Fraudulent check scams (which we wrote about yesterday) have taken a new, exciting twist: integrated into so-called “mystery shopper” scams. The classified ads you see for secret or mystery shoppers used to be small time cons, designed to bilk you out of $100 or so to provide information that’s readily available for free. But add a little check fraud and you could be taken for thousands of dollars.
mystery
Lost Luggage Found In Dumpster
By 12.27.06
The dumpster near the George Bush Intercontinental Airport contained dozens upon dozens of suitcases. Many were rifled through and missing valuables, including presents, camcorders and computers.
UPDATE: A Big Break in ‘Calls From a Stranger’ Story
By 4.17.06
More answers and more questions about our mysterious phone spammer.
954-678-8026 Voice Spam Translated
By 4.17.06
Hundreds of people across America have received a strange message in Spanish on their cellphone from one number. We hunted down who the number belonged to, got a copy of the message uploaded and now have a translation.
954-678-8026 Voice Spam Uploaded
By 4.17.06
For your listening pleasure, we have the message that an auto-dialer has been leaving on hundreds of people’s cellphones the past month. All the calls came from 954-678-8026
We Know His Name. Calls From a Stranger: UPDATE
By 4.14.06
We have a name. George Martinez. Found by shelling out the twenty bux at Intellus.us. We are lazy P.I’s. Unfortunately, no address… yet. We caution, however, the information may not be current and there are a ton of George Martinez’s in Ft. Lauderdale, including the Office Director of the U.S. Commercial Service in Florida.
UPDATE: Calls From a Stranger, 954-678-8026
By 4.14.06
So this number is auto-dialing people across the nation and leaving marketing messages in Spanish and we’ve decided to try and track them down.
UPDATE: Calls From a Stranger, 954-678-8026
By 4.14.06
We’ve been having a devil of a time tracking down this phone-spammer. None of the reverse phone-lookup services gave us more information than that the number used to be with “Global Crossing Local” and is now with the MetroPCS cellphone company. The number is listed as being in Fort Lauderale, FL, sleazy marketing capital of the world.
UPDATE: Calls From a Stranger, 954-678-8026
By 4.14.06
We just received an email from Ben who says that he just received an unsolicited call from 954-678-8026 around 10:39 EST today.
UPDATE: Calls From a Stranger, 954-678-8026
By 4.14.06
The Consumerist wanted to open its doors as a P.I, get all private investigation styles, baby.
Calls From a Stranger
By 4.13.06
Clampants has been getting strange Spanish phonecalls on his cellphone. Once, when getting off a plane in Austin, he and his wife, neither of whom speak Spanish, had muffled Spanish voicemails from the same number.
Choosing a Bank: Where are the Epinions?
By 12.7.05
Traditional bank ranking systems, like those endorsed by the FDIC, are of limited use. We are sure services like Bankrate use a variety of unbiased metrics to determine the security and stability of the institution, the liquidity of the bank’s assets, the oh we just ate a whole ham while they were talking and then fell asleep.
