‘Tis the season for scams. Scammers are everywhere – from drive-by home repairs to online shopping, travel services to U.S. Senators – and they are all looking for ways to separate you from your hard-earned money. So now that the holidays are winding down and you have a few minutes, check out this sampler of scams, so you don’t become a victim.
E-COMMERCE
Just before Thanksgiving, Sen. Jay Rockefeller released a Senate Report on e-commerce scams. While he was trying to prevent people falling for this scam, his warning may be more important now, when the credit card bills are starting to come in.
Rockefeller’s report, Aggressive Sales Tactics on the Internet and Their Impact on American Consumers, focuses on a controversial practice known as post-transaction marketing, a sales tactic that "charges millions of American consumers for services the consumers do not want and do not understand they have purchased."
Background: hundreds of well known e-commerce companies add post transaction marketing offers to consumers immediately after something is purchased on the site. Consumers are usually offered cash back if they just hit a confirmation button. But when they do, their credit card information is automatically passed through to a marketing company that signs them up for a credit card subscription to a package of useless services. The "rebate" is rarely paid.
Most of these are recurring charges and, according to thousands of consumer complaints it is almost impossible to stop them or get your money back. And when Rockefeller says millions of dollars, he means millions of dollars. According to the report:
Eighty-eight e-commerce companies have earned more than $1 million through using these tactics, including 19 that have made more than $10 million. Classmates.com has made more than $70 million using these controversial practices.
The complete company list is included in the report, but for your convenience, here are the companies that have earned more than $10 million this year scamming their customers:
1-800-Flowers | Expedia | InQ | RedcatsUSA |
buy.com | Fandango | Inetllius | Shutterfly |
classmates.com | FTC | MovieTickets.com |
Travelocity |
Columbia House | Orbitz | US Airways | Hotels.com |
Confi-check | Hotwire | Priceline | VistaPrint |
And here are a
just a few of the others that have gained more than a million dollars this year using this scam:
1-800 PetMeds, Allegiant Air, AllPosters, American Greetings, Avon, Barnes & Noble, Bizrate, Cheap Tickets, Choice Hotels, CollectionsEtc, Continental Air, Digital River, Dr. Leonard’s, drugstore.com, eHarmony, eTix, eToys, Fareportal, FragranceNet, Gamestop, Gevalia, Haband, Half.com, Hanover Direct, Hertz, J.C. Whitney, Joann.com, Lillian Vernon, Miles Kimball, Musicnotes, Pizza Hut, Potpourri, Tiger Direct, TimeLife, True Credit, US Search, Victoria’s Secret, Yahoo
So what can you do? If you have done business online with any of these companies, or you have encountered something similar at checkout:
- Register a complaint with the company you were buying from. Demand that the sale be rescinded. Don’t be surprised if they say they can’t do anything about it. Talk to their superior. The vendor can do something about the charge.
- Check your credit card statements carefully. If any of these charges appear, do not pay them. Instead, fine a formal fraud complaint with your credit card company, asking that they investigate and remove the charge.
- Complain to the third-party vendor, with copies to the Senate Finance Committee and the Better Business Bureau.
If you need some help explaining what has happened, check out this article on TechCrunch, which explains how the scam works.
CLIMATE CHANGE DENIERS
Poor Jim Inhofe – he has become the poster boy for many of the excesses and obdurance of the GOP. He is the embodiment of George Santayana’s oft-misquoted remark "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," Granted Inhofe, a strict Bible literalist, only has 6,000 years of history to learn from, but he doesn’t seem to be making any progress, even with that limited scope.
Inhofe has cultivated his status as the leading denier of climate change in the U.S. Congress. From making idiotic statements to calling for insane legislation, he has polished his image as a denier. With the Copenhagen Climate Conference, Inhofe decided to go international. For weeks in the run-up to the conference, he proclaimed that he would take a "truth squad," complete with "secret members," to the conference to present his "alternate viewpoint" on climate change.
In the end, no one else needed the extra Crazy Credentials, the "secret member" turned out to be the invisible man, and the "squad" was just Inhofe; the conference presentations became a single press conference attended by about seven reporters, including a reporter from the German paper Der Speigel who told Inhofe, "You’re ridiculous." Apparently needing to renew his Ugly American status, Inhofe flew to Copenhagen and spent about 3 hours trying to annoy people get someone to meet with him and being ignored before returning to Washington to obstruct healthcare legislation.
But Inhofe is getting help on understanding global climate change from Mother Nature. Last Wednesday – less than a week after his failed trip to disrupt the Copenhagen Climate Conference – as he (and millions of other people) were trying to get home for Christmas, she paid Oklahoma a call. The blizzard, which lasted for 3 days in parts of the state, set records for snowfall in most of the towns in the state. Local highways in Oklahoma City and Tulsa were closed, as was I-40 in the eastern half of the state, I-35 South, and the Oklahoma City airport.
I have to admit, while I wouldn’t wish travel problems on most people, the thought of Inhofe sitting for two days in O’Hare trying to get a flight into Oklahoma mad me chuckle for days.
HOLIDAY SCAMS
There are lots of scams working during the holidays. Im nonpartisan describes a bank scam in Fraud and Scam Alert. HRCDemographic4Obama diaries about another bank fraud and in a very interesting comment in that diary, telephone switching engineer G2Geek explains how easy these frauds are to execute.
Consumer affairs has links to dozens of current scam alerts here.
Tonight’s Top Comments . . .
From Emeraldmaiden:
Yeah, the thread, started by yogipohaku, is kinda gross, but funny!
From Cedwyn:
This comment from dmhlt 66 is teh awesome.
From sardonyx:
In Jeffrey Feldman's thought-provoking diary, "Corporatism", VerbalMedia posits that government control of business tends to lead to business control of government, and offers some thoughts on solving this problem.
arielle is quite sure that the Americans for Tax Reform, and its president Grover Norquist, is our enemy, and has the citations to prove it.
mole333 notes a certain pattern on the left.
From PerfectStormer:
Homogenius educates us all on the important things in life (booze), and does so with flair, style, and dare I say it, genius.
From me:
CarolynC967 has an excellent analysis of our present problem and future prospects in Ligero1's diary, How the Democrats Actually succeded in Squanerng a Movement.
Into the Woods has a great description of the dileneation between corporatism and ourpoltical parties and their members, in Jeffrey Feldman's excellent diary, Corporatism.
Tonight’s Top Mojo, courtesy of Sardonyx. . . .
Top Mojo (cskendrick/sardonyx-style) excluding search-identifiable tip jars and first diary comments:
1) If you get a chance, follow the link and read the by funluvn1 — 162
2) Can there be any less patriotic act than... by markthshark — 140
3) I've Written My Own Letter by bink — 108
4) Spot the Republican by JekyllnHyde — 99
5) And to all our friends at Fox News... by Hlinko — 96
6) I wonder if Jane is done for... by joedemocrat — 81
7) That Obama is corrupt and should be impeached? by Clem Yeobright — 77
8) OK, this was tough for me by ShadowSD — 76
9) she has her syncophants. The gravitate to by Phthalo — 71
10) America became a police state by FishOutofWater — 70
11) to the corporate media by Turkana — 69
12) Thank you. by AndyT — 68
13) You know there's lots of surprises in store for by Nulwee — 67
14) Sounds like a model for 'disappearing' by Halcyon — 66
15) and the FireBaggers have arrived by Cedwyn — 64
16) The Answer... Though by JekyllnHyde — 63
17) You have to put FUCKING in your title by KateCrashes — 63
18) Hey, let's see what's on PBS... by Horsefeathers — 63
19) FDR had 68 Democratic Senators and a number of by Catzmaw — 62
20) What a great overview by mem from somerville — 61
21) If only the cable news by christine20 — 61
22) I think we need to work harder for Bipartisanship by dmhlt 66 — 58
23) You Too, Shiz? ;) by JekyllnHyde — 57
24) Stop the jest, this is not funny. by Nena20409 — 56
25) The Pentagon Hasn't as Yet by JekyllnHyde — 56
26) The allegations at FDL today are at the President by Clem Yeobright — 55
27) "You people" by TomP — 55
28) Oh yeah!!! by dirkster42 — 55
29) I am so upset about this, markthshark by noweasels — 53
30) I argued agaisnt the Norquist letter.It was clear by BlatantLiberal — 52
31) Hi completely random unrelated comment-maker by Nulwee — 52
32) Vivian crosses the Rainbow Bridge by KelleyRN2 — 52
Top Mojo with No Exclusions:
1) Tip Jar by funluvn1 — 490
2) Tip Jar by French Imp — 405
3) they're trying to divide and conquer by Turkana — 327
4) Tip Jar by Lets Breakthrough — 302
5) Sarah Foxwell, 11 by noweasels — 282
6) Tip Jar by Meteor Blades — 247
7) Tip Jar by Jeffrey Feldman — 238
8) Tip Jar by Hlinko — 208
9) Tip Jar by Deoliver47 — 188
10) Tip Jar by TomP — 179
11) If you get a chance, follow the link and read the by funluvn1 — 162
12) Tip Jar by calchala — 144
13) Can there be any less patriotic act than... by markthshark — 140
14) Tip Jar by Troutfishing — 125
15) Tip Jar by Frederick Clarkson — 122
16) I've Written My Own Letter by bink — 108
17) Spot the Republican by JekyllnHyde — 99
18) And to all our friends at Fox News... by Hlinko — 96
19) Scritchie Jar by triciawyse — 83
20) I wonder if Jane is done for... by joedemocrat — 81
21) That Obama is corrupt and should be impeached? by Clem Yeobright — 77
22) I LOVE the hate mail-apalooza! by kissfan — 76
23) OK, this was tough for me by ShadowSD — 76
24) tip jar by Stranded Wind — 75
25) she has her syncophants. The gravitate to by Phthalo — 71
26) Tip Jar by Julie Gulden — 71
27) America became a police state by FishOutofWater — 70
28) A Pootie Wedding in the Old Country by JekyllnHyde — 69
29) to the corporate media by Turkana — 69
30) Thank you. by AndyT — 68