We first wrote about the “Maria Duval psychic mailer” scheme, which used supposedly personalized mass mailings to trick people into paying money for Duval’s otherworldly insights, more than six years ago, and the internet is full of complaints from people who lost thousands of dollars to Duval and her related businesses. Today, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a settlement that permanently bars Duval and others from continuing to bilk consumers out of their money with false promises of psychic guidance. [More]
Crime & Fraud
FBI Nabs Guy Suspected Of Spraying Mouse Poison On Food At Several Michigan Stores
By 5.4.16
Police in Michigan and the FBI say they’ve got a man in custody who admitted to spraying a mixture of mouse poison, hand cleaner, and water on produce and other unpackaged food at several grocery stores. [More]
Selfie Stick Shuts Down Disneyland Roller Coaster For An Hour
By 5.3.16
Is a selfie stick convenient? Sure, it works great for snapping self-portraits and means you don’t have to ask strangers to take your picture. But it sure as heck isn’t a good thing to use on a roller coaster while it’s in motion. Yeah, we’re looking at you, person who whipped out one of the gadgets on a ride at Disneyland. [More]
FBI Looking For Guy Seen Sprinkling Mystery Liquid On Food At Michigan Whole Foods
By 5.2.16
If you’ve been walking around at Whole Foods in Ann Arbor, MI and sprinkling some kind of liquid on the food, the Federal Bureau of Investigation would like a word. [More]
Thieves Ram SUV Into Paris Chanel Store, Make Off With Designer Handbags
By 4.28.16
The lure of luxury goods can be very strong, but thieves in Paris took that desire for designer products to an extreme, police say, using a sports utility vehicle to ram their way into a Chanel boutique, ransacking the store and fleeing on scooters with a “quite significant” haul. [More]
Slamming, A Classic ’90s Phone Scam, Is Still Alive And Well
By 4.21.16
You might remember slamming, or switching someone’s long-distance carrier without their knowledge or permission, as a crime of the years just after phone deregulation, when the idea that one could switch long-distance carriers was novel. It’s a scam that still happens to people with landlines, though, and you should know how to prevent it, and what you should warn landline-having friends and relatives not to do. [More]
Dash-Cam Captures Audi Service Tech’s Alleged Joyride In Customer’s Car
By 4.20.16
It’s a scene straight out of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, which is the only movie anyone ever quotes in these situations: a customer who took his Audi in for servicing in California says his car’s dash-cam captured a service technician taking his wheels for a joyride. [More]
Amazon Unintentionally Paying Scammers To Hand You 1000 Pages Of Crap You Don’t Read
By 4.20.16
For a certain kind of reader — the kind who can go through three books a week easy on her commute, let’s say — an unlimited subscription, wireless, e-book service sounds like a dream come true. That’s what Amazon promises with their Kindle Unlimited service, but the plan may be backfiring — not so much on readers, but on authors and on Amazon itself. [More]
How One Flight Attendant Deals With Passengers’ Racism
By 4.20.16
Whenever there’s any kind of friction between passengers, flight attendants have to get involved and try to sort out the situation. While sometimes it’s just a matter of smoothing ruffled feathers over a seating mixup or asking a rambunctious group to settle down, playing referee can get a lot more complicated when passengers turn nasty about their fellow travelers. [More]
6 Things We Learned About The IRS’s Fight Against Fraud And Identity Theft
By 4.19.16
Things are difficult for the IRS right now. For the last few years, people contacting the IRS have encountered lengthy phone hold times, and identity theft and refund fraud drain billions of dollars’ worth of tax refunds into the pockets of international criminals. The Government Accountability Office has the job of overseeing government agencies, including the IRS, and it released a new report today about its issues and possible ways to fix them. [More]
Man Accused Of Stealing Food, Breaking Door At Arby’s Claimed He’s A Time-Traveling Alien
By 4.19.16
We’ve heard many excuses for bad behavior, but a time-traveling alien from another planet is probably one of the most amusing ones to pop up recently. Police in Oklahoma City say a man accused of jumping over a counter at Arby’s to steal food and breaking a glass door on his way out claimed he was visiting from another planet, four years in the future. [More]
Competing Chain Offers Five Guys Hamburglar A Year Of Free Burgers If He Turns Himself In
By 4.12.16
Who says competitors can’t try to help each other out? Wayback Burgers is stepping up to help lure in the real life hamburglar who cooked himself up a snack in the kitchen of a closed Five Guys in Washington D.C. with what should be a tempting reward: free burgers for a year. [More]
Very Angry Man Rams Car Into Jack In The Box Restaurant Twice
By 4.11.16
It was clear that the man who drove into a Jack In The Box restaurant in Koreatown, Los Angeles, didn’t do it by accident. He backed up and rammed into the building a second time. There were around 20 to 25 customers in the store at the time, and no one was injured. The restaurant can be repaired, and the drive-thru is open. [More]
Police: Real Life Hamburglar Breaks Into Five Guys, Cooks Himself A Snack
By 4.11.16
In yet another episode that shows real life hamburglars are walking among us, police say a man made himself the sixth guy at a Five Guys restaurant, breaking into the joint at night and cooking himself a bite to eat. [More]
Passengers Suing Spirit Airlines Over In-Flight Brawl Sparked By Boombox
By 4.8.16
Three passengers who were aboard a Spirit Airlines flight when a brawl broke out over an overly loud boombox are now suing the carrier, claiming that Spirit “failed to protect” them from harm. [More]
Man Accused Of Giving Dunkin’ Donuts Drive-Thru Staff A Peep Show They Never Asked For
By 4.8.16
There are many things fast food staff working in the drive-thru have probably had to see that they didn’t want to, we have no doubt. Workers at a New Hampshire Dunkin’ Donuts just added one more to their list, after a man allegedly cruised through the drive-thru while exposing his genitals. [More]
Boss Scam Toll Reaches $2.3 Billion In Less Than 3 Years
By 4.7.16
In law enforcement, they call this scam the “Business Email Compromise.” We refer to it as the “Boss Scam” or “CEO Scam.” What happens is that someone contacts a person inside a business, pretending to be the chief executive officer or other boss-like person. They ask for one of two things: a wire transfer, or personal information about the employees under the real boss’s charge. Both scams are still going strong, and a new FBI report says that the scammers have taken at least $2.3 billion since 2013. [More]
Some Jerk Stole 19 Cases Of Provolone From A Colorado Restaurant
By 4.7.16
While we take all forms of food theft very seriously, when someone commits a cheese-related crime, we get very annoyed. We’re none too pleased right now with the jerk who pilfered almost $2,000 worth of provolone from a Colorado eatery, a jerk whose crime is depriving potential customers of the enjoyment of eating cheese. [More]
