Consumerist
it slices, it dices
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walmart is your god now
Walmart Goes Crazy On Couple Suspected Of Shoplifting
Walmart can try to spin itself as being on the side of good all it wants, but if it ever suspects you of shoplifting, you may find that you're powerless to fight back. In the case of a couple accused of shoplifting some Bic lighters in Niles, Michigan this past August, Walmart detained them, the police came and cuffed one of them, their two kids were taken to a security room, and—after a review of security footage proved the couple's innocence—they were banned for life from all Walmarts. To top it off, Walmart's legal team has sent the couple a letter asking to be reimbursed for 10 times the value of the lighters, even though the police determined no shoplifting had taken place. More » -
storm8
iPhone App Developer Sued For Stealing Users' Phone Numbers
For secretly stealing users' phone number by exploiting a backdoor iPhone vulnerability, app developer Storm8 got slapped with a class action lawsuit. More » -
adt
Selling Alarm Systems After Murders: Helpful Or Opportunist?
About a month ago, a mother and daughter were chosen at random and brutally attacked in their home in small-town New Hampshire. The daughter survived, but the mother did not. And within days of this tragedy, ADT sales reps began going door-to-door to sell alarm systems. More » -
privacy
Baby Too Boring? Watch The Neighbor's Baby With This Monitor
If you buy the Summer Infant Day and Night Video Monitor, you might want to make sure your neighbors haven't also got one, or else they'll have a secret window into your newborn's room. More » -
woot
Database Bug At Woot Leaves Reader Wary Of Ordering
Robear wanted to order from shirt.woot, but something strange happened when he went to register. After choosing a username and entering his e-mail address, he noticed that all of the forms were pre-populated with another customer's information...including that user's credit card information. He contacted Woot to try to find out what could have happened, but Woot either hasn't figured it out yet, or just isn't responding. (UPDATE: Response from Woot below.) More » -
fraud prevention
Kindle Fees Trigger Fraud Alert On Visa Card
Considering the growing amount of credit card fraud, it's not surprising that banks are becoming more and more vigilant about identifying suspicious transactions. It's too bad they haven't been as successful at filtering out false positives or promptly notifying customers, as James Fallows at The Atlantic recently discovered when he got his account frozen for sending files to his Kindle.
"Maybe Amazon and Visa should talk?" [The Atlantic]
(Photo: TheTruthAbout...) -
fail
State Job Website Has Great Opportunities For Self-Starting Identity Thieves
CBS 5 exposed a "gaping hole" in the code of California's state-run employment website that allows anyone who views the site to access and modify other users' resumes and personal info simply by changing some numbers in the URL. More » -
receipts
Home Depot Needs To Check Your Receipt "In Case You Stole Something"
Rather than make up some line about needing to make sure customers receive everything they paid for, Home Depot is now openly treating its customers like shoplifters. More » -
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when ya gotta go
United: Bad Toilet Timing Leads To Delay, Arrests
Two passengers were arrested on a United flight from LA to New York after one of them jumped up and ran to the bathroom after being instructed to remain seated by a flight attendant. Apparently the man just needed to use the bathroom — like now. More » -
security
American Express Wants You To Use Lame Passwords
We're no longer indignant about Amex's weirdly lax security policies anymore, we're just confused. Why would a major credit card company cold call new customers and insist they give up bank and address info over the phone, or email sensitive data to strangers? Or, we just learned, demand that you use a lame password that isn't case sensitive, is only 6 to 8 characters long, and can't contain special characters? More » -
privacy
Direct Marketing Association's Opt Out Website Is A Joke
Jonathan wanted to opt out everyone in his family from direct marketing campaigns, something the DMA promises is possible via their website. Surprise! It turns out the DMA doesn't really care so much about whether or not you want to be taken off any mailing lists, and they have a rotten website and poor security protocols to prove it. More » -
security
SoCalGas' Password Policy Makes Passwords Pointless
We're not sure why a company would bother with offering a password feature on their customer accounts if they disable them without warning 3 months later as a matter of policy, but that's how Southern California Gas Company rolls. Does it really matter, you ask? It might if you're a victim of domestic violence. More » -
banned
Ameriprise Bans "Customer Advisor" For Posting Link To Consumerist
Hey, we helped get an Ameriprise customer banned from the financial company's consumer advisory panel! Sorry about that, Brendan. More » -
there is no try
Closed-Minded Retailer Tesco Bans Jedi Religious Garb
The persecution never ends for the Jedi, does it? First, they were nearly all murdered by one of their own. Then, just when they've built a presence on modern Earth, a grocery store in Wales tells a practicing Jedi that he can't wear the hood of his robe up in their stores. Bigotry! More » -
identity theft
Grab Your Old Statements, We're Going To The Shred-A-Thon!
Tucson, Arizona is hosting a community shred-a-thon in October, where private citizens can show up with boxes of sensitive data and have it shredded for free. Back in July, the Wall Street Journal looked at the growing trend of community shredding events as an example of how regular people are taking action to prevent identity theft. More » -
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security holes
Another Sears.com Security Hole Discovered
That Sears website exploit we posted about a couple of weeks ago was funny, mainly because it seemed more embarrassing for Sears than a true security risk. However, an independent security researcher had also discovered a more significant issue with the site—it allowed for an unlimited number of gift card verification attempts via an external script, so a criminal could use the site as a brute force method to identify valid gift cards for Sears and Kmart. More » -
bank of america
Bank Of America Asks Armless Man For Thumbprint
A Florida man was unable to cash a Bank of America check because the bank required a thumbprint, and he had no arms. More »
