Kevin purchased two DVD and CDR spindles using CompUSA’s “In-Store Pick-Up” option; when he got to the store, the price doubled. Kevin had already handed over his credit card information and had a printed receipt. Why did the price double?
scam
Jiffy Lube's Underhanded Charges
By 3.4.07
Jiffy Lube charged Carlo for an oil change. They even warned his car suffered from a transmission fluid leak and an excessive oil leak. Only one problem: They hadn’t looked at the car.
When I came back, they told me that my car was ready and even pointed out that my car had a transmission fluid leak and excessive oil leak. They even said that they replaced my filters and window wipers. I agreed to the charges and paid for it. After five minutes, the cashier comes back and tells me that my car hasn’t been serviced, yet.
Carlo’s car was a chameleon. They thought the car was green, even though Carlo told them it was “bluish-green.” Well, that explains everything. Carlo had been a Jiffy Lube customer for six years. Now, he will service his car elsewhere.
TigerDirect: 2GB Flash Drive For $1.99 After Rebates, $171.98 After Thirty Days
By 2.22.07
TigerDirect.com sold Chudacek a 2GB flash drive for $1.99, without warning that after thirty days, the price would skyrocket to an astounding $171.38. Included with the drive “[for] a limited-time only [the] opportunity to try [CA] Internet Security Suite 2007.” We have warned against rebates, but even we were caught off-guard by the note on TigerDirect’s packing slip. Limited-time, indeed.
At $2 (after rebates) for 2 GB, I thought it was a deal I couldn’t refuse. I would just format the flash drive to get rid of the pre-loaded software and I’d be in good shape.
Buzz Telecom Good At Confusing Ancient People From Iowa
By 12.14.06
The Iowa Attorney General is warning people that they may have been fooled by an Indiana-based phone company.
Furniture Tags Lie About Materials
By 11.21.06
“The federal government used to set specific standards for furniture labeling, but dropped the rules four years ago after the industry complained the standards were outdated.”
CompUSA PS3 Bundle Turns Out to Be A Scam
By 11.21.06
Did Mary get her TV or her PS3? Nope. The staff told her there was a priority list for the PS3, but couldn’t tell her if she was on it. Then, after Mary left the store TV-less and PS3-less she got a telephone call from the store manager, who informed her:
EXCLUSIVE: DefendMyStreet.Com Substantively Linked To Spammers
By 9.15.06
It looks like DefendMyStreet.com may indeed be exploiting Denver suburbanite’s fears about sex offenders to collect their email addresses and spam them. Reader Loy, who fights spam for a living, sends us the result of his probes.
Nigerian Email Scammers Go Postal
By 6.5.06
What happens when the ubiquity of Nigerian email scams gets to the point when even trusting myopic grannies start wildly flipping the double deuce at the screen when they see yet another “URGENT ASSISTANCE FROM MR. KOBE UBUNTU” email in their inbox? They bring it down a notch on the luddite ladder:
New Homeless Sign: Will Die for Food
By 5.19.06
A Double Indemnity for the skid row set, a pair of golden grannies have been arrested in a homeless life insurance scam nothing short of diabolical. You won’t wash the taste of this one out your mouth with a bottle of discount lighter fluid anytime soon.
UPDATE: Soho Store Long Known A Scam
By 5.2.06
Thanks to Reader Sten S. for pointing out that we’re not the first guys to notice that the Soho Store is a total scam. Apparently, the Soho bilkers have been common knowledge to the hipster elite on the official Apple forums for sometime. Verdict as of two months ago? Same as it is today. Total scam.
HOWTO: Block Text Message Spam
By 4.20.06
On Tuesday, several readers wrote in complaining about receiving text message spam. Toby says that T-Mobile’s customer service refunded the 20 cents the spam cost as well as showing him how to keep future unwanted messages away. He writes:
Nu Txt Msg Scm
By 4.18.06
We received two complaints today from Elizabeth and Melba who received a a new text message spam/scam.
UPDATE: Don’t Take Any Wooden Flat Screens
By 4.6.06
Yesterday, we reported on Indiana residents who were duped into buying flat-screen tvs on the street that, upon opening at home, ended up being oven doors. How could anyone be duped by such an inane ruse, we asked ourselves, chomping cigars in our pleather armchairs. Below, detail of the packaging used to wrap the oven doors.
ATM Hack Fallout
By 3.12.06
The ATM PIN block attacks has other consequences besides just your money getting siphoned off by scammers 2,000 miles away.
3rd Party Phishing Scam
By 3.6.06
B.L. Ochman tips us off to a type of Paypal phishing scam to watch out for. She received a Pay Pal receipt lookalike for a watch from a company called Omegamove. The amount was for $395.85 and was to be shipped to one James Dickinson. Presumably, the scammers think you’ll see that, say, omg, I didn’t order a $400 watch and follow the link to dispute the order. After which, you enter in your Paypal info and they steal it. Paypal has confirmed the email to be a phish and is investigating.
“Anti-Spyware” Scam Companies Fined for $2mil
By 1.6.06
Good news for the naive Luddites that each and every one of us has in our families. You know, the ones who believe that Internet Explorer pop-ups with Windows-like dialogue buttons are actual OS warnings and start naively clicking their way to a system infected with the spyware these scams are claiming to prevent. Because the FTC has finally nailed some of these companies and made them pay out over $2 million in ill-gotten gains.
Consolidated Media Services Scams “Subscribers”
By 1.3.06
ConsumerAffairs.com warns of Consolidated Media Services, a magazine-subscription telemarketing service that is unscrupulously scamming hundreds of dollars from customers who never subscribed to their publications to begin with:
