A number of popular German brands — including Hugo Boss, Daimler-Benz, Porsche, and BMW — had connections to or business arrangements with the Nazi party and/or the German military under Hitler. But the brand that may be most commonly linked with the Third Reich is Volkswagen, a company that had, for the last 18 years, contracted a noted historian to research VW’s embarrassing origins, including its use of forced labor. However, at a time when an ongoing emissions scandal has called the carmaker’s commitment to transparency into question, VW and the academic have gone their separate ways. [More]
Crime & Fraud
Wells Fargo Under Investigation For Lying To Investors About Sales Practices
By 11.3.16
The Wells Fargo fake account fiasco continues to draw the attention of regulators who, just like the bank’s executives, somehow spent years not noticing that Wells Fargo employees were opening up bogus accounts to meet strict sales goals. This morning, the bank confirmed a Security and Exchange Commission probe related to this chicanery. [More]
DOJ Sues DirecTV Over Blackout Of SportsNet LA
By 11.2.16
The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against DirecTV, alleging that the nation’s largest satellite TV provider illegally shared non-public information with other pay-TV companies about their negotiations to carry SportsNet LA, the only cable channel in Los Angeles to air most Dodgers games. [More]
Feds Go After “Massive, Illegal” Debt-Collection Operation
By and 11.2.16 — Updated: 11.4.16
A large, nationwide debt-collection operation that allegedly brought in tens of millions of dollars through illegal means — like impersonating law-enforcement officers, or threatening arrest for non-payment — is the target of a joint legal action by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the New York state attorney general. [More]
Creepy Uber Driver Allegedly Gropes Passenger, Shows Up Outside Her House Later
By 11.2.16
A Silicon Valley Uber driver has been arrested and accused of sexual battery and stalking after not only allegedly groping and kissing a female passenger, but then showing up outside of her house later that evening. [More]
Shoplifters’ 10 Favorite Things To Steal During The Holidays
By 11.1.16
In the shopping rush of the holiday season, it’s always wise to keep in mind that not everyone is in the giving mood: shoplifters do a lot of damage during this busy time of year, and there are certain things they like stealing better than others. [More]
Reminder: 1 in 8 Stolen Cars Is Unlocked With Keys Or Fob Inside
By 11.1.16
Attention, car owners: you really need to stop leaving your cars unlocked with the key or electronic fob inside. That common-sense warning comes from the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), a not-for-profit organization funded by insurance companies to find ways to track and prevent insurance fraud and auto theft. At least one in eight vehicle thefts happen when someone takes advantage of keys left in a car, the group notes. Stop leaving your keys in unlocked cars. [More]
Judge: Airbnb Can Force Users’ Racial Discrimination Claims Out Of Courtroom
By 11.1.16
A large — and growing — number of companies use arbitration clauses in their overlong, legalese-stuffed customer agreements to prevent customers from bringing lawsuits and joining together in class actions, but can that arbitration agreement be used to avoid legal liability for possible violations of federal civil rights law? According to one federal judge, yes. [More]
McDonald’s Will Pay $3.75M To Settle Franchisee’s Alleged Labor Violations
By 10.31.16
Two years after the National Labor Relations Board General Counsel declared that McDonald’s could be held responsible for franchisees’ bad labor practices, the fast food giant has agreed, for the first time, to pay $3.75 million to settle a lawsuit that claimed the company was liable for labor law violations by a California franchisee. [More]
Should Police Need A Warrant To Obtain Your Cellphone Location Data?
By 10.28.16 — Updated: 10.31.16
On TV and in the movies, when the police want location information on a suspect’s cellphone, the world-weary detectives just mosey into the office of a wireless company and bully/sweet-talk the receptionist into handing over this information by saying things like “You don’t want us to have to wait here while we get a warrant, do you?” In the real world, it’s not that simple, and the question of whether or not an actual warrant is needed has yet to be resolved. [More]
Feds Shut Down Telemarketing Scam That Pitched Money-Making Schemes & Bogus Grants
By 10.28.16 — Updated: 10.31.16
As wonderful as it might sound, odds are that no one is trying to call you to give you free money, and anyone who dangles a get-rich-quick scheme in front of you should be quickly ignored. Yet federal regulators say telemarketers tricked seniors and veterans out of their money with these sorts of scams.
[More]
After 60 Days, What Has The “Robocall Strike Force” Accomplished?
By 10.27.16 — Updated: 10.31.16
Two months ago, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson accepted the challenge of FCC Chair Tom Wheeler to head up an industry-led “Strike Force” to finally do something meaningful to curb unwanted, often illegal, robocalls, and to give consumers free tools they can use to try to block these calls. The team was given 60 days to get this ship headed in the right direction, and now that time has passed a verdict is in: Much was accomplished, but consumers still don’t have the tools they need. [More]
Professional Pooper Scooper Accused Of Impersonating Secret Service Agent To Score Hotel Discount
By 10.27.16 — Updated: 10.31.16
A Pennsylvania man who reportedly runs a business picking up dog droppings has apparently stepped into a major mess of his own making. According to federal prosecutors, he used forged documents to pretend to be a Secret Service agent to score a discount hotel room and then to try to get out of a traffic violation. [More]
Kia, Hyundai Agree To Pay $41.2M To 33 States & D.C. Over Fuel Economy Issues
By 10.27.16 — Updated: 10.31.16
Hyundai and Kia agreed Thursday to pay $41.2 million to dozens of states four years after it was revealed that the carmakers overstated the fuel efficiency of certain vehicles. [More]
23 Lawmakers Want To Know What DOJ Would Do With Expanded Hacking Authority
By 10.27.16
The U.S. Congress has a month to decide on what it should do about a pending rule change that would arguably grant federal law enforcement agencies more authority to remotely hack into computers. Congress can let this amended rule go into effect by doing nothing, so before they let their idleness get the better of them, a group of nearly two-dozen members of the House and Senate are now pushing the Justice Department for more details. [More]
FCC To Propose Rules That Could Restore Consumers’ Right To Sue Phone, Broadband Providers
By 10.27.16 — Updated: 10.31.16
While the big headline of this morning’s monthly FCC meeting was the release of the Commission’s final rules on broadband privacy, the agency’s leadership also let it be known that it’s planning to take on one of the industry’s most controversial issues: The right of consumers to have their day in court. [More]
Feds Arrest 61 For Alleged Indian Call Center Scam That Bilked Millions From Consumers
By 10.27.16 — Updated: 10.31.16
Earlier this month, police in India detained hundreds of employees in three different call centers for allegedly proliferating a scam that involved calling unsuspecting consumers masquerading as employees with the Internal Revenue Service and threatening to arrest if the person didn’t pay up. This week, federal authorities in the U.S. followed up on the case, ending a three-year investigation by arresting dozens of people in the U.S. and India for allegedly scamming tens of thousands of consumers out of millions of dollars through the sophisticated call center scheme. [More]
Camera Catches Tow Truck Driver Taking $110K Sports Car On An Alleged Joyride
By 10.27.16
A tow truck driver in Texas was unable to resist the lure of a $110,000 sports car: he took the vehicle out for a joyride before delivering it to its destination — a joyride that was caught on the car’s camera system. [More]
