Anyone can claim that their product is “Made in the U.S.A.,” but unless that product is actually manufactured in America from materials made in America, you might be breaking the law. Eight months after being sued by the Federal Trade Commission for claiming its glues are “proudly made in the U.S.A.” even though the products were made using foreign-sourced chemicals, the manufacturer has agreed to stop this faux patriotic boasting. [More]
Crime & Fraud
Customers Accuse Comcast Of Using “Broadcast TV” & “Regional Sports” Fees To Illegally Hike Rates
By 10.18.16 — Updated: 10.31.16
As we showed in our recent line-by-line breakdowns of charges on your cable bills, many pay-TV providers charge fees that have the effect of raising the customers’ monthly bill but without affecting the base rate the cable company advertises. Now, Comcast subscribers in seven different states are claiming that these fees are “illegal and deceptive” that have netted the cable giant billions of dollars. [More]
Police: Woman Scams First Date Out Of $300 Gift Card At Dinner
By 10.18.16 — Updated: 11.1.16
We’ve heard of jerks who take advantage of folks looking for love, from dining-and-dashing to elaborate scams that swindle romantic targets out of thousands of dollars. Now, police in Connecticut say one woman fleeced her date after he paid for dinner — and used the money to go out with other men. [More]
Report: Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf Warned Of Widespread Fraud In 2007
By 10.18.16
Recently “retired” Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf claimed before Congress that he first learned about the bank’s fake account fiasco in 2013, but a new report claims that a Wells employee tried to warn him about the problem back in 2007. [More]
Nursing Home Industry Files Lawsuit To Keep Preventing Patients From Filing Lawsuits
By 10.18.16
Last month, the federal government issued new rules for nursing homes, barring most long-term care facilities from using forced arbitration agreements to stop new residents from filing lawsuits against the homes. Now nursing home operators and industry trade groups are challenging that rule by doing the one thing they want to prevent their patients from doing: going to court. [More]
If FTC Can’t Resurrect Lawsuit Over AT&T’s “Unlimited” Data, Telecoms May Be Even More Untouchable
By 10.17.16
In August, an appeals court threw out the Federal Trade Commission’s lawsuit against AT&T over the way it marketed its “unlimited” data plans (which were anything but unlimited). Now the FTC is taking its case up the legal ladder, making the case that if it’s not allowed to sue AT&T, then all phone and internet providers can more easily get away with deceptive business practices. [More]
Ohio Also Decides It’s Time To Take A Break From Doing Business With Wells Fargo
By 10.14.16
Following in the footsteps of Illinois and California, the state of Ohio has become the latest to take a break from doing business with Wells Fargo until the dark cloud of the current fake account fiasco passes. [More]
Wells Fargo Employee: Bank Hid Truth About 401(k) Plan Amid “Criminal Epidemic”
By 10.14.16
Thousands of Wells Fargo employees have already been fired for opening unauthorized accounts to meet sales goals, but what about all of those employees who remain at the bank? They’ve seen the value of their 401(k) retirement plan sink during this fake account fiasco, and some are saying that Wells hid the truth from them about the huge bogus account sinkhole that was waiting to collapse underneath them. [More]
Subway Worker Accused Of Filming Women In The Restroom
By 10.14.16
A Subway employee in Seattle is facing charges of voyeurism and possession of child pornography after allegedly filming women in the restaurant’s bathroom without their knowledge. [More]
Skincare Marketers Barred Over Deceptive Marketing and Billing Practices
By 10.13.16
A year after federal regulators received a court order temporarily shutting down a group of marketers allegedly using deceptive online “risk-free trials” to entice customers into buying skincare products, the agency officially received orders barring the companies and their operators from using the deceptive tactics to promote their products. [More]
Apple: No Evidence Apple Store Workers Stole Photos From Customers’ iPhones
By 10.13.16
Even though Apple fired several Apple Store employees accused of stealing photos from female customers’ iPhones, the company says that there is no evidence that any such theft occurred. [More]
New Wells Fargo CEO Recently Denied “Overbearing Sales Culture” That Created Fake Account Fiasco
By 10.13.16
Yesterday afternoon, Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf announced his sudden “retirement” from the bank that continues to deal with the fallout of a fake account fiasco that saw thousands of Wells employees opening up millions of bogus, unauthorized accounts just to meet high-pressure sales goals and quotas. However, the Wells exec who has stepped into the CEO spot has a history of denying that any such atmosphere existed at the bank. [More]
Millions Of Hijacked “Smart” Devices Already Aiding Criminals, Research Finds
By 10.13.16 — Updated: 11.1.16
Ever since “smart,” connected devices began to form the internet of things a few years back, some experts have warned that we could be facing a future where your toaster, washing machine, and TV become part of a sophisticated botnet used to attack others. Well, those experts say, the future is now. [More]
Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf “Retires” Amid Fake Account Fiasco
By 10.12.16 — Updated: 10.31.16
In the middle of an embarrassing fake account fiasco that may have lasted a decade before being shut down by federal regulators, Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf has decided that maybe it’s for the best that he “retire” from the bank’s top spot. [More]
Contractors Charged With Using Money From Hurricane Sandy Victims To Shop And Gamble
By 10.12.16 — Updated: 10.13.16
Here’s a nightmare scenario: your house is severely damaged in a rare storm, and you hire a legitimate-seeming contractor to repair it or to raise your house on stilts to prevent flooding the next time a storm comes. Instead, the contractor either never began the work or wandered off partway through, leaving you without the money or a livable house. That’s what the state of New Jersey has accused a duo of contractors who are also a couple of doing. [More]
Feds Shut Down Scam That Used Pop-Up Alerts To Scare People Into Thinking Computers Were Hacked
By 10.12.16
If you’ve ever browsed some of the internet’s seedier nooks and crannies, you might be familiar with a particular type of scam: The pop-up warning (usually accompanied by a loud, alarm-like sound) telling you that your computer has been compromised and you must call tech support immediately. To people who know better, it’s a minor nuisance but to people who aren’t as scam-savvy, it’s a ruse that brings in millions of dollars to jerks around the world, including a Missouri-based operation that has been shut down by the Federal Trade Commission. [More]
Ohio Psychic Accused Of Swindling Clients Out Of $1.5M In Cash, Gift Cards
By 9.7.16
An Ohio woman who called herself a psychic apparently didn’t see a criminal indictment with more than two dozen charges attached to it in the stars. She stands accused of convincing clients to fork over about $1.5 million in cash, gift cards, jewelry, and cars. [More]
United Flight Diverted After Drunk Passenger Breaks Plane’s Bathroom Door
By 9.6.16
A United Airlines flight had to make an emergency landing in Nashville on Monday night, after an apparently intoxicated passenger broke one of the plane’s bathroom doors and threw up in the sink. [More]
