Consumer Reports scoured the “files of dozens of government agencies, industry associations, and consumer groups that track crooked schemes” to find the scammiest scams around.
fraud
AT&T: Phone Stolen? You're Still Responsible For The $450 In Soft Core Porn Downloads
By 8.1.07
Tiffany’s cellphone was stolen right before she got on a chartered sailboat for a week of vacation. When she got back, AT&T told her she was responsible for the entire week of soft core porn downloading that the thief had enjoyed during the time she was away.
Liveblogging the Senate Commerce Committee Oversight Hearing On Telemarketing Fraud
By 7.31.07
Join us at 2:30 we liveblog the Senate Commerce Committee’s oversight hearing on telemarketing fraud. The Committee wants to fight telemarketers who target vulnerable senior citizens, so they’re going to ask the FTC to take center stage and explain its implementation of the Do-Not-Call list and the Credit Reporting Organizations Act (CROA.)
Like A Good Neighbor, State Farm Wants To Steal Your Money And Send You To Jail
By 6.2.07
Greg writes:
Pursue Exciting Opportunities In Energy Deregulation
By 5.31.07
You too can work for an energy supplier and seize a piece of this exciting money-making opportunity! At least, that’s what the Craigslist ad told us.
You may know well the great promise of Network Marketing.
We love the part where they say the amount of money you can make from this depends on,
The timing of entry of the networker into the company growth curve.
aka, it’s better to be at the top of the Ponzi scheme. For the uninitiated, network marketing is just another name for multi-level-marketing (MLM), structurally similar to a pyramid scheme, except usually there’s an actual product being sold. Employees get money for selling products, and for signing up new recruits. A cut of your commission flows up to the guy who signed you up, and you get a cut of your recruits’ commissions, and so on up the pyramid. The FTC ruled that MLM isn’t illegal per se. Often they’re set up so the people on the very bottom don’t make much, or even end up losing, money. Amway is a famous example.
It's Easy To Use Google To Find Exposed Credit Card Numbers
By 5.24.07
When merchants expose your credit card numbers to the internet, there’s an easy tool that ID thieves can use to find them. Google. According to an article on Slashdot, it’s as easy as searching for the most common credit card prefixes. The credit card companies have known about this problem for years, and they’ve yet to fix it. Is it because they can’t? Or is it because the vendors are the ones exposing the numbers? Whose responsibility is it?
infoUSA Calls "Unfair" NYT Article About How It Marketed Lists Of "Gullible" Seniors To Known Scammers,
By 5.22.07
Instead of atoning for their sins and begging for forgiveness, infoUSA, the firm that knowingly marketed lists of “gullible” seniors to known scammers, opted for a path of childish and defensive rebuttals:
Bank Of America Sues ID Theft Victim For $23,312.04
By 5.21.07
When you are the victim of fraud, you assume that your biggest friend will be your bank. They’re the ones that are supposed to help you put your life back together.
infoUSA Marketed Lists Of "Gullible" Seniors To Known Scammers, Wachvoia Processed The Unsigned Checks
By 5.21.07
Global rings of crooks are stealing the bank accounts of thousands of the elderly, using lists of names and phone numbers sold to them by corporate America, NYT reports.
Oh, Your Mom Might Know Your PIN? Then You're Not Getting Your $300 Back
By 5.18.07
Samantha, pictured holding a log more customer friendly than Capital One, had $300 stolen from her Capital One account, even though her debit card was still in her pocket. When she filed a claim with CapOne, not only did it take numerous contradictory phone calls with employees not knowing their ass from their elbow, her claim was denied. Why? Because she said on her claim form that her mother might know her PIN. Oops.
Detecting Synthetic Identity Fraud
By 5.17.07
It’s bad enough when ID thieves steal your persona, but what happens when they use your information to create an entirely different person? A fake person? Bankrate has an article about detecting and protecting yourself from this type of scam. It’s called “synthetic identity fraud.” From Bankrate:
Synthetic fraud is quickly becoming the more common type of identity fraud, surpassing “true-name” identity fraud, which corresponds to actual consumers. In 2005, ID Analytics reported that synthetic identity fraud accounted for 74 percent of the total dollars lost by U.S. businesses to ID fraud and 88 percent of all identity fraud “events” — for example, new account openings and address changes.
Sythetic ID fraud could affect your credit, and debt collectors might come after you based on your SSN, ignoring that a ficticious name was used.
Ebay Scam: People Still Trying To Sell "Pictures" Of Things
By 5.15.07
Seller “awesome_electronics” (feedback zero) is selling “pictures” of items. Get it. It’s just a picture.. Ha, ha, ha. From ebay:
You are Bidding on a picture of a Apple iPod Video Black 30 gb that is BRAND New In BOX. As you can see in the picture it has never been opened. I Only Ship to the continental United States. I do not ship to PO Boxs. This is an as is sale There will be no returns. Payment is due within 3 days of sale ending. Thank you for looking at my sale and Happy Bidding!
We guess this is what happens when 12 year olds think of scams to pull on the internet. Sadly, according to BoingBoing at least one person fell for it before their post drove the bidding up over $100,000 (for a picture of a HAM radio.) Hardy har har. —MEGHANN MARCO
Beware Address Fraud
By 5.14.07
Identity thieves can take over your accounts, just by swapping their address for yours with your financial institutions. Banknet360 elucidates how this works:
Get A Free Mother's Day Card From The Federal Trade Commission
By 5.12.07
Keep your card in a safe place at home – not in your wallet or purse.
Cingular Admits Store Salesmen Add On Features You Didn't Ask For, Just To Make More Commission
By 5.11.07
Matt’s voicemail stopped working so he called up Cingular to get it fixed, and while he was there he had them check out the rest of his account to make sure everything was ok, but they found something disturbing.
Your Red Snapper Sushi Is Likely Fake
By 5.10.07
Do you like to order delicious red snapper sushi? Joke’s on you, it’s probably fake. The Chicago Sun-Times had, literally, nothing to do, so it ordered 14 pieces of “red snapper” sushi and then had DNA tests done on this fish. Guess what? None of it was red snapper.
Prevent ID Theft Of Dead Loved Ones
By 5.10.07
Based just on a name, and an address, crooks can purchase parts of a deceased person’s information from other crooks. This bits can be used to open up new bank accounts, credit cards, get a Social Security card, or used as a mask to conduct further crime.
How Crooks Steal or "Skim" Your ATM Card
By 5.9.07
Why do we suddenly want to watch The Departed? Anyway, after talking with the detective the Today show set up their own skimming operation in Times Square. Just about 1/2 of the people who used the ATM fell for a skimming box located just outside the door where the swipe pad that unlocks the door would normally be. Sad.—MEGHANN MARCO
