Most of you know to be suspicious when someone calls out of the blue to tell you you’ve been approved to get something for free. But not everyone is as savvy as y’all, which is what scammers depend on to make their money. [More]
New York Warns Of Medical-Alert Device Robocalling Scam Targeting Seniors
By May 23, 2013
13 TGI Fridays Restaurants Among Those Busted In NJ For Selling Cheap Booze As Premium Pours
By May 23, 2013
You might not be surprised to find that a sketchy dive bar is refilling its empty bottles of liquor with cheaper booze, but many consumers probably don’t expect a chain restaurant to get involved in such underhanded hanky-panky. And yet, 15 of the 29 places caught in yesterday’s sting by New Jersey liquor regulators are outlets of national chain eateries — and almost all of those were TGI Fridays. [More]
Oklahoma Tornado Survivors Need Your Help, Scammers Don’t
By May 22, 2013
24 people are confirmed dead, and many are still missing after a massive tornado destroyed homes and lives outside of Oklahoma City. Don’t let yourself become an indirect victim of the natural disaster by giving money to a fake charity or social media account set up to take advantage of well-meaning and generous people who want to help. [More]
Don’t Pay $100 Or More For A Certified Copy Of Your Deed: That’s Not A Thing
By May 21, 2013
Are you a property owner? If someone sends you a solicitation or a bill asking for money in exchange for a copy of your deed, throw it away. That isn’t a thing. [More]
Scammers Pretend To Buy Gas Station, Hold Amazing Sale, Run Away
By May 21, 2013
A strange gas station scam in Minnesota didn’t hurt customers, exactly: it benefited customers. The scam victim was the owner of the gas station, who thought that they had sold the place to credible new owners. Instead, after a glorious one-day sale with everything in the convenience store half off and gas about forty cents per gallon below the local market price, the sale collapsed. The owner says that the down payment check bounced, the buyers disappeared, and $50,000 in cash was missing…along with the gas and merchandise that local customers pounced on during that too-good-to-be-true sale. [More]
Psychic Takes Woman’s Life Savings To Repair Her Aura, Prevent Bad Things From Happening
By May 17, 2013
We are not experts and any and all things paranormal, but perhaps auras are a thing, and perhaps it is possible for one person to repair another’s aura and prevent bad things from happening to them. However, it seems unlikely to us that it’s possible to do so by giving the “psychic” all of your savings and family heirlooms to watch over for you. And yet, someone tried this, and someone fell for it. [More]
Some Jiffy Lubes Still Charging Customers For Unnecessary And Undone Repairs
By May 14, 2013
For years, Jiffy Lube employees around the country have repeatedly been accused — and sometimes caught — charging for repairs that weren’t necessary or weren’t even performed. The company has promised change, but that memo didn’t seem to reach everyone. [More]
No, You Can’t Pay Someone $700 To Get You On Oprah’s TV Shows
By May 13, 2013
Maybe you’ve got a few things you’d like to weigh in on via a national show on a major network, like CNN or Oprah Winfrey’s eponymous entity. But believe us when we say, if the Rachael Ray people or Today want to get you on TV as an expert, it’ll be free. In other words, you shouldn’t be paying a PR firm hundreds of dollars to appear on talk shows. [More]
Add “Hijacking Customers’ Internet To File False Tax Claims” To List Of Cable Installation Worries
By May 8, 2013
While there are plenty of cable servicemen doing awesome things like saving kittens and well, the normal business of installing Internet so we can read about kittens getting saved, one contractor kept himself involved in his customers lives in a less than savory way. In order to file a bunch of fraudulent tax returns, totaling about $91,000, he simply hooked himself up to customers’ Internet service after he’d installed it. [More]
When An International eBay Seller Says ‘Just Keep Waiting,’ Don’t Listen
By May 7, 2013
I. calls the eBay scam that he encountered recently a “new” scam, but it’s actually an ancient and time-honored one. How it works is simple: an international seller claims to have sent your item, then stalls until after the period during which you can file a complaint against the seller has expired. THis leaves you with no ability to leave bad feedback and no recourse, and eBay knows it. [More]
NY Shuts Down Sham Fundraising Company That Took In Millions Of Donations For Breast Cancer “Research”
By May 3, 2013
Between 2005 and 2011, the Coalition Against Breast Cancer raised around $10 million in donations intended for research to combat the disease, but authorities say that no such research ever occurred, and all that money went to pay for a grand total of 40 mammograms in seven years. [More]
Posing As Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour To Scam Hospital For $100K In Treatment Is Not A Good Idea
By May 1, 2013
Pretending to be a legend of rock in order to rack up a six-figure hospital bill may sound reasonable — to a crazy person — but it’s likely just going to end up with you in a whole mess of trouble. [More]
Don’t Buy Computers Off Craigslist When The Seller Has Suddenly Left For Toronto
By April 26, 2013
Z. found a great deal on an Asus notebook computer on his local Craigslist in Florida. “I am now in Toronto,” the seller explained before going through with the transaction. Z. and his mom ignored every anti-scam warning posted on Craigslist, and just sort of assumed that this meant the seller was on a trip to Toronto and had taken the computer with her. Z. is underage, and his mom used Western Union to wire the money. They waited. No computer came. [More]
AP Twitter Hack Shows That Not Every Scam Email Is Created Equal
By April 25, 2013
So you think you’re savvy when it comes to scams, huh? Maybe you’d never click on a link in an email from someone you don’t know with a funny email address asking to send money to Nigeria — but what if it seemed to come from a coworker you know very well including a link that looks totally legit? That’s apparently how the hack of the Associated Press Twitter account went down, with a scam called “spear-phishing.” [More]
No, You Did Not Randomly Win A Vacation From Travelocity
By April 25, 2013
Remember when we told you about the scammers out to trick people into thinking they’d won travel vouchers from the nonexistent (at least in the U.S.) United Airways? Since then we’ve heard of two apparently separate-but-similar scams using the Travelocity name to deceive unsuspecting consumers. [More]
Bank Investigators Do Not Need You To Withdraw $6,000 Cash And Give It To Them
By April 25, 2013
Bank fraud is pretty serious business, and investigating it is important work. Banks do not, however, need you to help. If someone calls you up claiming to need your help with an investigation, do not help them. Do not withdraw thousands of dollars from the bank and give it to the “investigator.” It’s too late for two elderly women outside of Albany, New York, who withdrew $5,800 and $6,400 from their accounts, respectively. [More]
Bogus Weight-Loss Products, Fraudulent Prizes Top List Of Biggest Scams
By April 19, 2013
More than 1-in-10 American adults fall victim to some sort of fraud, according to a new report from the Federal Trade Commission. And scams related to fraudulent weight-loss products are by far the most prevalent. [More]
FTC Accuses Company Of Cramming Millions Of Dollars Of Bogus Charges On Wireless Bills
By April 17, 2013
In the first case of its kind for the wireless industry, the Federal Trade Commission has accused a company and its owners of raking in millions of dollars by charging wireless customers for text services they never signed up for. [More]
