Michael Finney's Consumer Blog

Has your Best Buy account been hacked?

Our friends over at The Consumerist are asking this question: Has your Best Buy account been hacked? "Have phantom orders been placed using your Best Buy website account that you had nothing to do with? Since the wee hours of this morning, we've heard from two separate readers who write that their accounts and credit cards were used to order downloadable content that was delivered to another person's email address."

Details --> http://consumerist.com/2012/05/has-your-best-buy-account-been-hacked.html

 

Fake bills going out to Verizon customers

The Daily Globe says, “Verizon customers are receiving fake emails almost identical to the real alerts many customers get to remind them of monthly payments, according to the Better Business Bureau”.

Story here --> http://www.dglobe.com/event/article/id/56917/

Timeshare scam is really catching on

If you own a timeshare the bad guys know it and you have a target on your back. There is a good chance you will get a phone call from an 'agent' saying they have a buyer for your timeshare. If you are interested they will send you a contract. What you get in the mail is a contract but also a bilk for the 'agents' time. All you need to do is hand over your credit card number. If you fall for this con, the 'agent' will charge your card and you'll never hear from them again. Posted here later today, what your timeshare is really worth.

Facebook scam involves girl on beach

New Facebook scam offers a video and this come on: Look what this girl is wearing at the beach in front of thousands of people! Don’t fall for that line, it is a scam!  

Watch out for phony charges on your cellphone

Have your received a text asking you to join a service. Any service? Uh-oh! There are companies out there sending out text sneak attacks. Just for not responding they figure you want to subscribe to their bogus services and charge you five or ten bucks a month! Check your mobile phone bills very carefully.

Don't get fooled by job scam

 The Federal Trade Commission is going after companies promising federal jobs to the unemployed. The Commission says it has found companies posting job listing for "Postal Jobs," "Wildlife Jobs," "Border Patrol". Here's the federal government's official web site: http://www.usajobs.gov/

Three consumer protection rules to follow

Celebrate National Consumer Protection week by following these three rules.

1) Avoid wiring money. Half the scams count on you wiring cash.

2) Don’t respond to messages that ask for personal financial information.

3) If a 'friend' emails asking for money, don’t respond. It is probably a scam.

Social Security is no Ponzi scheme

Love Social Security or hate it. Broaden the program or end it. Those decisions I'll leave up to others, but as a consumer reporter well versed in scams, let me assure you Social Security is no Ponzi scheme. That claim has been made since the first Social Security check was mailed out in January 1940. It is a claim that 71 years of history disproves. The Ponzi scheme is named after Charles Ponzi, a self promoter and criminal. He set up a business that paid early investors with money from recent investors, while he was scraping off huge profits for himself. There was no real business, it was simply a criminal enterprise hidden behind layers of lies.  Social Security on the other hand was born of the democratic process. It has been debated in public forums and changed many times. Benefits have gone up and benefits have gone down. Payments into the system have risen and fallen too. All of these decisions were made through the democratic process. If as a people we choose to end the program, that too will be a testament to our American belief in democracy. It won't be because Social Security collapsed as a Ponzi scheme.

Why you can't trust social media reviews

Ever notice that all the businesses reviewed by "people just like you and me" are all above average? How could that be? Many are made up, and now the problems is only going to get worse as business owners stop faking their own reviews and hire marketers to do it for them. 

>>The NY TImes lays all the dirty little details right here

North American timeshare scam

Timeshare rip off artists are getting busted. More will take their place. Here is how the scam worked once... And will work again.

>>Read the article at miamiherald.com