Consumerist
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scams
Careful, Those Free Acai Products Might Come Attached To A Delicious Scam
The BBB is warning consumers about scams attached to the popular, yummy acai berry. Online ads claiming endorsements by Oprah and Rachel Ray are pitching acai-berry-themed weight loss products — and are generating thousands of complaints from angry consumers who say they've been scammed. More » -
scams
IDT Back In Brooklyn, Working Their Door To Door Scamming Magic
Just a quick heads up to everyone that IDT has nothing of value to offer you, so if someone claiming to be from IDT (or any other energy company that's not the one you already buy energy from) comes to your door and asks to see your bill, give them a good how do you do and send them on their way. I've had IDT scammers hit my building twice in the past two weeks, and just now returned from throwing them out of the building a few minutes ago. More » -
identity theft
Play Anti-Phishing Phil And Learn How To Spot Phishing Attacks
Phishing attacks are pretty cleverly designed, because they skip most virus checkpoints altogether and go for the true weak spot in human-computer interaction, the human. Lorrie Faith Cranor, a computer security researcher at Carnegie Mellon University, has been studying phishing attacks to identify new ways to fight them. More » -
fry's
Criminal Complaint Against Embezzling Fry's VP Unsealed
Read the dirty details of the 26 page complaint against the Fry's VP caught embezzling $65 million here. Post your favorite tidbits in the comments. -
Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme was one of the biggest, but he's got a lot of company. Here's a list of the "9 Most Brazen Ponzi Schemes in History," from Charles Ponzi (yep, that's why we call it that) to Social Security. [Neatorama]
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fry's
Fry's VP Arrested For Embezzling $65 Million
A Fry's VP was arrested last Friday for embezzling $65 million from the electronics retailer to fuel a gargantuan gambling lifestyle and feed his appetite for excess. More » -
money
Personal Finance Roundup
Our weekly roundup of the best personal finance news. Inside: Good charity-dar, scam detection, snow-removal tactics, rebuild your 401k, and warnings about store credit-cards. More » -
scams
SEC Ignored Warnings On $50 Billion Ponzi Scheme Since 1999
SEC's chief announced they had repeatedly received since 1999"credible and specific allegations" about Madoff’s $50 billion pyramid scheme... More » -
scams
Fake Repairman Preys On Powerless Worcesterians
After ice storms slammed Boston and left thousands without power, one opportunist saw a chance to make a buck in the dark. More » -
piracy
Help! I Bought A Pirated Copy Of Windows!
Emily bought a very "high quality" pirated copy of Windows from an Amazon seller and didn't realize that anything was amiss for an entire year. More » -
scams
Court Stops "Scareware" Scam That Tricks Consumers Into Buying Anti-Virus Software
The FTC says that a court has halted a massive "scareware" scheme that falsely claims that your computer is infected with viruses, spyware and illegal pornography. More » -
scams
Top 5 "Financial Meltdown" Themed Scams To Avoid
Kiplinger's has an article that lists a few "financial meltdown" themed scams that are out there taking advantage of people lately. More » -
scams
Scams 101: Do Not Buy Things From The Internet Using A Wire Transfer!
The BBB has given us a heads up about a new scam that targets holiday shoppers — pop-up internet electronics stores that only accept payments via wire transfer. More » -
media whoring
Ben Popken's "Beat The Cheat" Reader's Digest Article Online
I've got a new article in Reader's Digest about 9 scams that exploit national trends and how to avoid them. Flimflammers use the same basic scams over and over again, they just use the strips newspaper headlines to layer on like papermache on their chickenwire schemes. My article points out nine recent iterations and how to avoid them. Thanks to all the readers who sent in their stories to help out with the article. Loyal blog readers will enjoy that we splashed longstanding Consumerist nemesis IDT Energy's skanky sales practices in national print. Gotcha, suckers. -
jobs
8 Signs That Job You Found Online Is A Scam
Everyone's looking to pick up some extra cash these days but be wary of online job postings as many are outright scams. Here's 8 warning signs to look out for: More » -
The "Mystery Shopping" check scam we wrote about a bunch of times about is still fooling people. Here's something to memorize: No matter what, if someone asks you to deposit a check and send them a smaller amount of money — you are about to get screwed. [Local 6] (Thanks, Patrick!)
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journalism
Reporter Pays Double MSRP For G1 Phone, Uses Flashmob To Get Revenge
A Time Out New York reporter paid nearly double MSRP for a new G1 phone she bought off Times Square from Cellular Stop. After she realized she'd been had (internet access and texting were sold to her as "add-ons"), she went back to the store asking for an explanation. Instead, she says, six clerks began circling her and her friends, screaming and cursing and threatening to "break" their "fucking faces." Her friend was tossed against a wall and another clerk tried to smash her camera. More » -
scams
You Can Steal The Empire State Building In Only 90 Minutes
The Daily News has stolen the Empire State Building, and it only took 90 minutes. They made up some fake paperwork and successfully got the deed to the 102-story landmark transferred to a fake company called "Nelots Properties LLC." Get it? Nelots? Stolen? The information provided to the city register was laughably fake — King Kong star Fay Wray was listed as a witness. More »
scams
New York, 1:23 AM
Tue Jan 6
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