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crime
crime
Septuagenarian Couple Scammed Inns And Hotels For Four Years
The next time you stay at a bed and breakfast and you see a kindly old couple lingering in the common room after breakfast, be suspicious! The Wolffs have been scamming inns, hotels, rented homes, and bed & breakfasts since 2005, reports the Boston Globe. They offer to pay via check, and until recently--when they stayed in one place so long that they were still around when the check bounced--nobody ever thought they might be pulling a fast one. They're due in court this month for defrauding several inns over the past summer. More »
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Rat Planter Pleads Guilty To Restaurant Extortion
(ArtBrom)
Finding frogs in your weight watchers food or snakes in your TGIF or mice in your Pepsi is one thing and alerting the authorities for infomational purposes is one thing, but please don't plant rats in your soup in the hopes of extorting a half-million. Because you will be caught, like Debbie Miller of Wisconsin. Here brilliant scheme was defeated by a microwave. More »
Man Opens Fire At Farm King Store In Illinois
Update: Chicagobreakingnews is reporting that the standoff is over, and the gunman has been found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. No one else was harmed.
Earlier today a man entered a Farm King farm supply store in Macomb, IL, and opened fire, although so far no deaths have been reported. He left five hostages go earlier--two women, two men and a small child, reports the Associated Press--and two other people left the store earlier in the day. More »
Earlier today a man entered a Farm King farm supply store in Macomb, IL, and opened fire, although so far no deaths have been reported. He left five hostages go earlier--two women, two men and a small child, reports the Associated Press--and two other people left the store earlier in the day. More »
Woman Says She Was Groped On Disneyland Ride
Disneyland's Tower of Terror lived up to its name in a disturbing way last week, says a woman who claims she was sexually assaulted by a man seated next to her on the ride, ABC News Los Angeles reports. The ride's photo caught the man semi-red-handed, either reaching toward the woman or pulling away. More »
Rip Torn, Fake CEO Of GE, Found Drunk And Armed In A Bank
Rip Torn, who plays the fictional CEO of GE on 30 Rock, was arrested after being found drunk and armed in a bank in his hometown. He has pleaded not guilty, says the New York Post. This sort of behavior is apparently not altogether unexpected. More »
Alleged ATM Skimmer Crooks Caught Near Boston
(AComment)
The Secret Service has apprehended an alleged ring of ATM skimmer crooks in eastern Massachusetts. The group set up skimmers with pinhole cameras on Bank of America and Citizens Bank ATMs in the greater Boston area. According to authorities, when one of the suspects was caught, he had almost $100,000 in twenties in his possession. More »
Bank Sues Victim To Avoid Replacing $200k In Stolen Funds
What constitutes adequate security for a bank? PlainsCapital Bank in Lubbock, Texas says what it currently has is enough, and if after all that some crooks still manage to steal your money, it's not the bank's fault. The bank has preemptively sued a business customer, Hillary Machinery, to absolve itself from any liability on what it couldn't get back from the more than $800,000 that was stolen by foreign hackers last November. More »
Customer Punches Grocery Store Manager Over Price Of Crab Cakes
A man in Sandusky, Ohio, grew so angry at the price of some crab cakes that he punched the store manager "five or six times," head butted him, and spit in his face. According to the Associated Press article, there was a pricing error in the customer's favor, and the manager had offered to give the customer the first crab cake at the incorrect price but wanted to charge full price for the rest. More »
Short Interview With A Possible 419 Scammer?
(Photo: Robert S. Donovan)
The UK website Scam Detectives has published a two-part interview with a self-described former Nigerian 419 scammer. Take all of this a healthy dose of skepticism--the author admits he has no way of verifying if anything the guy says is true. Oh, and the reason I call it a short interview is because halfway through the second call, the author tells the scammer he doesn't like him and wants to hang up. Before that happens, though, you get to read about foot soldiers, something called a wash wash, and the response rate on scam email blasts. More »
Walmart Customer Arrested For Urinating On Steaks
(Photo: jonny.hunter)
Either this man was not in his right mind, or this was the stupidest animal-rights protest ever. The police in Canton, Ohio report that a man was arrested and jailed for urinating on a Walmart meat counter, ruining $600 worth of steak. More »
Would This ATM Skimmer Have Fooled You?
Would you have noticed this ATM skimmer, spotted on a Citibank ATM in California? The actual card slot is on the left. The skimmer is on the right. The contraption is seemingly custom-designed for this model ATM, and includes a pinhole camera for capturing victims' PINs. Fancy. More »
Manager Charged With Arson After Rival Bowling Alley Is Burned
(Photo:themikepark)
According to police, a manager of a rival bowling alley has been charged with arson in the destruction of Loyle Lanes, a bowling alley in southern New Jersey. More »
Kmart Worker Killed By Shoplifters
A Detroit Kmart loss prevention officer was killed by a pair of shoplifters. He tried to stop them but they ran over him with their SUV. He became tangled in the truck somehow and was dragged at least 100 feet before he was dislodged when the truck deliberately hit a pole. They were both charged with unarmed robbery and homicide. The plunder the five finger discount duo killed to keep? $400 in CDs. More »
Walmart Manager Takes Customer's DVD Away Because He Won't Show Receipt
(Photo: strangelv)
Yep, it's another Walmart receipt checker story! At the end of it, the OP asks, "What should I do?" And I sigh. I really don't know. Don't shop at Walmart anymore? Try to encourage your friends to not give their business to any company that acts in such a hostile way to honest, albeit uncooperative, customers? Spend a ton of money on a lawsuit that Walmart will use its very deep pockets to fight? More »
This Man Is Terrible At Smashing Up A Burger King
We suppose January is Fast Food Violence month on the Internet. Here we have what appears to be an international submission -- a YouTube video of a man who throws a drink against the wall -- then attempts to use a chair to smash up the glass door of a Burger King. More »
More Footage Of The McDonald's Water Thrower
Last week I posted a clip of an angry McDonald's customer throwing water at the cashiers. Here's a new clip of her tirade--sort of a greatest hits compilation. It turns out it wasn't mop water, so that's a plus, but she did manage to push all three registers off the counter.
"Caught on Tape: Women Goes Apeshit at McDonald's Over Bad Hamburger" [True Crime Report] More »
"Caught on Tape: Women Goes Apeshit at McDonald's Over Bad Hamburger" [True Crime Report] More »
DNA And Fingerprints Collected From 1982 Tylenol Poisoning Suspect
(Photo: tonystl)
The 1982 Tylenol poisoning murders, the chief reason why the tamper-proof packages of modern over-the-counter medications must be broken into with, at minimum, a chainsaw, are being investigated again in light of new tips and new forensic techniques. Well, that only took 28 years. More »
T-Mobile Changes Mind, Lets Family Off The Hook For Stolen Phone Charges
(Photo: PJLewis)
Yesterday I posted about Zeb, a special needs guy whose phone was stolen shortly before Christmas. Between then and when his family found out about the theft and reported it to T-Mobile, the thief had made $6,000 in international calls and texts--and T-Mobile wanted Zeb's family to pay $1,500 of that.
Today I received word from Zeb's dad that T-Mobile has changed its mind and won't hold Zeb or his family responsible for the bogus charges. His email is below. More »
Today I received word from Zeb's dad that T-Mobile has changed its mind and won't hold Zeb or his family responsible for the bogus charges. His email is below. More »
Check Fraudster Strikes On Craigslist
(Photo: laurenatclemson)
Hopefully most of you know better than to ever accept a check from a stranger, but I think it's always good to share horror stories like this one to remind people of why it's a bad idea. The problem is, if you deposit a check that turns out to be fake, you're the one who will be held responsible for it. Unlike credit card theft, there's no law or rule in place to protect you from check fraud or advance fee fraud--and your bank doesn't want to be left holding the bag any more than you do. More »
T-Mobile Wants Family To Pay $1500 In Bogus Charges On Phone Stolen From Special Needs Customer
(Photo: compujeramey)
Jennifer wrote to us about the trouble a family in South Carolina is having over a huge T-Mobile bill: "Zeb, a special needs adult living with his parents, had his cell phone stolen just prior to Christmas. By the time the theft was discovered, $6000 in calls and text messages had been made to Honduras." The good news is that T-Mobile hasn't asked the family to pay the full $6,000. The bad news is that they do want them to pay a fourth of that. Update: T-Mobile has let the family off the hook. More »
