For those of you who were wondering why you recently bought an empty box from Best Buy, look no further for your answer. Three Best Buy employees from a Bridgewater, NJ store were busted for removing items from their boxes and placing them inside the boxes of less expensive items, which they would then buy.
crime
Thieves Steal 42" Plasma TV From Mall During Shopping Hours
By 12.31.07
Those post-holiday TV sales just aren’t enough for some people, because somehow, a 42″ plasma set used for display in a retail store in Albany, Georgia, was stolen from the counter during business hours.
Crazy Realtor Torments Rival With Sex Ads
By 12.26.07
Well, this just further proves that real estate is the meanest profession. Dean “Cookie Kwan” Isenberg was arrested a week ago and charged with “posting fake escort ads on the Internet using a rival’s phone numbers, sparking hundreds of raunchy calls” and text messages to the woman and her daughter. The victim, Debbie Blasberg, was a former coworker of Isenberg’s who had “closed on a property he had been trying to sell.”
Bloomingdales Employee Charged In Bogus Gift Card Scam
By 12.21.07
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office is prosecuting a Bloomingdale’s salesperson for running a month-long bogus gift card scam that netted $34,515 from the store, says the NY Sun.
It says Bloomingdale’s sales receipts were the key element of Ms. Ng’s alleged scheme.
CNN Wants You To Be Very Afraid Of Parking Lots
By 12.21.07
CNN has a hilarious article about shopping safety that you should certainly read before you hit the mall this weekend for last-minute gifts. We’re all for safety, but according to this article, letting your senior citizen wander off from the rest of the family is like like tying a fawn to a skateboard and pushing it into a den of lions: “He has to be at least 75 or 80 years old. Now, he’s a potential victim.”
Only 3 Of 26 Items Turned In To NYC Transit Workers Made It To The Lost & Found
By 12.14.07
“Obviously, the results are disturbing,” said the inspector general, Barry L. Kluger. He added that the investigation was not meant “as a sting operation” and that it was not possible to know if the missing items were stolen by transit employees or simply “wound up in the bottom of a drawer or in a wastebasket.”
"Why I Never Want Anything To Do With Verizon Ever Ever Again"
By 12.11.07
Verizon is finally installing FiOS in my area. But I’ll never use it. I’ll never sign up for another Verizon account in my life, and I’m encouraging my parents to change to a different service when their Verizon cell contracts end soon. Over the course of eight months, I’ve become completely appalled at the horrible customer service I’ve gotten from that company.
HSBC Tells You To Cash An Obviously Fake Check
By 12.7.07
Over at InfoWorld they have a story from a guy who was trying to sell something on Craigslist, and because he is savvy in the ways of the internet, did not fall for an obvious “overpayment scheme.”
Consumer Agency IT Pro Admits To Stealing 8.4 Million Records
By 12.6.07
A senior database administrator for Fidelity National Information Services, a widely used banking technology and data providor, has admitted that he stole 8.4 million customer records from the company and sold the data to a broker, who in turn sold them to marketers. He could face up to 10 years in prison but will probably get less because he confessed. We think he should have to open, read, and shred every piece of junk mail that his victims receive for the next, oh, say 10 years instead.
From $2 Million To Foreclosure On An Ameriquest Subprime Mortgage
By 12.5.07
Frances Joy Taylor had had about $2 million in assets, which she intended to leave to her church, before she met a businessman named Tyrone Dash. Dash took over her affairs and “methodically liquidated or leveraged almost everything she owned: her bank accounts and securities, her insurance policies, her credit cards, her two apartment buildings and, ultimately, her home,” says the Seattle Times. Frances suffers from Alzheimer’s.
Family Tries To Pull Off $7 Million Black Friday Heist
By 12.4.07
A young man, his girlfriend, and his mother were arrested on Saturday for stealing $7.4 million from an armored car company last Monday in Cleveland, Ohio. They timed the robbery to occur after Black Friday and the ensuing weekend because they knew the company would be chock full of retailers’ profits. Then they loaded a newly bought getaway van with the cash and hid away in Pipestem, West Virginia. The FBI tracked them down using old shopping receipts found in the girlfriend’s abandoned pickup truck.
By 12.4.07
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GfK Mystery Shopping has issued a warning to be on the lookout for a mystery shopper scam making the rounds. Here are 12 warning signs to look out for. [Earthtimes.org]
Shopper Tasered After Using Someone Else's Credit Card At Best Buy
By 12.4.07
The Daytona Beach Police Department say that a woman was tasered last Monday inside of a Best Buy store after attempting to use someone else’s credit card to make a purchase.
FTC Says Identity Theft Has Dropped, Sort Of, Maybe Not?
By 12.1.07
The FTC’s figure for identity theft in 2005 was 8.3 million Americans over the age of 18, a drop of about 16% from the 9.9 million it measured in 2003. (2005 is the most recent year for which they have data.) However, not only are consumer groups saying that these numbers are faulty, even the FTC admits in a footnote that “its conclusion is not ‘statistically significant’ because the sample size was too small.”
More Warnings About The Increasingly Popular *72 Phone Scam
By 11.21.07
The *72 phone scam is growing in popularity, according to the Houston Chronicle, and Comcast is warning consumers about it.
Man Breaks Into Carl's Jr. To Make Own Cheeseburgers
By 11.19.07
Here’s a bad idea: If the fast food restaurant of your choice is closed, simply break in and cook your own food.
Police Blotter On Demand? Comcast Helps Catch Bank Robbers Thanks To Bored People
By 11.13.07
Comcast has issued a press release claiming that they’re helping to solve crimes with something called “Police Blotter On Demand” a trial program launched in the Philadelphia area.
Safeway DVD Kiosk Comes With Credit Card Skimming Device
By 11.4.07
Crafty identity thieves attached a credit card skimming device to a DVD kiosk at a Colorado Safeway. The 2-inch skimming device was discovered only after a customer asked a Safeway employee for help after his card wouldn’t scan.
