When that gelato is more expensive than you think it should be, who you gonna call? Well, no one, or at least you shouldn’t if you failed to read the menu before ordering it. After all, numbers are written in a language everyone can understand, even if you don’t speak the language. [More]
Crime & Fraud
Tourists: Read The Menu Before Ordering So You Won’t Need To Call The Police Over A Big Bill
By 8.1.14
Can ATM Operators Beat Skimmers By Simply Rotating Card Readers 90 Degrees?
By 8.1.14
For decades, we’ve been sliding our credit and debit cards into ATMs with the shorter side of the card entering the reader. All this while, ID thieves have been improving their card-skimming devices to fit this well-established mold. The skimmers have gotten smaller, sleeker, and smarter, to the point where even a trained eye might be fooled. So what’s the best way to upend all those years of hard work by the bad guys? According to ATM biggie Diebold, it’s just as simple as turning the reader 90 degrees. [More]
Guy Accused Of Sticking Needles Into Grocery Store’s Packaged Meat “Just For The Hell Of It”
By 8.1.14
There are crusades, campaigns, and goals that some people are aiming for when they decided to cross the law. But then sometimes there’s no real reason to do others harm: Federal prosecutors say a 68-year-old Illinois man stuck sewing needles into packaged meat at the same grocery store near his home at least seven times “just for the hell of it.” [More]
Plane Diverted After Drunk Woman Allegedly Demands A Parachute, Attacks Crew With Prosthetic Leg
By 8.1.14
It doesn’t matter what weapon you use — threatening anyone with bodily harm is never okay. That’s why a flight from Tunisia to Edinburgh, Scotland was diverted to London after a woman who was reportedly drunk allegedly attacked cabin crew with her prosthetic leg, after demanding “cigarettes and a parachute.” [More]
Police Arrest Man Who Left Hospital Untreated Because You Can’t Wander Around With Tuberculosis
By 7.30.14
While you might think that your health is your own gosh darn business — and it is, to some extent — when you’re wandering out there in the world with an infectious and potentially fatal disease, your health is everyone’s business. So when one man refused treatment and left the hospital, he ended up with police on his trail. [More]
FTC Gives Wireless Industry Suggestions On How To Not Be Bill-Cramming Jerks
By 7.29.14
Earlier this year, the Federal Trade Commission sued T-Mobile, accusing the wireless company of making hundred of millions of dollars off of so-called “premium” text-messaging subscriptions that were often never requested by subscribers. To preempt others from getting involved in illegal “bill cramming,” the FTC is asking carriers to implement policy changes now instead of waiting until it’s too late. [More]
Literal Lowdown Thief Crawled Through Store To Steal Wigs Meant For Cancer Victims
By 7.29.14
Listen, we’re not the type to throw around the word “literally” like all those people who annoy the heck out of everyone else by claiming that they are “literally starving.” You’re not, but we can say that a man who crawled through a wig store pilfering hair meant for cancer victims is literally a lowdown thief. Because of the crawling, and because stealing from people in need is awful. [More]
Calling 9-1-1 To Report A Fake Murder Won’t Get You Out Of A Speeding Ticket
By 7.28.14
Getting pulled over for speeding is no fun, of course — but when those sirens come on, most responsible drivers accept that they’ll just have to face the music and take a ticket. One Florida man had bigger ideas than getting a ticket — and by “bigger” I by no means “better,” because reporting a murder that didn’t happen is just not going to work out. [More]
Man Charged With Conning Apple Stores Out Of $310,000
By 7.28.14
It’s not entirely uncommon for a quick trip to the Apple store to ring up a considerable bill. But it was the other way around for a Florida man who allegedly scammed the company out more than $310,000. [More]
Guess What Happens When Robbers Go After Money At A Gas Station Staffed By MMA Fighter?
By 7.28.14
If you guessed: “A lot of kicking,” from the above headline, you’d be right. A pair of accused robbers picked the wrong gas station clerk to mess with in Houston — unless they somehow decided to tussle with a semi-professional mixed martial arts fighter on purpose. [More]
If Someone From “Comcast” Requires You To Pay With A Prepaid Cash Card, It’s A Scam
By 7.28.14
You get a call from Comcast and the person on the other end says you can lock in a decent rate for the next year if you pay for the first six months’ worth of service up front. It sounds a bit odd, but you’re always looking to save a few bucks, so you keep listening. The caller then tells you that the only way to pay that money is to put it on a prepaid cash card. This is when you hang up because the caller is probably trying to run a scam on you. [More]
Man Who Tried To Rob Pizzeria Sues Restaurant For $260K, Claiming Unnecessary Roughness
By 7.25.14
A man who’s in jail for several robberies including an attempted robbery at a pizza restaurant in Delaware is now suing police and several employees of that eatery for $260,000, claiming they were unnecessarily rough in subduing him. [More]
Restaurant Turns Yelper’s Lame Abortion Joke Into Fundraiser For Domestic Violence Crisis Line
By 7.24.14
Just like the rest of the Internet, Yelp is not immune to idiots who pepper their “reviews” with boorish, sexist statements that are probably intended to be funny. Most businesses would simply ignore this sort of non-feedback, but a restaurant in Portland (the one to the upper-left) saw a chance to turn a cheap abortion-based semi-joke into a worthwhile cause. [More]
Robbing A Bank While Wearing A Shirt With Your Name On It Isn’t A Great Plan
By 7.24.14
If only all suspects would do police the favor of wearing their identifying information on their shirts, the world would no doubt be a much more peaceful place. Alas, not everyone can be as courteous, but police in Denver say a man accused of robbing a bank did them a solid by displaying his first name right there on his shirt. [More]
Drunk Guy On His First Flight Makes Rookie Mistake, Confuses Cabin Door With Bathroom
By 7.24.14
Because we all don’t possess nerves of steel when confronted with the reality of flying through the air in a big metal box, essentially, it’s understandable that a guy going on his first flight effort would have a few drinks to relax. But maybe someone should’ve warned him about the propensity for doors to become confusing when you’re under in the influence. [More]
Everybody Wants The Night Shift After Naked Hamburglars Steal A Bunch Of Beef From Eatery
By 7.24.14
There’s nothing like a bit of a “bad boy” image to turn even upstanding, law-abiding citizens into admirers — and by that I mean, there’s nothing like the sight of three (mostly) naked men stealing from a restaurant in the middle of the night to make staff laugh. [More]
Feds File 9 Lawsuits Against Alleged Mortgage Relief Scammers That Took Millions From Consumers
By 7.23.14
If the thought of losing one’s home wasn’t bad enough, finding out that you’ve been ripped off by the companies promising to help must be even worse. Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, along with the Federal Trade Commission and 15 states announced a string of lawsuits and other actions against such deceptive companies. [More]
Man Returns From 2-Day Vacation, Finds Family Living In His Home
By 7.23.14
In our post about the AirBNB “guest” who decided to make himself at home and squat in a desert condo after he had stayed for a month, we noted that at least the condo in question was a vacation home, not her regular home. No, that actually happened this week to a man in Miami. He returned to the house he was renting after a short vacation and found another family living there. [More]
