For the seventh year in a row, identity theft tops the FTC’s Annual List of Top Consumer Complaints. http://ftc.gov/opa/2007/02/topcomplaints.htm :O
accounting for 36 percent of the 674,354 complaints received between January 1 and December 31, 2006. Other categories near the top of the fraud complaint list include shop-at-home/catalog sales; prizes, sweepstakes and lotteries; Internet services and computer complaints; and Internet auction fraud.
“Consumers’ help in stopping unlawful operations is critical,” said Deborah Platt Majoras, Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. “By filing a complaint with the FTC, consumers are making information available to more than 1,600 law enforcement agencies that have access to our secure database.”
“It’s as easy as a click or a call,” she said. “The FTC has an online complaint form at FTC.gov, or consumers can reach us at 1-877-FTC-HELP.”
This one actually happened to me.
I was filling up at a gas station. A white Suburban pulled up beside me and a young guy asked if I wanted to buy some speakers – the story was something along the lines of ‘These were extra to a job and if we take them back then the boss gets to keep them’. They wanted some cash, they showed me the boxes inside and a brochure with them on – huge tower speakers – apparently the list price was in the $thousands$. If I didnt have any cash, he pointed out, the gas station conveniently had an ATM machine.
I really didnt need them, though I was tempted – the guys gave up when they realized I wasn’t up for the scam and they vanished.
At the time, I had a feeling I was being scammed, buy I wasnt sure until I saw this new story.
If this happens to you, I suggest you try and get the registration of the van and report it to your local cops.
UK Broadcaster Channel 4 faces damaging allegations that the Richard And Judy show is systematically cheating viewers out of tens of thousands of pounds in a premium-rate phone quiz scam.
The phone in number goes up and thousands of people call in on a premium rate phone number, paying £1.00 ($2.00) to enter the competition. Within 7 minutes, the winners have already been chosen and their details sent on to the show. But then, a few minutes later, a second on-screen solicitation goes out and thousands more phone in, unaware that they have no chance of winning.
The daily competition makes a healthy profit of around £1 million/year. It will be nice to see them paying all that money back.
Not Cricket, Richard!
Update Feb 24 2007
Channel 4 was warned more than two years ago in a devastating email that the Richard And Judy phone-in competition was ‘unfair’, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
The correspondence, which implicates the broadcaster in the scandal for the first time, was sent on September 15, 2004, by telephone service provider Eckoh after it won the contract to run the You Say, We Pay quiz.
Here’s the latest example of this nasty scam preying,as usual, on those members of society with probably the least to lose. The US Government, as you may not be aware, makes available 50,000 permanent resident visas annually, drawn from random selection among all entries to persons who meet strict eligibility requirements from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States.
The following warning is on the Bureau of Consular Affairs website (http://travel.state.gov)
Please Note: There have been instances of fraudulent websites posing as official U.S. Government sites. Some companies posing as the U.S. Government have sought money in order to “complete” lottery entry forms. There is no charge to download and complete the Electronic Diversity Visa Entry Form. The Department of State notifies successful Diversity Visa applicants by letter, and NOT by email. To learn more see the Department of State Warning and the Federal Trade Commission Warning. (more…)
Scamdex got a mention on BBC Radio 4s new IT programme!
The first episode, Staying secure in internet banking, discussed the increase in the number of customers banking online and the inevitable increase in the number of internet banking scams.
The presenter, Rajesh Mirchandani (pictured) discusses the problem with representatives from the UK banking trade body APACS and IT writer Rupert Goodwins and the measures banks and consumers need to take to minimise the risks.
Listen to the whole show here.