Consumerist
Posts Tagged “
Theft
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identity theft
Brooklyn Ice Cream Shop Owner Stole $25,000 From Customers
Police arrested Daniel Kaufman yesterday and charged him with identity theft and forgery for running customers' credit cards through twice and pocketing the extra money—as much as $25,000 since February, and "cops say that Kaufman also attempted to steal $70,000 more," reports the local Brooklyn Paper. Kaufman managed the Blue Pig ice cream shop as well as three other restaurants, and he took credit card slips from one business and ran them through at another. More »
identity theft
Why No Credit Card Is 100% Safe Against Fraud
It seems that there is nothing a consumer can do to completely prevent a merchant from putting an unauthorized charge through on their account. Even if that account is closed or you're using a "single-use" or "virtual" credit card, fraud-prevention cards with disposable credit card numbers that change after you use them once, you're not 100% secure. How come? Well, we'll tell ya.
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identity theft
5 Steps To Take If Your Identity Is Stolen
The website DebtConsolidationCare receives letters like this all the time, "O Heavens! I found that my master card has been stolen from my purse when I had gone to a party. Someone took out $500 from it. I found it out when I saw the billing statement. What shall I do now? What shall I do to get out of this whole thing? I am planning to close the account. What else should I do?" According to their statistics, every minute, 20 people are affected by identity theft which adds up to about 10 million a year. To help people like these, DebtConsolidationCare has put together a list of 5 steps you should take if your identity is stolen. Check out the list, inside... More »
tax evaders
Did UBS Help Rich Americans Hide Billions Of Dollars In Liechtenstein?
Following up on yesterday's story about a disgruntled computer technician who turned over the bank records from the LGT Bank of Liechtenstein, ABC News says that UBS Bank may have helped set up the secret accounts and been responsible for hiding as much as $20 billion dollars of U.S. money. More »
Stein Mart
Stein Mart Settles Personal Data Breach By Offering... Coupons
Stein Mart was caught "printing expiration dates and/or more than the last five digits of credit cards on receipts," and was subsequently hit with a class action lawsuit for exposing sensitive customer data. Now they've settled by agreeing to run coupons in local newspapers. It gets better: instead of a flat 20% off coupon, the store is requiring minimum-purchase amounts that reduce the savings if your purchase falls between the arbitrarily set thresholds.
- $10 off a purchase of $50 or more
- $20 off a purchase of $100 or more
- $30 off a purchase of $150 or more
apple
"Apple Just Gave Out My Apple ID Password Because Someone Asked"
All the security in the world can be rendered useless by human error, it seems. Marko Karppinen, a software designer, says Apple gave his password to someone who simply emailed them and asked for it. More »
american airlines
American Refunds Canceled Plane Ticket, Keeps $15 Checked Baggage Fee
American refunded Josh's airfare after canceling his flight to New York, but not his $15 checked baggage fee. Though the fee is listed in their system, American won't issue a refund unless Josh sends a formal request letter along with his baggage claim receipt to Tulsa, Oklahoma. More »
Bad Consumer
Meet The Man Who Faked Heart Attacks To Escape Dinner Bills And Cab Fares
Police arrested Robert Farnham for "habitual criminality" and "fraud on a restaurant" after his doctor reported him for faking heart attacks to avoid paying bills. The Wisconsin resident, who has been caught pulling the same routine five times this year, most recently keeled over in Applebees to avoid paying $22.66 for a "steak, salad, mashed potatoes, a soda, a strawberry smoothie and a brownie." More »
curves
Curves Leaves Working Computer Full Of Personal Information In An Office Dumpster
UPDATE: Adam has been in contact with the owners and has posted an update on his site.
Reader Adam writes in to let us know his relative found a working Dell computer in the dumpster at his office complex. It appeared to be in functional condition, so he took it home. Sure enough, it took only a bit of tweaking before it was back to working order—as a Curves Fitness employee and customer information smorgasbord.
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Google now helps catch criminals. The FBI identified a Citibank PIN thief by cross-referencing security camera footage with an ICQ handle and personal photos on ham radio enthusiasts sites. [Information Week]
chase
Chase Doesn't Encrypt Your Login Credentials?
We're not IT experts or anything, but when Chase writes that "all your account information is protected by 128-bit encryption to maintain the privacy and confidentiality of your data," shouldn't that mean a little lock icon on the browser window, and an https address? Update: Not necessarily, according to our commenters, although the lack of an https login screen does pose other security risks. More »
shopping sprees
Woman Used Dead Grandma's Credit Card To Charge Up $11,000
Melanie Schleiger is proof that credit card fraud sometimes starts at home, after she and her boyfriend were arrested last week for making 69 purchases totaling $11,715 on a credit card belonging to her grandmother, who died in 2003. The charges were discovered when the deceased woman's daughter-in-law received the bill and called the police. It's going to be an awkward Fourth of July this year! More »
Montgomery Ward
Montgomery Ward's Hacked 6 Months Ago, But Victims Weren't Told
Somewhere between 51,000 and 200,000 records were stolen from Montgomery Ward's servers last December—the company says it's the smaller number, but CardCops, the group that spotted the hack in the first place, "spotted hackers touting the sale of 200,000 payment cards belonging to one merchant" in June, which is how the story became public. Montgomery Wards knew about the breach when it happened, and although they reported the crime to federal investigators, they didn't tell any of the victims. The CEO of Direct Marketing Services, which owns the Montgomery Ward name, told the Associated Press that after he alerted investigators he felt his company "had met its obligations." More »
citibank
Here's What The World Of ATM Hacking Looks Like
Wired has been covering the ongoing investigation into recurring ATM pin thefts from Citibank accounts, and their latest article tracks how Ukrainian immigrants, a ringleader back in Russia, a hacked company named Fiserv that runs Citibank-branded ATMs in 7-Elevens, and an online payment service that also offers money laundering for a small fee all come together to steal your money. It's an amazing look at how the U.S. tries to combat the threat of ATM-related theft.
[The] undercover operation... at one point had Eastern European hackers chasing a female FBI agent through the streets of New York, trying to mug her for ATM-card-programming gear.
"Stakeouts, Lucky Breaks Snare Six More in Citibank ATM Heist" [Wired Threat Level] (Thanks to Robbie!)
(Photo: Getty)
rite-aid
Rite-Aid Made My Mom Think I Got Married Behind Her Back
Rebecca got one of those calls from her mother that everybody dreads. "Is there anything you think you should tell me?" her mother wanted to know. Rebecca's mom got a piece of junk mail with Rebecca's first name and her boyfriend's last name and was under the impression Rebecca had snuck off for a Vegas wedding. She hadn't. After Rebecca calmed her mother down, she tried to figure out how Rite-Aid, where both had worked for a time, had merged her name and her boyfriend's. When Rite-Aid gave her the run around, we advised Rebecca to try an EECB to get some answers. Read her email, inside. More »
Here's a new excuse for bad service: AT&T is being plagued by copper thieves in Tennessee. The thefts of copper cables "has caused disruptions to voice and data communications, as well as emergency calls, company officials said." [The Tennessean]
gas theft
