Facebook can be maddening. After a Thomasville, N.C., mom posted pictures of her 7-year-old son at a Special Olympics event — he has Down Syndrome — the social networking giant locked her account, apparently thinking that the …
Scams
‘Free Gas for Life’ Scam Shut Down; $2 Million to Go to Victims
The promise of being able to fuel cars for free — and power homes for free, too — proved a powerful lure for consumers who ended up getting sucked into a magazine subscription program and never did get the secret of “free gas for life.”
Feds: Fake Debt Collectors Shook Down 600,000 People and Got More Than $5 Million
Callers from India — often posing as U.S. police officers — called at least 600,000 people across the U.S. about fake debts and took more than $5 million in real money, the Federal Trade Commission announced Wednesday.
2.6 Billion Robo-Calls Later, Why Won’t Rachel from Cardholder Services Just Go Away?
Rachel from Cardholder Services, please stop calling. We all know you’re a scam.
Feds Bust the Mother of All Robocalling Rings
If you were pestered by telemarketers any time between January 2008 and August 2009, there’s a good chance that at least some of the calls came from an operation that was just squashed by the Federal Trade Commission. The agency put out of business a huge operation that bombarded consumers with 2.6 billion robocalls over that time …
Feds Shutter Those Fake News Sites Plugging Bogus Weight Loss Products
The Federal Trade Commission has settled charges it brought against two marketing companies that were allegedly hawking shady weight loss products through a string of web sites that were pretending to be legitimate news …
Old ‘Nigerian Lottery’ Scam Gets a New Twist
Prepaid-debit-card providers like to make the argument that their products can be used just like bank accounts, but there’s one major way in which prepaid debit differs from bank-issued cards tied to an account or line of credit: …
Big Brother Backlash: Citizens Unite to Bring Down Ticket-Generating Red-Light Cameras
Are videocameras at traffic lights meant to make roads safer? Or just serve as an easy way for states and municipalities to dish out tickets and raise revenues? Considering the serious money generated by cameras—as much as $480 …
How to Get the Government to Cover Your Cell Phone Bill(s)
Last year, a federal program paid out $1.6 billion to cover free cell phones and the monthly bills of 12.5 million wireless accounts. The program, overseen by the FCC and intended to help low-income Americans, is popular for …
How Computer Geeks Aim to Put a Stop to Fake Online Reviews
A collection of five-star ratings can do amazing things for a business. It’s not all that surprising, then, that hotels, restaurants, local services, product manufacturers and even doctors and dentists are known to plant glowing …
9 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Trust Online Reviews
You shouldn’t believe everything you read. And if you’re reading online reviews of products, hotels, restaurants, or local businesses or services? Then you should believe even less.
Woman Gets Nearly $10K Suing Honda For Misleading About Civic Hybrid’s MPG
Fifty miles per gallon? That’s what Honda claimed. But Heather Peters’ 2006 Civic Hybrid never did better than 41, maybe 42 mpg. And when Honda “fixed” her battery, the car dropped below 30 mpg. Instead of agreeing to take part …