 million is a hell of a lot of money to pay if you don't think you were in the wrong. The press release from the FTC, on the other hand, provides plenty of detail illustrating MoneyGram's negligence, as well as the criminal behavior of some of its employees who were in on the frauds. More » -
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crime
Just Because Someone Tries To Sell You A Building Doesn't Mean They Own It
Meet Mr. Vargas. He would like to sell you his stake in some commercial property, a triangular lot just north of Central Park, at Lenox and St. Nicholas Avenues, in NYC. You would like to buy this property, because it's apparently awesome. Unfortunately, after you give Mr. Vargas the money — you find out that the property is owned by an entirely different person. More » -
drag me to jail
Fortune Teller Arrested For Selling Thousand Dollar Body Wash At The Mall
Fortune tellers are sort of like the con-artist version of the website Significant Objects—the more interesting the story, the higher the price you can fetch for an otherwise cheap piece of crap. Unless, of course, the police arrest you for "fraudulent accosting" at the mall and ruin your con. More » -
crime
Robber Walks Through Walmart Receipt Check With $200,000 Cash
You and I can't get past Walmart's receipt checks with a 12-pack of toilet paper, but one criminal made it past the greeter with a cart full of cash. $200,000 from the store's safe, to be precise. How does that happen? More » -
bad consumer
Angry Customer Shoots Taco Bell Employee Because They're Closed
So, you roll into Taco Bell at 3:30 am. They're closed. Sure, you're upset, but do you need to shoot the person working there? One guy in Miami thinks so, and he's apparently still at large after shooting a Taco Bell employee in the leg simply because the restaurant wasn't open. More » -
phishing
FBI Charges 100 People In Phishing Investigation
Since 2007, the FBI and authorities in Egypt have been running an investigation they've called "Operation Phish Phry," sigh, and this week it paid off with 53 charges against U.S. defendants and 47 against people in Egypt. Three of the 53 in the U.S. have been arrested, and the FBI are looking for the other 50. To prove you're not one of the remaining 50, please send the FBI your login credentials to your bank. Ha ha, we kid. More » -
online security
Microsoft Turns A Blind Eye To Phishing Scams On Xbox LIVE
William wrote to us this weekend to point out how little Microsoft does to fight phishing attacks on their hugely popular Xbox LIVE network. It's unfortunate they don't take this sort of crime more seriously, since so many kids—who by all rights should have less experience with phishing—are on Xbox LIVE. Below is what two different Xbox CSRs told William when he contacted them to complain about phishing attacks. More » -
due dates
Woman Arrested For Keeping Rented Movies 10 Years Past Due Date
A woman in Iowa was arrested last week for the theft of three video tapes from a local video store. She rented them in May of 1998, and a charge was filed against her in September of that same year after she repeatedly neglected to return them. More » -
beatings
Pizza Hut Manager Attacks Old Man
A 27-year-old Pizza Hut manager in Winnipeg, Manitoba, went bonkers last Friday and dragged a 76-year-old customer to the ground over a payment dispute. The manager was arrested, and the customer returned the next afternoon to dine, because he is afraid of nothing. More » -
class action
Chicago Impounds Your Car As Part Of "Investigation," Holds It Hostage
A class action lawsuit has been filed against the City of Chicago on behalf of people whose cars were impounded as part of a police investigation — and then charged outrageous fees to get their vehicles back. The lawsuit covers 15,000 people whose cars were impounded by the city over a five year period. More » -
meth laws
Grandmother Arrested For Buying Cold Medicine Twice In One Week
Last March, Sally Harpold bought a box of Zyrtec-D cold medicine for her husband, then a few days later bought a box of Mucinex-D cold medicine for her grown daughter. That put her over the limit for how much pseudoephedrine-laced cold meds you can buy in a week in her small Indiana town, so she was arrested along with 16 other potential meth makers earlier this month. More »
crime
New York, 7:03 AM
Mon Nov 9
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