Consumer Fraud Archive

Applying for College? Take Notes on Westwood College Lawsuit

August 24th, 2010. By AbiK

Here’s a little tale of a consumer fraud class action lawsuit for you…

Girl finishes high school.

Girl wants to go to college.

Girl wants to be first in family to go to college.

Girl visits Westwood College in Denver, Colorado.

Girl wowed by representative at Westwood College.

Girl really wowed when told she’d be making $65k in fashion career upon graduation.

Girl signs on.

Girl takes out loans.

Girl graduates. In debt.

Girl makes $12 an hour as a bank teller.

Girl not happy.

Actually, girl pissed.

Ahh, the joys of the college go-see. The pre-admissions promises made. The distinguished alumni stories told. The bullshit, quite frankly. Not that you don’t leave most colleges with an education and a diploma in the end—and let’s face it, try getting a higher paying job without that little slip of paper. But my heart goes out to this girl—who happens to be Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Class Action, College Recruiting, Consumer Fraud, Krystle Bernal, Westwood College
Posted in Class Action, Consumer Fraud, Emerging Issues | 2 Comments »

Parent Alert: Guard Your Children’s Social Security Numbers

August 18th, 2010. By AbiK

Every parent knows that in the midst of all the anticipation of that joyous little bundle…that new addition to the family…there’s someone at the hospital pushing papers in front of you that you’ll need to sign in order to secure a social security number for your not-even-born-yet child. They sort of tell you it’s a “convenience”—that it’ll save you the hassle of applying for a social security number for your child later. And you think, “Wow, that’s great how they just handle everything at the hospital!”

And it is. Until you read the latest news on a growing identity theft tactic that targets children’s social security numbers.

At first, it seems a bit odd—why go after a child’s social security number? After all, there isn’t even any credit history associated with it. But that’s just the point…it’s got super-clean credit. And it’s also unlikely to be used or needed for quite a few years. So why not “borrow” it?

See, it used to be that credit and identity thieves would try things like applying for credit with a Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Identity Theft, Social Security
Posted in Consumer Fraud | No Comments »

Campaign for Safe Cosmetics Video – Real Issues or Just Hype?

August 17th, 2010. By AbiK

Ok, it’s now big enough and viral enough that Cosmetics Design has even reported on it…

The Story of Stuff’s latest video on youtube.com, “The Story of Cosmetics” (above, and yes, it’s eight minutes long), has already gotten over 203,000 views. It’s not only timely because it was released on July 21st, but also because it basically rides on the coattails of the recently introduced in Congress Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010. The Act states that it will give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authority to ensure that personal care products are free of harmful ingredients.

A long time coming, yes. Heck, no one wants to put questionable ingredients or suspected carcinogens on their faces or the skin of their loved ones (I’m talking infants here, not massage lotions).

But while cosmetics industry groups—such as the Personal Care Products Council (PCPC)—have also called for more stringent controls on cosmetic ingredients, the PCPC has dubbed “The Story of Cosmetics” a “shockumentary”.

What do you make of it?

Tags: Cosmetic Ingredients, FDA, Safe Cosmetics Act
Posted in Consumer Fraud, Drugs/Medical, Personal Injury | 2 Comments »

How New Overdraft Protection Rules Don’t Protect You

August 16th, 2010. By Kristine B

So as of August 15, new banking regulations went into effect for overdraft protection—meaning you are no longer automatically opted-in for overdraft protection. That’s good news, because it could save you some money. The bad news is that the protection doesn’t extend to ALL overdraft transactions. Making matters worse, some banks (okay, many banks) are trying to convince customers to sign up for overdraft protection. Because this is the first week for the new overdraft protection regulations, this week’s Pleading Ignorance looks at the new regulations, how they affect you and why banks still want you to sign up.

First, though, what is overdraft protection? Overdraft protection is a way of allowing a customer’s transaction to proceed even if the customer doesn’t have enough money in his account for that transaction. If you buy a $10 lunch but only have $5 in your account, without overdraft protection that transaction will be denied. But if you have overdraft protection, the bank will authorize the payment.

The catch, though, is that overdraft protection can be expensive—up to $35 per transaction. So, that $10 lunch winds up costing you $45. Worse, you may not realize you were enrolled in overdraft protection. Some banks automatically enroll customers in the program. So you might have expected that the transaction would be denied (hopefully, you have a back-up plan for payment) but it was approved—complete with fees.

Making matters worse is that the banks have been accused of reordering Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Excessive Overdraft Fees, Pleading Ignorance
Posted in Consumer Fraud, Pleading Ignorance | 1 Comment »

Winner of Lowest Expedia.com Settlement Check Contest!

August 10th, 2010. By AbiK

Congratulations to Gabe from Virginia!

Gabe is the lucky winner of our “Who Has the Lowest Expedia Settlement Check?” Contest!

Our contest ended July 31, 2010—and with a settlement check of One Hundred Thirteen cents (it just sounds better than $1.13, no?), Gabe takes the prize.*

(*yes, we did have a lower check amount, but the person who had it, while gleeful about winning, declined to receive the prize.)

No, his settlement amount won’t buy him that dream vacation—booked, of course, at Expedia.com—but now Gabe can head over to the local dollar store, find one item to purchase, and pay for it—Virginia state sales tax included—and still have 8¢ left over! If I may be so bold, I’d like to suggest the large Popcorn Tub from Dollar Tree (assuming they’re in VA) at right—it’ll help create the perfect ambiance for Gabe as he’s enjoying his prize for being our lucky winner…

The Prize…

A 4-DVD set of the Greatest Whistleblower Movies of All-Time (according to us) including Serpico, Silkwood, The Insider, and Erin Brockovich.

So Congratulations to Gabe—we hope you enjoy a few good ‘movie nights’ on us!

And for the rest of you…stay tuned—you never know when you might just be a lucky winner in one of our contests…

Tags: Expedia Settlement, Expedia.com, Whistleblower
Posted in Contest, Settlement | No Comments »