You must be living right. An unexpected $2,500 check with your name on it just landed in your mailbox. Come on. You know it’s too good to be true. You’ve never even heard of the company that sent it. But a greedy little part of you wants to make a run for the bank and [...]
The White House is considering a plan to beef up national home loan modification efforts to the tune of $30 billion in credit to struggling homeowners (it wants big banks to pay for it, but that’s another story). If the government gets its way, expect loan modifications to rise exponentially, but homeowners should temper their enthusiasm – [...]
The Better Business Bureau and federal authorities are warning consumers to be on their guard against fake charities trying to scam money in the name of Mississippi flood relief. While neither the BBB’s Wise Giving Alliance nor the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team released specific details on possible scams, but both issued general warnings for consumers. US-CERT [...]
If you receive an email claiming to contain photos or videos of Osama bin Laden’s death, delete it immediately. The FBI is warning computer users to be on the alert for virus-laden emails that trick consumers into opening them by promising to show images or video of bin Laden’s recent shooting by U.S. Navy SEALS in [...]
Want to work as an undercover spy fighting government misconduct? Just strap on your iPhone. City Controller Alan Butkovitz yesterday unveiled an iPhone app that allows citizens to report fraud or government misconduct directly to the controller’s fraud unit. “Our Philly WatchDog app allows citizens to play a crucial role in protecting their tax dollars [...]
Top banks, retailers and service companies have begun warning consumers to be on high alert for spoofed e-mails that may attempt to coax them into clicking on viral attachments or harmful Web links. This follows the theft of potentially millions of individual customer names and e-mail addresses from Epsilon, a Dallas-based firm that provides e-mail [...]
Spring is finally here, meaning a lot of people are yearning for a quick getaway, and students are planning spring break or graduation trips. So it’s wise to remember travel scams cost consumers $12 billion annually, according to the National Association of Attorneys General, and the Better Business Bureau fields thousands of complaints about the travel industry [...]
Could playing video games give someone access to your credit card? It happened to one local family thanks to a hacker.
In the wake of Japan’s quake crisis, many Americans are eager to help. But they must be aware of scammers seeking to take advantage of them. The Federal Bureau of Investigation said they are already investigating one potential scheme where fraudsters misrepresent themselves as the British Red Cross and seek donations in the form of [...]
Anonymous, a hacker group sympathetic to WikiLeaks, plans to release e-mails obtained from Bank of America Corp early Monday morning, according to posts on the group’s Twitter feed. The group, unrelated to the document leak website founded by Julian Assange, said it plans to release documents exposing “corruption and fraud” at the largest U.S. bank [...]
Spending money wisely, from home repair to shopping
