(Image used under: Creative Commons 3.0 [SRC])

Drug companies make so much money off their medicine, it's no leap to think that there's a vast amount of corruption in the industry.

(Image used under: Creative Commons 3.0 [SRC])

It's worth repeating that if you get charged for something you didn't ask for, you should challenge it. One point this article makes that I want to stress, sometimes you get signed up for something because you didn't notice and uncheck a box during a transaction with some other company or you had a free trial and it charged you after it was over.

These are dishonest and while they might technically be legal (though they shouldn't be), it's worth challenging them all the same.

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Comcastmustdie.com is a blog where people are invited to post their customer numbers so Comcast can get in touch with them to resolve issues. Given that people sometimes have vast difficulties that never seem to get resolved over the phone, this is a pretty good idea.

And according to the blog's comments, people have been getting results. It's worth checking out.

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It certainly appears that way. There's almost no content at http://www.igotmyidentitystolen.com/, just ads and links to Lifelock.com.

If it really is a front-site, then Lifelock's advertising campaign is even more aggressive than I thought! I already knew they advertise heavily on websites, but I've seen comments and reviews on many websites that read more like planted ads than actual reviews.

Case-in-point, some guy that left a nice long comment complaining about my views on fraud alerts who's website has another giant ad for Lifelock that's supposed to be a "review", but with all the ads, it's hard to believe that he's impartial.

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If you didn't know this already, stores make massive profits on cables and connectors. Most of these cost anywhere from 3 to 60 dollars for the store, but are sold from 19.99 to 179.99 or more!

There's just no way to get a good deal on cables from a regular retail outlet so buy them from an online outlet instead.

For a bonus, head over to the Consumerist for a full price sheet from Radio Shack showing their cost versus your cost on their stock of Monster brand cables.

Sample:

Item | Retail Price | Wholesale Price | Profit Margin

MONSTER 19FT HDMI-DVI | $179.99 | $99.94 | $80.05

MONSTER 8M L 26.24' | $137.99 | $73.49 | $64.5

MONSTER 19FT HDMI-HDMI CA | $169.99 | $105.5 | $64.49

"MONSTER 21' STRAIGHT 1/4""" | $149.99 | $88.87 | $61.12

MONSTER HTS 950 | $149.99 | $90.89 | $59.1

MONSTER SLVR FLAT MNT-37I | $149.99 | $91.44 | $58.55

MONSTER 16FT DVI-DVI CABL | $149.99 | $93.08 | $56.91

MONSTER 13FT HDMI-DVI CAB | $149.99 | $93.08 | $56.91

MONSTER 6M L 19.68' – COM | $114.99 | $61.24 | $53.75

MONSTER 8' DIGITAL FIBER | $114.99 | $61.24 | $53.75

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It should be no surprise to anyone that enterprising scumbags everywhere are using the hopes of the economic stimulus package to scam people out of their information.

"They're calling people on the phone and asking for their personal information, and the people are thinking they're going to get some money quicker than they normally would," Special Agent Jeff Lanza, spokesman with the FBI Bureau in Kansas City, told WDAF-TV.

Remember simple safety: don't give out information over the phone especially to someone who calls you.

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Like Phishing, Vishing entices you with a false e-mail but the difference is that they try to get you to call a phone number where you can be fleeced personally by one of their people.

Even if you think an e-mail is legitimate, never call the number provided. Look it up by some other means such as the phone book or from the given company's actual website.

These guys are scum sucking thieves. Don't give them your money. And I'm not talking just about no-name place, I mean ALL of them. Do not use payday loans, tax refund anticipation loans, or anything similar.

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My poor wife went to a website that I directed her to to buy something for me for Christmas. It turns out that website is a front where they take your money and give no product. If we had known about resellerratings.com, we'd have saved ourselves the hassle, but now we have to cancel the order and possibly get a new credit card issued.

Well, you can bet we'll be checking a site's rating before purchasing directly through a non-major site again.

Anyway, I'm ticked and I'm going to do everything I can to make life miserable for this slimeball. First I'm going to dispute the charges with my credit card and ask if they have any means of prosecution. Second, I'm going to try and get his hosting, domain name, and merchant accounts canceled (with no domain name, no hosting for his site, and no merchant account to take credit cards, I'm guessing it will be harder to scam people in the future). And, if I can, I'm going to see what agency is responsible for this kind of fraud and see what they can do about it.

I'll post updates here if I manage to get any of this accomplished.

(Image is used under the Pixabay license)

To make a phishing e-mail seem more legitimate, scammers are now using common language from banks such as:

Please remember that we will never ask for personal account information via email or web pages.

This gets you to lower your guard. Instead of having a web address to click on, they set up a phone number for you to call. If you call the number a savvy scammer will get you to provide as much information as they can get.

Don't fall for this stuff. If you ever recieve something that sounds like there's a problem with your accounts or credit cards, go to their website directly or call their regular phone number. Never depend on links, phone numbers, or any other information sent to you in an e-mail.