At 4:55 this morning, a group of 2,000 shoppers began pushing at the doors of the Walmart in Valley Stream, NY. The mob broke the doors off of their hinges and pushed inside the store, knocking down Jdimypai Damour, 34. No one helped him as he lay on the floor.

The NYT says:

People did not stop to help the employee as he lay on the ground, and they pushed against other Wal-Mart workers who were trying to aid Mr. Damour. The crowd kept running into the store even after the police arrived, jostling and pushing officers who were trying to perform CPR, the police said.

“They were like a stampede,” said Nassau Det. Lt. Michael Fleming. “Hundreds of people walked past him, over him or around him.”

Mr. Damour was taken from the Wal-Mart to nearby Franklin Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 6:03 a.m., the police said.

The NYT said that crowds were allowed to begin forming at 9pm the previous night. The police were called at around 3:30 AM, but were apparently overwhelmed by calls from other stores.

At the time the doors were broken, several Walmart employees, including the one who died, were trying to hold the doors in place but were overwhelmed by the crowd.

Wal-Mart Employee Trampled to Death [NYT]

The check was made out to Vick's mother, Brenda Boddie, for the sum of $1,000.

Michael Vick's "Chump Change"[The Smoking Gun]

From the Daily Record:

Samaroo, of Middle River, was employed at the IKEA Direct in Rosedale, which handles phone and mail orders. Between September 2007 and August 2008, Samaroo gave himself refunds for purchases made by customers, Lippe said. He doled out the money to family and friends and bought himself a new car, a motorcycle and several crystal pieces, among other goods, Lippe said.

Kind of makes you wonder how he thought this movie was going to end. Ya know?

IKEA worker pleads guilty to stealing $400K [Daily Record via Inside Charm City]
(Photo: Meg Marco )

When he was charged for two $7 buffet meals, Linscomb refused to pay for one of them. He said that “there were no signs in the restaurant that said someone could not have some food off your plate,” the report said.

The restaurant staff called police, who came to the restaurant on Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway and arrested Linscomb on a charge of theft of services. He was taken to Fulton County Jail.

The man was released from jail two days later after pleading guilty to disorderly conduct.

According to the police report, the jailed diner said that his girlfriend had only had "a couple bites" of his food. Don't mess with buffet restaurant managers, people. They are serious about the buffet rules.

Texan jailed after 2 ate from 1 plate [AJC] (Thanks, j!)
(Photo: Morton Fox )

Chris says:

According to comments allegedly made by Howard Cox, a US Department of Justice official in a closed-door meeting last week, after being frustrated with the disk encryption employed by Yastremskiy, Turkish law enforcement may have resorted to physical violence to force the password out of the Ukrainian suspect.

Mr Cox's revelation came in the context of a joke made during his speech. While the exact words were not recorded, multiple sources have verified that Cox quipped about leaving a stubborn suspect alone with Turkish police for a week as a way to get them to voluntarily reveal their password. The specifics of the interrogation techniques were not revealed, but all four people I spoke to stated that it was clear that physical coercion was the implied method.

The Turkish interrogation seemed to have worked as Mr Cox was even able to share Yastremskiy's encryption password with the audience.

Eek.

Turkish police may have beaten encryption key out of TJ Maxx suspect [CNet]

From WLKY:

Gadansky replied, using the name "Clancy The Dog LLC."

"I told them I was in the fertilizer business, which Clancy does a lot of, fertilizing the back yard," Gadansky said. "That smacks of the truth. Then I waited. I didn't expect to even get a response."

On Tuesday, a very authentic-looking check from a real Canadian company came in the mail.

"I'm supposed to deposit the check," Gadansky said. "I get to keep 5 percent and then wire back the remainder of that money. So I keep $7,500 and wire them back over $140,000. You're wiring them back real money, but that check is a phony, and your bank will figure that out in a few days. It's an old scam for which people are still falling."

Clancy is a crimefighter. Yes he is. Awww.

Golden Retriever Gets $150,000 Check In The Mail [WLKY]

As part of their inquiry, FTC staff made undercover purchases from the sites. No one asked the clandestine buyers to provide verification of a prescription and the shipped drugs did not include doctors' instructions or dosage information, officials said.

According to MSNBC, the sites used names like "Canadian Healthcare," were run by U.S. and New Zealand citizens, were hosted in China, sourced their drugs from India, and ran credit card purchases through Cyprus and the former Soviet republic of Georgia. The world of spam is flat, indeed (although there's probably an email in my inbox that promises to prevent that).

"FTC busts 'world's largest spam operation'" [MSNBC]
(Photo: Getty Images)

When the police arrived on the scene, one of the three men ran away, dropping credit cards on the ground. It turns out that these credit cards were fakes encoded with real stolen credit card numbers. The men were arrested and there's now an ongoing investigation as to the origin of the numbers... but here's the hilarious part — Walmart actually did sell these guys an empty box instead of a laptop.

The AP says:

The counterfeit credit cards were encoded with valid stolen credit card numbers and police say an investigation is ongoing to identify the account holders.

Store employees later discovered they had indeed sold an empty box to the three men.

Walmart Busts Three Men for Fraud After Accidentally Selling Them Empty Computer Boxes [Fox News] (Thanks, Tom!)
(AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)

As you can see from the above screen grab, Mr. Brown, like so many other eBay thieves, practiced excellent customer service. His customers claimed to be "in love" with him, thanks to his prompt delivery and "good communication." One customer remarked that the camera he bought was missing its instructions. Guess the owner didn't pack them.

Mr. Brown's bail has been set at $100,000. He faces 10 years in prison if convicted. The TSA is reportedly taking the matter "seriously."

Bail set at $100,000 for airport baggage screener [Newsday]
TSA agent helped himself to a $47,900 camera (and more!) [Gadling] (Thanks, Geoffrey!)

Because we didn't already have enough to worry about this week, the New York Times took a moment to remind us that recessions and crime go hand-in-hand. Consider:

• 1970s: New York almost dies, neighborhoods follow.
• 1987: Stocks crash. The next year, murders soar.

"Every recession since the late ’50s has been associated with an increase in crime and, in particular, property crime and robbery, which would be most responsive to changes in economic conditions. Typically, there is a year lag between the economic change and crime rates."

Nearly 80 police departments say that the subprime meltdown is already boosting crime rates. In Santa Anna, foreclosed homes have been converted to playgrounds for gangs and whores.

New York is enjoying record-low crime rates, even with 4,000 fewer officers than we had eight years ago. Of course, the police department is funded by tax revenue, and New York, more than most, depends on Wall Street for a double-digit chunk of budget grease. Former top cop Bill Bratton said:

Those are tough choices. Where are you going to put the scarce tax dollars? I would advocate it is the wrong thing to do if you start impacting police.

Mayor Bloomberg disagrees and told the police to slash $94 million from this year's budget. Next year, the cops are set to lose another $192 million.

Of course, these social scientists don't really know anything. Some think bad times and foreclosures lead to falling wages, unemployment, and crime. Others think crime is caused by the prosperity and gaudiness found in good times. So unlike the countless investors driving us inexorably towards recession and potential stabbings, you can take solace in the uncertainty.

Keeping Wary Eye on Crime as Economy Sinks [The New York Times]
(Photo: Getty)

Here's his story:

I have been an AT&T/Cingular customer for some time (5+ years). I own small business and have 7 phones with them on a small business plan, my normal monthly bill is well over $300. Shortly after Mother's day this year I started getting $2000+ bills for roaming in Nicaragua and Mexico. Neither I nor my phone have ever been to Nicaragua. I called AT&T and they actually fixed the problem in a few days and gave me a credit. So far so good.

However, the next month's bill came and the calls are still there, and the next month and the next month. Finally I had them shut the phone off completely, because they couldn't stop the billing. So the phone is now off, and I am still paying monthly service on it. However, they managed to rack up over $6,000 in charges for roaming in Mexico and Nicaragua before I forced them to shut it off.

Here's the kicker, AT&T says the phone is in both places at the same time. Their own bill shows a call being made from Nicaragua at the exact same minute it is incurring a data roaming charge in Mexico. When I point out that this is physically impossible they just respond with "pay the bill," I imagine it to be similar to what dealing with the Mob must feel like.

I won't get into the byzantine mess that is AT&T's dispute issues process (to be fair, in the 5 years before this incident, I always thought they were pleasant and helpful when I called for anything); suffice to say after over 12 hours on the phone with AT&T (who have a wonderful system that won't allow you to call anyone back), they finally shut my phones off today. This is despite swearing just last night that my service wouldn't be interrupted.

For the record, despite all these issues I was a "good" customer and continued to pay the portion of my bill that was legit.

Please help, or at least if you can't help publish this so other people can stay away.

Serves me right for buying an iPhone.

Thanks,
Chris

Hey, we didn't say it, he did.

Chris, have you tried these numbers?

• Credit Repair The Times says that the FTC has taken action on 70% (!) of companies that promise to repair your credit and have not yet found one that can actually "fix" truthful information on your credit report.
• Foreclosure Rescue This is a nasty scam. The scammers advertise with messages like "We can save your home. Guaranteed." Then the scammer either tries to swindle you out of your mortgage payments in exchange for "negotiating with your lender" or they trick you into signing over the title to your home. Here's some more information about this scam and how to avoid it.
• Hidden Bankruptcy Bankruptcy is one option that is open to you, but it has serious consequences to your credit that you should consider before going ahead with it. Watch out for ads that claim to "Consolidate your bills into one monthly payment without borrowing." This is can be a secret code for bankruptcy.
• Free Lunch Anyone offering you a free lunch for attending an "information" session is probably full of crap. If their investments are so good... why are they selling them to you!? The Times says that an SEC report said that "about half the seminars it attended featured misleading claims, and 13% appeared to be engaging in outright fraud."
• Home-based Businesses Run. Away. Never pay a fee to start a home-based business, however wonderful it may sound. Scammers will tell you that doctors need sub-contractors to stuff envelopes or help process their accounts. They might try to tell you that you can make money starting a website, or assembling crafts. They'll charge a fee to set you up, and it's usually pretty hefty. After you've paid your money, you're on your own.
  
  "Few consumers," the FTC said in a warning statement, "are able to find clients, start a business and generate revenues."

  If you're interested in starting your own business, go to your local library and ask what educational resources they have for people like you. Brooklyn, for example, has an entire library dedicated to the needs of small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Money scams don't slow down in hard economic times [LA Times] (Thanks, Robert !)
(Photo: blue_j )

The BBB says:

While many seniors have reported the scam without falling prey to it, unfortunately, many others have been victimized. One well-meaning grandmother sent $15,000 to scammers, thinking she was helping a grandchild who had been in an auto accident.
...
Law enforcement officials are not certain how perpetrators are obtaining phone numbers for so many senior citizens across the U.S. However, it is believed that scammers are most likely calling random numbers until they happen to reach a senior citizen. The scammers’ basic tactic is to pose as a grandchild and let the unsuspecting grandparent fill in the blanks. For example, the scam caller might say, “It’s me, your favorite grandchild,” to which the grandparent will guess the name of the grandchild it sounds the most like, and then the call proceeds from there.

The BBB also alerted us to several examples of people who have been victimized by the scam. Here's one from Utah:

When the phone rang in the middle of the night, Vernon and Alice Harper knew something was wrong. Alice said the caller told her, "Oh, I'm sorry, Grandma. I'm really sorry to do this to you." She said it sounded a little bit like he was crying. The caller told them, "I'm in trouble, Grandma. I'm up here in Toronto. I need money. I'm in jail. I had a rented car, and I wrecked it."

They thought the caller was their grandson, so Alice wired $4,400. The caller said his calling card only had a few minutes and he didn't have much time, but could she wire the money within two hours? He would call back in two hours to get the personal identification number.

Once Alice got to Wal-Mart to get the MoneyGram, she wanted to be safe about it, so she asked the clerk to tack on a security question, something only her grandson would know. But on the other end of the transaction, nobody asked her security question to the con artist. She had already given him the personal identification number, and that's all the clerk on the Canada end asked for. MoneyGrams use personal identification numbers instead of requiring ID to wire money. As long as you have the pin, you can get the money.

And here's another one where a grandmother sent $5,300 to someone claiming to be one of her 50 grandchildren.

The BBB has some advice for people who spot this scam, or are victimized by it:

BBB recommends reporting the incident immediately to local police departments and state Attorneys General offices. If there is a request to wire money to Canada, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Call Centre has established the PhoneBusters hotline and Web site to report such fraud. Reports can be filed easily online through the PhoneBusters site at: www.phonebusters.com, or by phone, toll free at, 1-888-495-8501.

BBB Alert: Senior Citizens Nationwide Report Losing Thousands of Dollars to Telephone Scam [BBB]
(Photo: davidbivins )

(Photo: Marike79 )

Airblown Inflatable Light Show Scene [Walmart] (Thanks to Paul!)

Here's the video. One passenger is heard telling a woman and a child to get the hell out of his seating area, and the woman says that he should go to sleep and take a sleeping pill. The man also asks why the woman can't control her child, blah, blah, blah.

Christopher Elliott says JetBlue could have handled this differently, and we have to agree. He's his take on it:

I think JetBlue could have handled this differently. Rather than sending a lengthy, defensive letter to the customer, the airline could have tried to patch things up. It’s obvious that she wasn’t taping the flight deck for nefarious purposes. Arguments between passengers such as the one she taped are pretty common these days.

The crew overreacted and the company overreacted. Its letter to Parver has just reopened old wounds.

Here’s the video that got grandmother detained on JetBlue flight [Elliott]

They told a woman they needed to come into her house to fix some wiring, according to a police report. She noted the men drove a black Saturn sedan rather than a marked Comcast vehicle and refused to let them enter, saying she didn't have an appointment.

The woman told police the men walked down the street knocking on doors.

An 80-year-old homeowner who lives across the street told police he and his son let the men inside. While inside, one of the men had the elderly man say his Social Security number into a cell phone and gave him a false work order, according to the report.

Comcast employees, including contractors, have identification available at all times and usually have a Comcast or contractor vehicle, company spokesman Steve Kipp said.

In some door-to-door sales cases, Comcast employees may ask for the last four digits of a customer's Social Security number to verify an account, he said. But that information also can be provided over the phone, Kipp said.

Installers never ask for money and should have their Comcast badges prominently displayed, he said.

Today the paper posted a new report that confirms that these mysterious social security number thieves were in fact actual Comcast contractors who were not following proper company procedure.

Kipp said the contractors, working for Roseville, Calif.-based Winmark Authorized Agent Group, should have had their Comcast identification present.

"We're working with the contracting company to make sure they're properly trained and an incident like this wouldn't happen again," Kipp said.

He said the Social Security and AARP membership information obtained from one man was used to verify a Comcast account and not retained by the contractors.

According to Winmark Authorized Agent Group's website they're a D2D marketing firm. They don't appear to be in the "wiring fixing" business.

Police searching for fraudulent Comcast employees [Seattle P-I]
Wanted Comcast contractors actually legit, company says [Seattle P-I]

As the players continued to dig, they concluded that NioNio was at the center of a web of accounts that were able to change user names with ease, making it harder for victims to detect the cheating.

UltimateBets launched an investigation when the players brought this to their attention, and in March of this year they issued a confirmation that certain players had been cheating by taking advantage of malicious code that had been inserted by prior employees.

As of September, no one has been named in the scandal, although some players have named a poker pro. Two other poker pros visited him in person, with a lawyer present, and now say they're no longer sure he was the culprit—or at least not the main culprit.

Another problem is that the company that claims ownership of UltimateBet—"Tokwiro Enterprises, headquartered in the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory in southern Canada"—may be a front for Blast-Off Ltd., which has filed an $85 million claim against UltimateBet. The Kahnawake Gaming Commission has ordered an investigation of UltimateBet, but that's not comforting some victims:

[Tokwiro] has issued some refunds and promised to repay any players who lost money once an outside investigation is completed. But many players who haven’t received credits remain fearful they will never see a dime.

"Poker site cheating plot a high-stakes whodunit" [MSNBC] (Thanks to Patrick!)

The Johnson County District Attorney, Phill Kline, told Fox News that Verizon not only seemed unhelpful, but possibly incompetent:

We did have a problem with Verizon. We're talking about 3 hours afterwards, they [the police] were already pushing for this information, with the sergeant speaking to Verizon directly at 2:30 a.m., demanding that this information be provided and it wasn't.

There was a lack of understanding on their end of what they were incapable of doing. I was on the conference call with Verizon, and we had three technicians telling us different things and using different terms, and we can't guess their mind. We've got a girl that's missing. We have a girl that's missing, we have a likely abduction, we need to find her.

Everyone involved in the search has made it clear that Verizon's incompetence had nothing to do with Kelsey's death, but it could have made the search a lot shorter, and saved a lot of people unnecessary grief. Unfortunately, when Verizon's president met with Kline and Kelsey's parents two months later, he brought three lawyers with him for protection.

Kelsey's mom told Fox, "If [Verizon] brought them because you think we're here to sue you, that's not what this is about." Says Kline, "They didn't realize that they have an opportunity... to establish a course that leads the way that is right and responsible, and instead they chose a different posture, and that's unfortunate."

Kelsey's mom:

We almost didn't get to say to goodbye to Kelsey, because of her body decomposition from being out there so long.

Kelsey's dad:

We never did get a why, that was the thing that was so frustrating, why can't you do this. That question was never answered.

"Why Did It Take So Long to Find Kelsey Smith?" (video) [MyFoxKC.com] (Thanks to Albert!)

Lil ole me. A twenty-seven year old female, simply a poor writer in LA.

Capital One Bank— while I appreciate them sending me a letter telling me they sent a credit card to someone with my SS# yet a different spelling of my name AND address than what is on my records at all three Credit Bureaus— why ON EARTH would they still send out a card?

I called Capital One immediately and successfully prevented the criminal from getting that MasterCard card approved. They went ahead and froze the account. After reporting this to Capital One, they send a fraud claim not to me, the victim, but idiotically to the CRIMINAL who stole my identity. This, in turn, alerted the thief (thieves) to take quicker actions with fraudulently using my identity.

This was an act of negligence as well as an unsavory business practice on Capital One's behalf. Capital One Bank has obstructed the law by aiding these identity thieves who are involved with a federal offense.

I mean, wouldn't it make sense for Capital One (and ALL creditors) to make it a company-wide, mandatory practice to alert the customer BEFORE processing ANY requests with mismatched information from the credit bureaus?

So, I called the Social Security and the Credit Bureaus to put a Fraud Alert on all accounts. Then, the LAPD. Capital One was "gracious" enough to give me the address that the criminal used— [redacted]. And courtesy of the White Pages, the residence of one Magdalena C.

What do I do now? Wait until the LAPD finds her? Call the cops on her? I mean, have they thought of looking this woman up on www.whitepages.com? The internet make identity theft so easy, and perhaps catching the criminals easier too.

I hope this Magdelena C. gets locked up for a LONG time.

Sincerely,
A Victim of Identity Theft

We agree that Capital One showed some extra special incompetence there with the fraud claim form. Maybe you should report what happened to the FBI too—that's a link to their local office locator.

Update: As our editor Ben Popken and some of our readers point out in the comments below, there are a few other things you should do, Lisa, to protect yourself.

• Place a freeze on your credit reports. A fraud alert won't necessarily prevent future abuse. A freeze will.
• File a report with the FTC's ID Theft Hotline: 1-877-IDTHEFT (438-4338) or http://www.ic3.gov/complaint/default.aspx
• And make sure you filed an actual police report with the LAPD if you haven't already.

(Photo: Getty)

Joseph R. Vaccarelli worked for Verion for 10 years but only started making the calls within the last 10 months, which makes us wonder what exactly happened last November or December to make him launch his non-stop telephone orgy of fraud—and how he got any work done during that time.

Verizon would like everyone to know that not all of its employees regularly call phone sex hotlines and charge the fees to customer accounts:

"We believe this was a highly isolated incident by an errant individual," Young said. "It should not reflect on the overwhelming majority of our workforce, who bring pride and respect to their jobs every day."

"Verizon Worker Charged in 5,000 Illicit Sex Calls" [redOrbit] (Thanks to skokieguy!)
(Photo: ernop)

Bed, Bath & Beyond refused to let some customers use the phone to call 911 after they saw a toddler locked in a hot car in the store's parking lot. The witnesses told the local news that the employees told them, "...You cannot call no one, what goes on in the parking lot is not our concern."

"I said, lady, there is a child out there in a hot car and it's locked and it needs help. And I said, will you let us use your phone and call and she said no, we will not get involved."

The Lexington police arrived, smashed the car window and gave the 3-year-old some water. The mother was arrested and charged with wanton endangerment. Meanwhile, Bed, Bath & Beyond has issued a statement about the incident.

"The customer did ask the store to contact the authorities, the store suggested that the customer, who had witnessed the situation, contact 911. We are pleased that the manner was addressed in a timely manner and will use this incident as a training opportunity."

Police: Toddler In Hot Van For 45 Min. [LEX 18 News] (Thanks, Doug!)
(Photo: Morton Fox )

Anthony writes:

My name is Anthony [redacted], and I was just robbed at knifepoint in Queens, NY, for my iPhone. I was walking home fairly late at night and a man walked up to me wielding a 10-inch or so blade and demanded my money and my iPhone.

I am writing you because after reporting the robbery to the police, I called AT&T – my service provider for 3 years – and asked if they could possibly work with the NYPD to track down my phone via the iPhone 3G's GPS. They said it was not possible to track any closer than the closest cell tower if the iPhone's functions were used, which kind of defeats the purpose of GPS in many ways. Given the Patriot Act and everything, I figured they can track down where we're taking a piss at this point.

But the big problem came when we started talking about replacing my iPhone 3G. Now I was an early adopter of the original 8GB iPhone and I just purchased the iPhone 3G in July. So when I asked if there would be a free replacement or a discount of sorts, the woman at customer service responded that since I just purchased the iPhone 3G that I would have not qualify for the discounted $199 iPhone 3G and I would have to purchase the phone at the higher price point of $399.

So after being such a long time AT&T customer and supporter of Apple's marquee product of the moment, I have been told that despite the fact that I was robbed by someone brandishing what was essentially a mini-machete I am now being robbed by AT&T.

I feel insulted as a customer, and appalled by the customer service at AT&T. This is beyond poor customer service; this is a lack of basic human compassion.

It's a shame that you're stuck in a 2-year contract because of a phone that you now no longer have. Ugh! AT&T is probably a dead end, but if you bought the phone with a credit card, you might want to call your credit card company. Many credit cards have 90-day "purchase assurance" or "purchase protection" programs that protect your recent purchases from loss, damage or theft.

Most people don't think to call their credit card company when something like this happens, which is a shame because they can be very helpful, and certainly more pleasant to deal with than your cellphone company. Don't delay, however, once the 90-days is over, so is the coverage.

(Photo: jetsetpress )

According to federal prosecutors the scam involved preying on customer's reluctance to admit that they had ordered the "male enhancement" pills. Customers ordered the pills, but were unable to cancel or get a refund. A former VP of the company testified that Warshak required customers to provide notarized documents from a doctor proving that they had small genitals in order to get a refund.

If customers complained, he said, employees were instructed to "make it as difficult as possible" for them to get their money back. In some cases, Teegarden said, Warshak required customers to produce a notarized statement from a doctor certifying Enzyte did not work.

"He said it was extremely unlikely someone would get anything notarized saying they had a small penis," Teegarden said.

The judge had strong words for Warshak:

"This is a case about greed," Spiegel said as he reviewed the case. "Steven Warshak preyed on perceived sexual inadequacies of customers."

Warshak's 75-year-old mother was also sentenced to jail time, but it's unlikely that she will serve it because she's 75 and has cancer. Meanwhile, Warshak has 30 days to report to prison.

Ohio company owner gets 25 years in fraud case [Associated Press]

From the LA Times:

"It has the potential to be an epidemic," Chris Swecker, the FBI official in charge of criminal investigations, told reporters in September 2004. But, he added reassuringly, the FBI was on the case. "We think we can prevent a problem that could have as much impact as the S&L crisis," he said.

Of course, we all know how well they prevented the (still on-going) mortgage meltdown. What happened?

Most observers have declared the mess a gross failure of regulation. To be sure, in the run-up to the crisis, market-oriented federal regulators bragged about their hands-off treatment of banks and other savings institutions and their executives. But it wasn't just regulators who were looking the other way. The FBI and its parent agency, the Justice Department, are supposed to act as the cops on the beat for potentially illegal activities by bankers and others. But they were focused on national security and other priorities, and paid scant attention to white-collar crimes that may have contributed to the lending and securities debacle.

Now that the problems are out in the open, the government's response strikes some veteran regulators as too little, too late.

Swecker, who retired from the FBI in 2006, declined to comment for this article.

But sources familiar with the FBI budget process, who were not authorized to speak publicly about the growing fraud problem, say that he and other FBI criminal investigators sought additional assistance to take on the mortgage scoundrels.

They ended up with fewer resources, rather than more.

FBI saw threat of mortgage crisis [LA Times]
(Photo: meghannmarco )

Amanda Hopkins used credit info from six customers to "make numerous purchases on their accounts" between October 2007 and April 2008. The local Fox affiliate says that Best Buy has issued the affected customers new cards and given them gift certificates.

"Las Cruces Best Buy Employee Accused Of Shopping With Customers' Credit Cards" [KFOXTV]
(Photo: Getty)

The scammers operate under names such as U.S. National Bank, Federal Investigation Bureau and United Legal Processing, said West Virginia Assistant Attorney General Norman Googel.

The callers also have invoked the names of actors Denzel Washington and Steve Martin, people who've received calls tell ABCNews.com.

Googel said that the scammers have been impossible to track down, but ABCNews.com spoke to one man who claimed to be associated with U.S. National Bank. The man said he works for Financial Crime Division, a company he said provides services for USNB.

The man refused to give his name and gave little information about his company.

Steve Martin? What? When ABC tried to get the fake debt collector to tell them about his company, he responded in a thick accent: "It's not necessary that each and everyone knows about Financial Crime Division, and probably one of them is you." Yep. Definitely one of them is us. (To hear a clip of this conversation, click here.)

ABC says the scammers are targeting people who took out payday loans and have access to lots of personal information that may have been stolen from payday lending websites. One consumer who was interviewed for the report said that he was intimidated into sending the scammers $800. They claimed he still owed the money on some loans he took out in 2005. He had paid the loans off last year, but threats of arrest scared him.

"I was scared to death," he said. "Everything they said literally just stressed me out to the max."

The scammers like to use scary-sounding terms that are meaningless such as "downloading affidavits," identify themselves as "Denzel Washington," and say they are calling from "Steve Martin's office."

ABC says consumers with complaints about U.S. National Bank are encouraged to contact the FTC, and their state attorney general's office.

Fake Debt Collectors Terrify Consumers [ABCNews]
Attorney General McGraw Warns Public of Fake Internet Loan Collectors Impersonating Law Enforcement Officers and Extorting Money From Consumers [West Virginia AG]

The district manager of Open Pantry Citgo, 11216 W. Blue Mound Road, reported that 4,909 gallons of gas, valued at $19,374, was removed from the underground tanks sometime between July 16 and Aug. 13.

He told police the pressure of the tanks, supply and feed lines have been tested with no indication of cracks or seeping, and the petroleum supply company has verified the delivered amounts.

Police in Wauwatosa thing the culprits were customers who prepaid for their gas and then tampered with the pumps in order to "acquire more gas than the pumps should allow." Naturally, they didn't explain the details of this technique.

Gas Thieves Take Nearly 5,000 Gallons [WauwatosaNow] (Thanks, Austin!)
(Photo: northernplateguy )

Etsy Bitch says:

Yeah, yeah, Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty made it a Hollywood hit, but in reality, Bonnie Parker was nothing more than a common criminal who supported her insane boyfriend's murdering spree. She's not worthy of having a trend of fashion for her, and even further perpetuating the falsehood that Hollywood began is just plain ignorant.

Besides, Faye's look wasn't even remotely Bonnie's look. Just look at the pictures of the real Bonnie Parker. It would be more apropos to call the article "Get the vintage Faye Dunaway look" instead of glamorizing a criminal.

...and here are some reactions from Etsy.com's commenters:

What is romantic about dying at aged 25 in a hail of bullets? Seriously Storque, you should rethink this article.

Bonnie and Clyde were murderers...I'm rethinking what it is Etsy stands for by promoting such things. Maybe saying "get Faye Dunaway's vintage look" would be more appropriate.

nice. hey storque, why not do sexy school shooters next?

Awesome! Next, how about some lighthearted suggestions on achieving Osama bin Laden's casual terrorist look? Or the funny-little-mustache and swastika sporting style of Adolph Hitler? Or maybe Ted Bundy's murderous chic and the trenchcoated glamour of the Columbine killers? That would be really cool too!

Ouch. The tipster who sent this story in says: "I thought this was so mind-boggling and in questionable taste that I am beginning to wonder of The Onion bought out etsy."

What do you think? Offensive? Or harmless?

Etsy Finds Vintage: Getting Bonnie Parker's Look [Etsy] (Thanks, Adam and Jace!)
Hooray for romanticizing criminals! [Etsy Bitch]
(Photo: FBI)

According to the Jackson Hole Star-Tribune, a 55 year-old man was arrested for suspicion of property damage and disturbing the peace after he became enraged and threw a monitor through a glass door and into the mall food court.

"Officers responded to the theater just after 7 p.m. and found Vaughn sweating profusely near the shoe department at JC Penney," says the paper.

The man had apparently requested a refund and when the theater employees offered him a "voucher." He then started yelling at employees and other customers that he was being ripped off.

A customer says that the man shouted that he was going to get his money's worth before grabbing the monitor and hurling it into the food court.

The officer who arrested the man says that he told him that "he had done the right thing in the war against injustice in the world."

Well, no.

Man fights movie theater 'injustice,', lands in jail [Star-Tribune] (Thanks, A.!)
(Photo: Getty)

Hospitals in Los Angeles and Orange counties submitted phony Medicare and Medi-Cal bills for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of homeless patients—including drug addicts and the mentally ill—recruited from downtown's Skid Row, state and federal authorities allege.

City attorneys began investigating after receiving reports back in 2006 that hospitals were dumping homeless patients on Skid Row streets. What they found, they say, was that some hospitals were using conditions such as dehydration, yeast infection, and exhaustion as reasons for keeping homeless patients in beds for "as long as three days" in order to maintain full patient loads and collect money from the government.

Agents arrested Rudra Sabaratnam, CEO of City of Angels hospital, and Estill Mitts, operator of a Skid Row health assessment center, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said. They were in federal custody and were scheduled to be arraigned Monday.

The city attorney's office said it filed a lawsuit against the corporate owners of the three hospitals — along with Sabaratnam, several doctors and others — in connection with the alleged scheme.

Representatives of the hospitals did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment. Los Angeles Metropolitan and the Tustin hospital are owned by Pacific Health Corp., and Los Angeles-based Intercare Health Systems owns City of Angels.

"FBI: LA hospitals used homeless in medical fraud" [Associated Press]
(Photo: Getty)

Rebollo would then sell these "leads" to another man,Wahid Siddiqi, for $500 per batch. The FBI says that Mr. Rebollo admitted that he profited approximately $50,000 to $70,000 from selling the data, which included the Social Security numbers of as many as 2 million mortgage applicants.

The LA Times says:

Rebollo would copy information on about 20,000 customers at a time on Sunday nights by using a [Countrywide] computer that did not have the same security features that other machines in the office had, according to the affidavit by FBI Special Agent Richard P. Ryan.

At that rate, the U.S. attorney's office said, Rebollo would have compromised up to 2 million customer profiles for about 2.5 cents each — an astonishingly small amount considering the importance of the material. Mortgage leads are among the most expensive for sale because of the potential payoffs to intermediaries when loans are made.

To top it off, not only was this guy selling his customers SSNs, he wasn't even very good at it, said Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse:

"This guy obviously didn't do his homework. He doesn't know the value of these on the black market," she said.

Countrywide insider stole mortgage applicants' data, FBI says [LA Times](Thanks, Alison!)
(Photo: So Cal Metro )

Today my mother received a series of calls from someone claiming to be calling from Con Ed. After asking for someone who doesn't exist (at least not in our family) they informed her that our apartment building was participating in a new Con Ed program to replace all old light bulbs with new energy saving light bulbs free of charge. It sounded way too good to be true so she told them she wasn't sure about her availability and hung up. After checking the lobby, the internet and asking the doorman if he'd heard anything about this "program" she returned home to find two messages from the "Con Ed" employees telling her that they could completely work with her schedule and that they would call back later.

It all sounds very odd to me.

Well, Fiona, the program is real but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be wary of strangers who want to come to your house and give you free light bulbs. In the New York City area, there's a program that aims to reduce summer power outages by helping people save electricity. The program pays subcontractors to go to eligible buildings and install energy efficient light bulbs. Having said that, we did see a report on WCBS about a subcontractor stealing jewelry while he was supposed to be installing the light bulbs.

"They're terrific, they're really good," said George Burke as he described the new energy efficient light bulbs Con Edison offered for free, but Burke says he ended up paying for them with valuable jewelry.

Last month, two subcontractors came to Burke's house to install the energy efficient light bulbs. While Burke filled out paperwork with one of them, the other went around the house changing light bulbs.

After having the new bulbs installed, Burke noticed a ten-karat diamond ring and a one-karat ruby garnet worth about $20,000 were gone.

"This right here is the dish where they were in," pointed Burke. "So you can see how close the lamp was to the dish."

That's when he realized one of the subcontractors hired by Con Edison was the culprit.

A detective investigating the subcontractor recently contacted Burke.

According to the detective, Burke wasn't the only victim. Several complaints, all of them from Staten Island had come in, and all of the victims had recently gotten their light bulbs replaced with one of the new energy saving kind.

So we guess the moral of this story is that there may be such a thing as a free light bulb, but you'd better keep an eye on the guy who installs it.

Con Ed Subcontractor Allegedly Stole From Homes [WCBS]

Verizon tells us:

"Verizon is aware of this incident involving one of its vendors. We have zero tolerance for violations of the law and hold our vendor responsible for the actions of its employees. Out of respect and concern for our customers, Verizon has suspended D2D in DE until further investigation is complete."

(Photo: Jay Adan )

Here's Mark's story:

On Monday, July 28th I ordered a pizza from Papa John's Pizza. When the delivery driver showed up, he handed me my Visa slip to sign with an 'x' written next to the tip line. To me calling any kind of attention to the tip line on a credit card slip is akin to holding your hand out and asking 'where's my tip.' I didn't like the presumptive tip, and had already paid an almost $2.00 “delivery charge” so I wrote a line through the tip line, rewrote the total and signed the slip.

This morning while getting ready for work, my wife informs me that Papa John's Pizza had overcharged us by $6.42. Quite upset about Papa John's Pizza stealing six-and-a-half dollars from me, I immediately googled Papa John's Pizza corporate number. I was transferred to the finance department, and left a message expressing my extreme dissatisfaction. About 7 minutes later I got a call back from Papa John's Pizza and the gentleman asked for the details of the transaction, etc. After promising the difference would be reversed to my debit card, he said that “Papa John's takes this sort of complaint seriously.” To which of course I replied “Please do not 'take this seriously,' resolve the issue.” Then the Papa John's Pizza guy got all defensive and wanted to know why I was calling him a liar. Anyway he promised to have a 'field supervisor' look into the situation.

If my charge was off by a dollar, say because the person keying in the charge transposed a number, I may or may not have been so upset. I would have waited until the local Papa John's Pizza opened up and discussed the matter with local management. But I firmly believe that the delivery driver took it upon himself to give himself a 30% tip. I also wonder how many other people have been 'fleeced' by this driver.

I hope to email you with an update about how Papa John's Pizza refunded the difference and took steps to show me that I am a valued customer, but the day is still young.

Well, we're impressed that someone at Papa John's called him back as promised, and in less than 10 minutes—that sort of thing is far too rare with many companies, and makes us think that Papa John's actually means the phrase. But yeah, they might want to rethink using empty PR-speak if they want to reassure customers that employee theft is not tolerated. But you shouldn't blame your customers for being skeptical when they hear that phrase—there's a reason nobody believes it anymore.

(Photo: Getty)

From the News-Journal:

On Monday, residents in the North Graylyn Crest neighborhood told police they saw a man hiding behind a vehicle who appeared to be masturbating while watching a woman work in her garden, said New Castle County police spokesman Cpl. Trinidad Navarro.

The man was described as wearing a Verizon T-shirt.

Police searched the area but couldn't find the man.

Police spoke to the woman the man had been watching, and she said she didn't know the man was watching her, but that a man had been to her house earlier and had attempted to sell her Verizon services.

Police spoke to Verizon officials, who said the company outsources solicitation campaigns to marketing companies, and that several representatives of such a company had been sent to the area.

On Tuesday, police received a report of a suspicious man who was walking along Grubb Road soliciting for Verizon, Navarro said.

When an officer confronted the man near a convenience store on Foulk Road, the man ran off through the backyard of a nearby home, Navarro said.

The door-to-door salesman is being held at a correctional institution in lieu of $20,500 bail.

Door-to-door salesman charged with lewdness [News Journal](Thanks, Jeff!)
(Photo: New Castle County police)

UPDATE: Verizon has suspended D2D sales in Delaware while they investigate this incident.

From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

"I'll tell you the truth," a criminal complaint quotes an apparently inebriated Keith Walendowski. "I got pissed because my lawn mower wouldn't start, so I got my shotgun and shot it.

"I can do that. It's my lawn mower and my yard, so I can shoot it if I want," Walendowski told police.

Well, no. Anyway, even if shooting your lawnmower is legal in your area, its certainly not recommended.

Dick Wagner of Wagner's Garden Mart, 6075 N. Green Bay Ave., said shooting the mower didn't help Walendowski's odds of getting it repaired.

"Anything not factory recommended would void the warranty," he said.

Yep, it sure will, Dick.

Man charged with shooting lawn mower [JS Online] (Thanks, Erik!)

We can't really blame Arthur for misreading DirecTV's past scrapes with bribery and thievery as a license to steal. To his credit, he apparently managed to show for a 9 a.m. Sunday appointment. Maybe the judge will see that as a mitigating factor during sentencing? He'll need all the help he can get: if convicted, Arthur faces between two and a half and seven years in jail.

TV installer allegedly swipes over 5G from Staten Island customer [Staten Island Advance] (Thanks to Todd!)
(Photo: brianc)