Unscrupulous companies are preying on struggling time share owners looking to unload their ill-advised purchases by getting them to pay thousands in upfront fees, promising sales that never come. Since the market for timeshares plummeted 40 percent in 2009, according to the BBB, there’s little market for reselling them. [More]
warnings
3DTV Can Make You Sick, Samsung Warns
By 4.16.10
As if the burden of having to wear dorky glasses in your living room weren’t a big enough strike against would-be-next-big-thing 3DTV, now Samsung warns that watching can give you a feeling akin to motion sickness, Digital Home reports. [More]
These Antenna Installation Instructions Are Surprisingly Specific
By 3.29.10
I am typing this post with a digital TV antenna stuck in my ear, and all because nobody told me that this wasn’t the right way to install it. Ow! Apparently Antennas Direct of Missouri knows that there are people like me out there, because they’ve included some very specific warnings on their installation instructions (PDF). (Thanks to Billy!) [More]
Don't Believe The Phone Call That Says Your Card Has Been Deactivated
By 3.22.10
Nick received an automated call from some scammy outfit this morning that told him his debit card had been deactivated. The scam looks simple enough, but it’s probably worth looking at as a reminder to others. [More]
It's National Consumer Protection Week!
By 3.8.10
The FTC has designated this week National Consumer Protection Week, so all scams will be put on hold and businesses won’t overcharge you until next Sunday. What, no? That’s now how it works? Ah… it looks like it’s more about consumer education, which is also a good thing since that will help consumers protect themselves year round. For adults, here’s a whole page of various scam prevention tips, fact sheets, and videos. If you’re an educator, you can enroll in the National Financial Capability Challenge and get an “educator toolkit” to help you teach students how to be smart consumers. There’s a section for businesses too, with information on how to protect customers’ personal info and deter ID theft. [More]
Don't Fall For Job Scams
By 2.17.10
The Federal Trade Commission has a website at www.ftc.gov/jobscams with information on the types of scams you’re likely to find in Help Wanted listings. They’ve also put together a short video (below) that describes how scammers try to charge job hunters fees to pay for job certification, or to provide access to executive-level interviews, or to acquire study materials that are supposedly crucial to passing a hiring exam. It’s a good refresher course in what to look out for when you’re answering ads. [More]
Beware Online Discounts That Vanish As You Check Out
By 2.1.10
Omie Ismail at LiveCheap warns online shoppers to look out for discounts that disappear before you finalize purchases. [More]
Don't Let An Unknown Caller Talk You Into Downloading Software
By 1.26.10
In the wide world of scams, this combination of a phone call and computer malware is sort of a novel twist. Jay likes to string phone scammers along to waste their time, so he managed to get quite a few details about how this particular scam works. If you’ve got naive family members with access to computers, either take away their computers or tell them never to download software from a stranger on the phone. [More]
Is This Captcha Code Trying To Tell Us Something?
By 1.21.10
A Consumerist reader writes, “So it’s been a while. I’m starting to get desperate. Why don’t I check out a new dating site I just heard about? My first concern is always, ‘Is it a scam site or is it real? What happens to my credit card info if it is a scam?’ So in the process of signing up, I received this warning.” Look on the bright side, OP, at least it didn’t make you type “Herpes.” [More]
Scams That Came Of Age In 2009
By 12.22.09
Get-poor-quickly schemes abounded in 2009, and Mark Huffman Consumer Affairs sifted through the best of the best to come up the top 10 scams of 2009. [More]
H1N1 Phishing Email Making The Rounds
By 12.4.09
The Centers for Disease Control have issued a warning that there’s a new, swine flu-themed phishing email going around. It says something about an imaginary State Vaccination H1N1 Program, and asks you to create an account on the cdc.gov website–and if you click the link, malicious code may be installed on your system. Obviously you have brain worms if you fall for this. [More]
You Can't Use A Barnes & Noble Gift Card For Ebooks
By 11.13.09
Update: Barnes & Noble says they’re changing this policy. If you or someone you know is getting a nook, Barnes & Noble’s version of the Kindle, this year and you want to use a gift card to fill it with books, forget it. For mysterious reasons, the retailer won’t allow it. (By contrast, Amazon does.)
Chase Raises Interest Rate On Closed Account
By 11.13.09
David closed his Chase credit card account instead of accepting a rate increase earlier this year. That should have been the end of it, but it turned out Chase later went ahead and increased the interest rate anyway.
FTC Files Contempt Charge Against BlueHippo For Continuing To Rip Off Customers
By 11.12.09
Today the FTC lodged a contempt charge against scammy no-credit-needed electronics seller BlueHippo, saying that the company hasn’t honored its prior agreement to stop scamming customers. BlueHippo agreed to pay back $3.5 million nearly two years ago to reimburse customers who never received the computers they pre-paid for, but the FTC says since then the company has sucked another $15 million out of customers.
Why You Shouldn't Let Telemarketers Help You Donate
By 10.10.09
Earlier this week we posted a warning to watch out for calls from people asking for donations on behalf of local police or fire departments. Today an alleged former employee—who says he quit after two days of training and one day of seeing what it was really like on the call center floor—wrote in to tell us a little more about how a company on the other side of that phone call works.
Don't Donate Money To Public Safety Organizations Over The Phone
By 10.5.09
The website Consumer Affairs (which is not related to us or our owners in any way) is warning people in Oregon to watch out for calls from people asking for donations on behalf of local police or fire departments. It’s a good reminder to everyone that telephone solicitations should be ignored: “At best, the solicitor will probably take the lion’s share of your donation. At worst, the caller is an outright fraud,” the site reports.
Ameriprise Bans "Customer Advisor" For Posting Link To Consumerist
By 9.21.09
Hey, we helped get an Ameriprise customer banned from the financial company’s consumer advisory panel! Sorry about that, Brendan.
Skimmers Rig Door Instead Of ATM
By 8.31.09
Last week, a customer in Long Beach, New York, discovered a skimmer attached to the outside of a local ATM branch instead of on specific machines. We’ve talked a lot about being wary of any suspicious add-ons at the ATM, but in this case the criminals were collecting card info as people swiped to enter the building—although they still had pinhole cameras set up to record PINs next to each keypad.
