One hundred percent of credit cards offered online by the leading bank card issuers continue to include practices that will be outlawed once legislation passed in May takes effect next year.
What this hardly surprising bit of news is saying is that every single bank, because they've been allowed to thus far, uses abusive and deceptive credit practices. It just boggles my mind when people say the market can "regulate itself". I wonder why several hundred years of abuses isn't enough evidence of just how wrong that is.
Tags: Customer Abuse, Dishonest Companies
Of course this isn't a problem limited only to Facebook, but the FBI issued a warning about the rise of hijacking scams. This is where a bad guy gets your login information through various means and then poses as you on your account. They'll send an urgent request for help or money to all your friends who may be fooled and comply (as in the case of Bryan Rutberg).
Tags: Account Security, Facebook, FBI, Hijacking, Identity Theft, Social Networking Sites
I can't really state this often enough. There's only one place to get free credit reports and that's AnnualCreditReport.com. Everywhere else is going to take your money and give you grief.
Freescore is that company that's been advertising with Ben Stein on TV and they've been at the same dirty tricks as all these bogus free credit score places. However, because of a blogger who posted that they're a "predatory bait-and-switch" and also pointed out that the parent company of Freescore is VERTRUE, INC who has a Better Business Bureau score of F for charging people unexpectedly and then hassling them to get their money back (quoted loosely from here).
Freescore decided to file a libel lawsuit that looks surprisingly bogus to Felix Salmon, a blogger at Reuters. Not only did they never accuse the blogger of posting anything false, but the only part of the post that could be considered libelous was a direct quote from Felix's blog in the first place!
Well, this nonsense is no surprise to anyone that's watched these companies taking people's money and providing nothing in return.
Remember, there is only one place to get free credit reports and that's AnnualCreditReport.com. Anyone else that offers you free credit reports is lying or has a gimmick.
Tags: Ben Stein, Freescore, Identity Theft, Lawsuit
Sadly, traditional phone call scams still work particularly against those of the previous generation that never had to distrust any callers. This one is targeting military veterans:
“America’s Veterans have become targets in an inexcusable scam that dishonors their service and misrepresents the Department built for them,” said Dr. Gerald Cross, VA’s Under Secretary for Health. “VA simply does not call Veterans and ask them to disclose personal financial information over the phone.”
Remember that people who call you could be bad guys. Before giving away any sensitive data, find out how to reach them through ONLY public phone numbers available on the official website or in a phone book NOT using any numbers they give you.
Tags: Con Artist, Phone Scam, VA, Veterans Affairs
There are many photoshopped and altered photos on the net. The easiest way to find them is to type "not photoshopped" into Google because people are big fat liars. One that constantly makes the rounds and is often listed as "amazing not photoshopped rabbit" is one of those times.
The photo on the right is very hard to find on the net because the ones showing him at odd angles increasing his apparent size are so much more fun, but the fact is that the rabbit is big, but not THAT big. Whether camera angle, photoshop or both, it's fake and obviously so. Can we please stop spreading the lies now?
Tags: Flemmish, Giant Rabbit, Photoshopped
Jtag diagnostic: For best performance, put a 'no_image.gif' generic image for missing images in your root graphics folder I reported before about the large amount of bogus Lifelock review sites and blogs that are everywhere on the net and they just won't quit. I set up some web alerts to tell me whenever a new site or post is created mentioning Lifelock and that led me to this article:
First of all, it's highly insulting to our collective intelligence to suggest that Lifelock is actively pursuing the "cure" to ID theft just like it was insulting when OJ Simpson claimed to be actively looking for the "real" killer. The answer is already out there and they are either ignoring it on purpose or they are unaware of it. That makes them incompetent at best, and dishonest at worst.
But my feelings for Lifelock aside, the real issue here is that the company they name in the article is Melaleuca, an Amway-like direct sales company that has a fairly decent line of products that I buy from time to time. I have always liked their philosophy and assumed that they were one of those companies who was run by real people who actually care about the world, their customers or both.
I'd like to think that they just don't know anything about Lifelock which disappoints me in that they clearly didn't do their homework. Alternatively, perhaps they don't care and it's only the bottom line that counts. Either way, I'm not thrilled by this partnership and I'm sending Melaluca corporation an e-mail to that effect. I expect a similar response to all the other e-mails I've sent in the past, but at least I can hope for the best.
At least it will give me the chance to use the skills I've been reading about in one of my new favorite books: How to Complain for Fun and Profit.
Tags: Identity Theft, Lifelock, Utter Failure
A disgruntled former employee of GameStop calling himself “WhistleBlowerZero” has created a 9-part YouTube video series which explains quickly, but in exhaustive detail, the many reasons why you, Dear Consumer, should not shop at GameStop.
That pretty much sums it up. I listened to a few of them and the best part is that it’s both amusing and packed with real world information and math that explains exactly why Gamestop is a huge rip-off.
Sometimes when you buy something online or at a major retailer, you’ll get it home to find out that it’s full of bricks or bathroom tiles instead of the product you expected. Sometimes this is due to shifty warehouse workers and sometimes because a customer buys a product, says it’s defective and returns it even though they replaced it with bricks. If the customer service counter doesn’t check the box before accepting it, it goes back on the shelf and you get stuck with it.
The store’s response to this is generally not going to work in your favor, but there are ways you can make sure you don’t end up with the brick.
Read the article for full details, but here are the two main tips they cover that I agree with:
- Pay with credit card – This will give you many types of buyer protection automatically like the ability to do a chargeback.
- Check the item before you leave the store – Make sure you know what’s actually in that box before you walk out. It’s much harder for them to make the claim that you put a brick in it inside the store.
- Policies aren’t laws – Just because a story says “it’s policy” doesn’t mean you should give up. They often have very bad policies and even some that might be considered illegal. You should fight for what’s right regardless of what the store says is “policy”.
Tags: Retailers
Now here’s a state with a Attorney General worth his salt! Richard Blumenthal is suing Countrywide and Bank of America for deceptive lending and is looking for some serious monetary damages to be paid out to the victims. This single move could save thousands of people from forclosures and distress. That’s some serious protecting of the innocent. Way to go!
Tags: Bank of America
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