The search engine employs hundreds of ‘ad cops’ to keep as many dubious advertisements as possible off their site
Scams
Obama Inauguration Tickets – Which Are Distributed Free – Listed Online for $7,500 Apiece
No one present at next week’s swearing-in ceremony of Barack Obama as president is supposed to pay a dime to attend the event. But some attendees may be paying thousands of dollars for the privilege.
Top Grinchiest Stories of the 2012 Holiday Season
Given the number of recent Grinch-like thefts and other Grinch-like actions that have ruined Christmas for some, it looks like there are indeed people whose hearts are two sizes too small. Here’s a roundup of this season’s …
Can the Federal Government Really Deter Insider Trading?
It’s been two decades since Michael Milken, a.k.a. the junk-bond king, pleaded guilty to securities fraud following a blockbuster insider-trading investigation that shined a light on bad Wall Street behavior during the go-go …
FTC to “Rachel”: Shut Up, Already
Score one for the feds in its ongoing cat-and-mouse game with robo-call telemarketers. The agency just shut down five companies in Arizona and Florida responsible for what it characterized as millions of calls from “Rachel” and her fraudulent friends at “Cardholder Services.”
The Poet Laureate of Identity Theft
To literary-minded Americans, he’s a scribe of suburban ennui. To a loose confederacy of Nigerian hackers, he’s a potentially lucrative collection of account numbers and passwords. In both cases, he’s Rick Moody. And after a …
Why Those Annoying Robo-Calls From ‘Rachel’ Aren’t Going Away Anytime Soon
Rachel’s back, and this time, she’s brought her friends. Despite ongoing efforts by the Federal Trade Commission, complaints about robo-calls — from “Rachel from Card Services” and other automated telemarketer scammers — have …
Why You Shouldn’t Trust Positive Online Reviews—Or Negative Ones, For That Matter
Researchers and online review sites alike are trying to root out efforts to manipulate the system. By outing dubious, planted, solicited, and otherwise inauthentic reviews, consumers will have more reason to trust the reviews …
What’s Hot in Hot (As in: Stolen) Cars
You may have reason to worry that your car will be ripped off even if it isn’t on the recent “Hot Wheels” report, listing the most stolen vehicles in the U.S.
Is Credit-Card Debt Collection the New Robo-Signing Scandal?
The big-bank robo-signing scandal lifted the proverbial rock on the unsavory things financial institutions were doing to force people out of their homes, whether they had the legal grounds to do so or not. Apparently, similar …
Top Consumer Complaints: Our Latest, Biggest, Weirdest Grievances
So we like to complain. What else is new? No, really — what’s new? A consumer watchdog group just released a study about the biggest and baddest complaints fielded by various investigative agencies last year. There are some …
