For the 12th year in a row, ID theft is the number-one complaint, the Federal Trade Commission announced last week. It’s followed by the usual shenanigans, including debt collection schemes, bogus sweepstakes, and bank fraud. But the real news is the reaction to the list, which is … well, nothing. Apart from a few polite pick-ups by the mainstream media that noted the ID theft epidemic, the news was...
A new email scam is making the rounds, using Google’s name to catch your eye. The con looks to be fairly indiscriminate in who it’s getting sent to, as even officials in the Ohio Attorney General’s office have reported receiving the email. But, with a company like Google, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who isn’t using at least one of its services. The email itself has had reports...
A car dealership is being accused of installing GPS tracking devices in vehicles without buyer knowledge that were used to find and repossess cars — even some that weren’t behind on payments. The Florida Attorney General’s office is suing Beach Boulevard Automotive in Jacksonville, Fla., on a variety of counts of consumer deception including: Requiring buyers to purchase several types of insurance as a condition of the sale, insisting...
The FBI is warning consumers of online scam artists who claim to sell bargain-rate cars but end up exploiting consumers in need of quick, cheap wheels — sometimes using the guise of legitimate Internet channels. Shopping for a car can be scary enough — what with lemons, crafty sales reps, and everyone you know telling you the best make and model to buy — but these scam artists make...
Job seekers looking for exposure to that next potential employer are finding exposure of an entirely different kind via online searches. Scammers are making hay out of the newest wave of personal information that’s flooding job boards, and the Better Business Bureaus has issued a fresh warning to would-be online applicants. “Before posting your resume to a career site or inquiring about a job, make sure you know with...
At The Consumer Chronicle, we’d like to think that when you’re looking for consumer advice, this is the place to turn. A story in today’s New York Daily News seems to agree. Columnist Jean Chatzky, finance editor and regular on “The Today Show,” gave a nice nod to TheConsumerChronicle.com in today’s paper. She quoted me on how to deal with companies when you’re having trouble and how to avoid...
