Leave it to the Russians. Their biggest retail bank, Sberbank, is testing out a new kind of ATM that has a built-in lie detector. [More]
lying
Mom Jailed For Falsifying Address To Send Kids To Better School District
By 1.27.11
An Ohio mom has been convicted and sent to jail for lying about her address so she could send her daughters to a better neighboring school district. School officials said she was cheating the system by having her daughters receive an education she hadn’t paid the taxes for. “Those dollars need to stay home with our students,” said school officials. To snare her, the school hired a private investigator, who videotaped her driving the children into the district. [More]
Tell When A CEO Is Lying
By 10.19.10
To tweak an old joke, how can you tell when a CEO is lying? A: When their mouth is moving. Or, you can look for certain key phrases, as researchers did in scrutinizing what was said in corporate earnings calls by executives who later had to restate earnings. They found a few patterns: [More]
Survey: 80 Percent Of Married Couples Lie About Spending
By 7.22.10
A survey by nonprofit credit debt management firm CESI Debt Solutions says 80 percent of married respondents lie to their partners about spending. Which seems to mean that the non-lying 20 percent are liars, because seriously, who can be expected to be forthcoming about every last idiotic thing they buy throughout the day? [More]
Kmart Told Me To Lie On Application To Get A Job
By 4.12.10
Senyaka said she applied for a temp job at Kmart and the company told her to lie on the screening questionnaire to improve her chances of getting hired. [More]
Teach Your Kids To Lie For Fun And Profit
By 7.31.09
Is it okay to lie and make your kid lie if it saves you money and time? This mommy thinks so.
Game Crazy Cashier Caught Sneaking Gameguard Fees Onto Sale
By 7.13.09
Lu tried to buy “Dead Space” yesterday at a local Game Crazy because it was on sale. The cashier, however, added two fees for $1 and $2 for “Gameguard” insurance without Lu’s permission—then tried to explain it away by saying the price was higher than marked and he’d actually had to give discounts to bring it down to the sale price.
Door To Door Alarm Salesmen In Kansas Caught Scamming Homeowners
By 6.24.09
Salesmen for Pinnacle Security have reportedly been going through Wichita neighborhoods and telling customers of CastleRock Security that the company has gone out of business. “These imposters then attempt to remove the CastleRock security equipment and attempt to obtain a blank, voided check so that they can start billing withdrawals from the customers’ checking accounts.”
Office Depot Employee Claims He Photoshops Price Tags
By 3.17.09
Who needs to lie about inventory when you can inflate the price directly? LAPTOP has uncovered more dirty secrets of Office Depot employees being dishonest to customers, this time by altering price tags on clearance items to incorporate the cost of an extended service plan.
Office Depot Employees Claim They're Told To Lie About Stock If You're Not Buying Extras
By 3.11.09
According to LAPTOP mag, Office Depot has implemented such a stringent sales quota program that the company has essentially broken the in-store laptop buying experience. If you don’t buy accessories and extended service plans, many associates will tell you the laptop is out of stock. Of course, this doesn’t happen at every Office Depot, but LAPTOP writes that they were surprised by the number of similar reports they received of it happening at multiple locations.
Some Organic Farms Have Been Accidentally Using Spiked Fertilizers For Years
By 1.6.09
California Liquid Fertilizer has been spiking its fertilizer with ammonium sulfate for the last several years, affecting the organic status of many farms, including organic behemoth Earthbound Farms.
10 Lies You Really Shouldn't Try On Your Next Resume
By 7.30.08
Hey lazy! Are you still looking for a job? Maybe you’re thinking about “embellishing” your work history a little more, then. However, according to CareerBuilder you should be careful, because “49 percent of hiring managers reported they caught a candidate lying on their resume,” usually about things like responsibilities and skills. If you feel lucky, go for it, but there are certain Really Big Lies you probably shouldn’t try.
One Third Of Antidepressant Studies Never Published
By 1.17.08
A new study—”the most thorough to date,” writes the New York Times—shows that about a third of the studies for some of the market’s most successful antidepressants (Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft, Effexor) were never published because they didn’t have favorable results. “While 94 percent of the positive studies found their way into print, just 14 percent of those with disappointing or uncertain results did.” The implication is that the makers of these drugs intentionally misled consumers and the federal government on their effectiveness.
Attention AT&T: Don't Lie About "Massive Outages," Reporters Have Phones Too
By 11.12.07
When Stephanie the AT&T “escalation affairs administrator” lied to Jan about why her phone couldn’t be repaired for several days, she probably didn’t know what Jan did for a living.
Is Bank of America Lying About Website Security?
By 9.24.07
According to a demonstration by Chris Soghoian over at CNet, Bank of America’s “SiteKey” picture authentication feature can be spoofed by phishers and is, basically, worthless.
Verizon Lies To Customer To Get Him Off The Phone, Charges ETF
By 2.20.07
I recently tried to cancel my Verizon Wireless service because of the text messaging increase. Spoke to 6 CSRs who all gave me really bad excuses but I pressed my case and finally found a CSR who I thought was going to do the right thing and let me go. I spoke to a CSR name Donnesha (#2569) who after speaking to her supervisor briefly said she will cancel my contract with an ETF but as soon as I receive written notice in my bills for the text messaging charge increase I can call back and have a CSR waive my ETF. I then asked her again “So you will make a written note on my account so that as soon as I receive my next bill with a notice of the text messaging charge increase, I can call Verizon Wireless, speak with a CSR and based on the note you just made, I will get my $175 refund with no problems whatsoever?” She replies with “yes, absolutely”. I thanked her and promptly hung up. The next day, I called Verizon again and spoke with a CSR name Troy (#9840) to check on the little note Donnesha made, lo and behold, the note does not exist! Troy then proceeds to email Donnesha to inquire about where the note went. Donnesha emails back within 5 minutes to say that I had agreed to eat the ETF and that no refund will be given.
Hang contacted the BBB and escalated the issue to a supervisor, but Verizon is standing firm. They believe Donnesha. Do you?
McDonald’s Says Flogs Were Not Completely Fake
By 11.27.06
In late October, we exposed two McDonald’s flogs promoting their Monopoly game. One was supposedly written by “Stanley Smith” and followed his quest to collect all four railroads. The other was ostensibly written by 2004 million-dollar winner Marcia Schroeder.
