Consumerist
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class action lawsuits
Classmates.com Sued Because Classmates Weren't Really Looking For Him
You know how Classmates.com has all those ads and spams telling you how your old school chums are looking for you? Well someone is suing them because after seeing those promotions, he paid to sign up, only to discover no one was actually looking for him. Shocking, I know, but when you think about it, what's more shocking is that it's taken 13 years for someone to do it. It's a pretty clear-cut case of false advertising.Sayeth the lawsuit:
Upon logging into his Gold Membership profile in order to view the classmate contacts … Plaintiff discovered that in fact, no former classmate of his had tried to contact him or view his profile," the complaint reads. "Of those www.classmates.com users who were characterized ... as members who viewed Plaintiff's profile, none were former classmates of Plaintiff or persons familiar with or known to Plaintiff for that matter.
If approved, the suit seeks class action status.
Classmates.com User Sues; Schoolmates Weren't Really Looking for Him [WIRED]
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scams
She-Grifters Scam Granddad For $10,000+ A Month
Shaun says his 80+-year old grandfather, Steve, is being scammed out of over $10,000 a month. It seems Steve recently hired a female gardener who introduced him to a "wealthy friend," and now he's loaning them money to pay for groceries, cable, home upkeep, and, get this, bodyguards to protect her from an ex-husband and son who to want to kill her. When the family tries to intervene, Steve says the family is trying to put him in a nursing home and steal his money. Shaun is at a loss. How can he help his grandfather, who doesn't want to be helped? Shaun's story, inside... More » -
scams
Watch Out For Illegal "MB Image World" Charges On Your Bank Account
Watch out for a charge on your checking account for a charge from "MB Image World." People are complaining that the porn site, that they've never done business with or gave their account information to, is fraudulently issuing electronic check charges for $39.99. If they hit you, report the item to your bank as fraud and reverse the charges.
866-878-7962 [800notes] (Thanks to jurijuri!) (Photo: Getty)
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happy endings
Home Depot Sells You A Used Battery Pack, Manages Not To Accuse You Of Fraud
Here's a happy story from someone who bought a "Box of Crap" (this is what we call a box that looks new, but contains the wrong item or a used item, due to return fraud). Instead of accusing reader Ryan of some sort of crime, Home Depot simply issued him a gift card. Hooray! More » -
I Literally Placed My PS3 In A Scammer's Hands
Herman's tale of eBay/Paypal buyer fraud is unusual because he not only met the scammer in person, he placed his item right in the guy's hands. Here's what happened: More » -
sinowal
500,000+ Banking Passwords Stolen By Sinowal Trojan Horse, So Far
Security researchers uncovered over half a million bank account logins stolen via a sophisticated trojan horse known as Sinowal. The data goes back to 2006, an unusual longevity for a trojan horse. Not mentioned in the news reports: who's to say this is the only cache? [NYT] (Photo: Darcy McCarty) -
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scams
The FTC Will Never Ask You For Money Because You Won The Lottery. We Promise.
Apparently, some group of geniuses has been calling people and pretending that they are from the FTC. They start out with some nonsense like "Hi, I’m calling from the Federal Trade Commission to tell you that you have won $250,000…" More » -
investigations
Consumerist Attends Robert Allen's Get Rich Quick In Real Estate Seminar
I wanted to find out what Robert Allen's "get-rich-quick in real estate with no money down" promise was all about, so when I saw a full page ad in the Daily Post advertising one of his free seminars recently, I went and checked it out. I'll give you a full run-down later, but here's the quick and dirty, and what I can tell about how the darn thing seems to function. More »
8:00 PM on Wed Oct 22 2008
By Ben Popken
28,637 views, 95 commentsMost discussed proskills: So, in the name of consumerism, you paid this tool $1500 to listen to him slowly speak about something anyone more »
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scams
Despite Subprime Implosion, Robert Allen's Troops Still Pitch "Get Rich Quick In Real Estate With No Money Down"
Robert Allen promises to make you millions teaching you how to buy real estate with no money down. Unsurprisingly, Ripoffreport is littered with complaints about his company and those that use his name. Here's the story they tell: More »
7:09 PM on Tue Oct 21 2008
By Ben Popken
10,689 views, 76 comments -
French President's Bank Account Hacked
While French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been posturing as an international leader during this time of global financial crisis, thieves have been raiding his online bank account, withdrawing small amounts over an extended period of time. Just goes to show that identity theft can happen to anyone, whether or not you're important enough to have people Photoshop your love handles away. For best protection, install and keep up to date a good security program, like ESET. Only log into your bank from the main URL, never click on a link in an email that appears to be from your financial institutions. Use usernames and passwords that are a string of random letters and numbers. Write them down and hide it in a secure place, not inside of a fresh hot pain au chocolat.
Sarkozy bank account raided in internet scam [Daily Telegraph] (Photo: malias)
fraud
New York, 2:13 AM
Fri Dec 5
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