Consumerist
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privacy
Use ID Guard Stamp To (Sort Of) Block Personal Info
We're not sure how effective a stamp would be to truly block out personal info on your mail—cross-cut shredding is always better—but at the very least this would be a fun thing to do while sorting your mail. Maybe it would be good if you're one of those people who hates throwing out old magazines with your address info printed on the covers.
"ID Guard Stamp Obfuscates Your Personal Info" [Oh Gizmo!]
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identification
Breaking
Who pays for a six-piece McNugget with a$20$50 At McDonald's? Get Ready To Show Some ID$20$50 bill? Counterfeiters, that's who, and the McDonald's near Madison Square Garden is ready for them. Sorry guys, you're going to have to ask Wendy's to anonymously break your shadily large bills. More » -
A Walmart cashier from Shreveport, LA was caught copying down customer's credit card numbers and using them to buy items from the store where she worked. As you can imagine, the police caught on to this brilliant scam pretty quickly. She was arrested when credit card numbers were found in her purse. [KSLA]
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apple
Apple Store Institutionalizes Merchant Agreement Violation with Pretty Sign
Is Apple up to its old tricks again? More scandalous than your run-of-the-mill violation, it seems that Apple stores are now displaying a high-quality sign advertising their blatant ignorance of the Merchant Agreement. -
safeway
Safeway IDs Everyone In Your Party When You Buy Beer
Daniel went to his local Safeway with his brother to buy some beer. Daniel had his ID, but his brother didn't—but that's okay, because Daniel was the one buying the beer. The cashier, however, felt otherwise, and wouldn't complete the transaction without carding both of them. The store manager told him "the policy is, at the discretion of the clerk, to check the ID of every person present." More » -
target
Why Does Target Need ALL Of Your Driver's License Data To Sell You Wine?
Thruhike98 tried to buy some wine at Target a couple of weekends ago, and they were surprised at how invasive the ID check turned out to be:
More »My wife showed the cashier her license, which was behind a clear window in her wallet. He said, “No, please hand it to me.” We both assumed he just wanted a closer look. Once he had it, he immediately picked up a barcode scanner and scanned the back of her drivers license. I asked him what that was all about, as I had never seen anyone do that before. Almost bragging that Target now knows, for example, exactly where we live, he explained that the scan “gets all the information off of the license.”
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rite-aid
Rite-Aid Made My Mom Think I Got Married Behind Her Back
Rebecca got one of those calls from her mother that everybody dreads. "Is there anything you think you should tell me?" her mother wanted to know. Rebecca's mom got a piece of junk mail with Rebecca's first name and her boyfriend's last name and was under the impression Rebecca had snuck off for a Vegas wedding. She hadn't. After Rebecca calmed her mother down, she tried to figure out how Rite-Aid, where both had worked for a time, had merged her name and her boyfriend's. When Rite-Aid gave her the run around, we advised Rebecca to try an EECB to get some answers. Read her email, inside. More » -
identity theft
Former Employee Says TJX Security In Lawrence, Kansas Is A Joke
Remember TJX's gigantic security breach problems last year, where data on 94 million accounts was stolen? Good for you, because apparently TJX doesn't. A former employee of a TJX store in Lawrence, Kansas was fired recently for posting anonymous complaints online about the current sorry state of his store's security, which included the store manager writing server login and password information on a sticky note, and the store resetting employee passwords to blank fields. More » -
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refunds
A Radio Shack Manager Explains Why They Ask For Personal Info On Cash Returns
Last week, we pointed out that even with a receipt and the product in hand, and even though you purchased it with cash the day before at the same store, Radio Shack won't give a refund unless you give them your home address first. We got a lot of insider tips from former employees in the comments section, and the next day we received the following perspective from a Radio Shack store manager. We think his explanation still doesn't explain why you need personal ID to refund a cash transaction when you've got the item and the receipt in front of you, but read on if you want an unverified store manager's point of view. More » -
id
Dunkin' Donuts Won't Give You A Cup Of Iced Coffee Because You Look Under 18
Coffee lovers, rejoice! Dunkin' Donuts is giving away free 16 oz. cups of iced coffee today—unless you look under 18 and don't have identification. Tipster Carolyn watched with disbelief as workers at the Dunkin' Donuts at 1433 2nd Avenue on New York's Upper East Side refused to serve two high school seniors who didn't have identification.
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food
Nation's Largest Kosher Meat Packing Plant Raided On ID Theft Concerns
You might have a harder time finding kosher meat in the coming weeks, because the country's largest kosher meat packing plant, Agriprocessors, was raided this past Monday. At least 300 of its nearly 1000 employees were arrested for using fraudulently obtained Social Security numbers, and immigration officials have said they expect the number to go as high as 700. More » -
scams
More Info On The $9.87 Credit Card Scam
MGD at dslreports read our post last night about Prophotosland.com and its fraudulent charge to reader Megan's credit card. He's been following the scammers—"an organized crime syndicate operated from Eastern Europe"—for nearly three years now, and has a ton of highly valuable information on them, including their recent targeting of military personnel stationed overseas. Bottom line: cancel your credit card, Megan, because they've got access to it now—and report the charge as fraudulent rather than dispute it. More » -
scams
Watch Out For $9.87 Credit Card Scam From Prophotosland.com
A reader named Megan noticed an unfamiliar charge for $9.87 from prophotosland.com on her WaMu credit card statement, so she began to investigate it. Not only had she never heard of it, but there was no website that domain, and a Google search turns up hit after hit of scam and fraud reports at various websites. It seems to be but one of numerous fronts charging fraudulent $9.87 fees to credit cards. Read Megan's story below and be sure to check out this page for a list of other bogus companies to watch out for. More » -
security
FreeCreditReport.com Doesn't Practice Good Security Hygiene
You'd think a credit monitoring service—even one as skeevy as freecreditreport.com—would take great pains to keep up the appearance of security and confidentiality. You'd be wrong. When Brian called to cancel their service he was asked to call out his social security number and his mother's maiden name, even though it turned out they could easily access his account and cancel his service with only his phone number and birthday. Oh, and the first CSR hung up on him, but (sadly) that's not really very newsworthy anymore. More » -
readers
Wal-Mart Holds Your Credit Card and ID Hostage When You Complain
When reader Steve went to Wal-Mart to buy Rock Star for his daughter, he reluctantly presented the cashier with a state issued ID containing just his picture, name and signature. Steve's job is to consult with law enforcement about identity theft, so he's more careful than the average bear. For one thing, he only likes to show his state issued-ID. The cashier, however, refused to accept it as a valid ID, and tense negotiations ensued. When Steve said he'd call corporate about their ID checking policy, the cashier refused to hand back Steve's credit card or ID until Steve spoke to an in store CSM. That's right, after he complained, the cashier held his credit card hostage. Check out the gory details, inside. More » -
data theft
Data On Over 40,000 Patients Stolen From NYC Hospital
The New York Times is reporting this morning that an unnamed employee stole personal data on over 40,000 patients from NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. The theft "occurred over the past several years and included patients' names, phone numbers and Social Security numbers." As we've come to grimly expect in these cases, the hospital was made aware of the theft in January, and announced it publicly on Friday after an internal audit. "We obviously deeply regret that this has happened," said the hospital's spokeswoman, Ms. Manners. She also said that investigators are "looking into the possibility that the theft could be part of a larger criminal scheme." More » -
good business practice
Redbox Shows Businesses How To Properly Handle A Data Breach
Redbox rents DVD movies via vending machine in drugstores and supermarkets throughout the country, and on Friday they announced that they'd found credit card skimmers attached to three of their kiosks. What's surprising is that they 'fessed up so quickly, and in a highly public manner—they've got the text "SECURITY ALERT" at the top and bottom of their website, and the email they sent to their members is detailed, forthright, and helpful, and reposted in its entirety—along with photos of sample card skimmers—on their site. Attempts at identity theft no longer surprise us, but a competent handling of the issue by a company is pretty amazing. More »
id
New York, 10:45 AM
Thu Nov 12
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