By Hailey Higgins, Local News 8 Reporter
IDAHO FALLS - The top headlines for the past several days are the swine flu outbreak. It seems to be catching the attention of everyone, including scammers.
The Idaho Falls Better Business Bureau (BBB) said scammers are offering a vaccine for the swine flu, but there isn't one.
If you just go online and Google swine flu, you'll see it. The scam is a swine flu vaccine offered by CanadaPharmacy.com.
The BBB said scammers are preying off people's fear of the swine flu.
"They are going have that panic attack and they are going to try to do everything they can to try to protect themselves. And again, these are not the remedies this is not a cure. They are wasting their money," said Donna Oe, BBB Spokesperson.
It is very dangerous to buy medication over the internet; you just can't be sure what you're getting.
If you have flu-like symptoms, talk to your doctor and get a prescription from a pharmacist.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
shopper scam,,, again
By Danielle Grant, Local News 8 Reporter
IDAHO FALLS - It's nothing new, scammers going to great lengths to swindle you out of your own hard-earned cash.
Some are blaming the rough economy and payday lenders agree, they're seeing many more fraudulent checks coming into their doors.
A local couple with a check totaling close to $5,000 found out it's all a scam.
The Check 'N Loan store says they see bad checks at least once a week.
And the check the Espinosa family received was no different. It's a classic "too good to be true" offer nearly any woman would love: getting paid to go shopping.
"What woman wouldn't want to be a mystery shopper and get free stuff," said Dianna Espinosa.
Dianna got a check in the mail for $4,984 but after reading the letter along with it, things began to look a little fishy.
"[I thought] this is awesome. This seems too good to be true. This is almost $5,000 dollars and these people don't even know who I am," she said.
Although suspicious, she took it to Check N' Loan where they called the Bank of Easton to verify money was there.
"We didn't even get two words out and the bank said, ‘Is the check for this amount of money? Then its fraud.' We didn't even have a chance to confirm the funds, they automatically knew," Melanie Rhodes, a Check ‘N Loan teller, explained.
They've seen stacks of cases just like Dianna's come in: all fraudulent.
Dianna even tried to get the company on phone with us but all we heard was a disconnected signal.
Dianna believes these scammers target the weak.
Her husband's on social-security and she's looking for a job.
"With the check looking so real, I thought maybe they'll give me a shot at this. I'll get a steady income," Dianna explained.
Spending someone else's money and getting paid for it; sounds good but probably is too good to be true.
If you do get scammed and you cash a fraudulent check, you are then responsible for it and have to pay that money back.
If you don't pay, you could face felony forgery charges and end up behind bars.
Most of these types of scammers are beyond our borders so it makes prosecuting them more difficult.
If you think you may have been scammed, make sure to always call your local police department to report what happened.
IDAHO FALLS - It's nothing new, scammers going to great lengths to swindle you out of your own hard-earned cash.
Some are blaming the rough economy and payday lenders agree, they're seeing many more fraudulent checks coming into their doors.
A local couple with a check totaling close to $5,000 found out it's all a scam.
The Check 'N Loan store says they see bad checks at least once a week.
And the check the Espinosa family received was no different. It's a classic "too good to be true" offer nearly any woman would love: getting paid to go shopping.
"What woman wouldn't want to be a mystery shopper and get free stuff," said Dianna Espinosa.
Dianna got a check in the mail for $4,984 but after reading the letter along with it, things began to look a little fishy.
"[I thought] this is awesome. This seems too good to be true. This is almost $5,000 dollars and these people don't even know who I am," she said.
Although suspicious, she took it to Check N' Loan where they called the Bank of Easton to verify money was there.
"We didn't even get two words out and the bank said, ‘Is the check for this amount of money? Then its fraud.' We didn't even have a chance to confirm the funds, they automatically knew," Melanie Rhodes, a Check ‘N Loan teller, explained.
They've seen stacks of cases just like Dianna's come in: all fraudulent.
Dianna even tried to get the company on phone with us but all we heard was a disconnected signal.
Dianna believes these scammers target the weak.
Her husband's on social-security and she's looking for a job.
"With the check looking so real, I thought maybe they'll give me a shot at this. I'll get a steady income," Dianna explained.
Spending someone else's money and getting paid for it; sounds good but probably is too good to be true.
If you do get scammed and you cash a fraudulent check, you are then responsible for it and have to pay that money back.
If you don't pay, you could face felony forgery charges and end up behind bars.
Most of these types of scammers are beyond our borders so it makes prosecuting them more difficult.
If you think you may have been scammed, make sure to always call your local police department to report what happened.
credit score disputes...
Everybody makes mistakes. But not every mistake is forgiven. In our capitalist society, mistakes with money are carefully logged, categorized and entered into a formula that controls your financial future -- your credit score.
But what happens when the companies that keep this list make mistakes? After all, the credit bureaus -- which keep the list of who's been naughty and who's been nice -- are staffed by people who are just as fallible as the rest of us. Theirs is a complicated business. They keep track of billions of pieces of information. Mistakes do happen.
Unfortunately, complaining about mistakes on your credit report can be one of the most maddening experiences a consumer can have. Erasing an unfair black mark on your credit history after a bout with identity theft or a run-in with a malicious company can turn into an odyssey worthy of a Kafka novel. That's why the first installment of our "How to Complain About" series takes on this most vexing of consumer issues.
The credit report is composed of voluntary submissions by companies that you do business with. Those companies are called "furnishers." A credit card company is a furnisher. So is a furniture store where you bought a living room set from on credit; so is a car dealership. As you might imagine, your credit report is only as accurate as the furnishers who contribute information about you. Their quality control measures vary widely.
There are many reasons a mistake might find its way onto your credit report. Perhaps a furnisher forgot to give you credit when you paid your final bill. Perhaps someone impersonated you, and didn't pay their bills. Perhaps a furnisher made a data entry error when submitting updates, and accidentally blamed you for someone else's unpaid bill. Or perhaps you and a creditor have a real difference of opinion about a debt it says you owe.
In most arenas of life, if someone makes false statements about you that cost you money or reputation, you can sue for libel. That's not true in the credit reporting system, however. Decades ago, Congress granted furnishers general immunity from libel lawsuits. That gives them less incentive to be impeccably accurate when they send data to the credit bureaus.
Credit report mistakes range from inconsequential misspellings to wrongful reports of debt defaults that prevent the victim from ever borrowing money. Credit reports are notoriously inaccurate, though it's hard to say with precision how many reports have errors, as the credit bureaus keep that secret. But studies by third parties have found error rates as high as 25 percent. A small pilot study conducted by the Federal Trade Commission recently showed that 16 percent of consumer reports contained errors that would impact a consumer’s credit score. The credit bureaus, which compile and sell the credit reports, told Congress in 2004 that the error frequency is much smaller -- only 3 percent -- but that would still impact nearly 6 million Americans.
So it's entirely possible you'll find yourself battling a credit bureau about a mistake at some point in your adult life.
Dispute process is bornDecades ago, it was almost impossible to see the contents of your credit report and to fix mistakes. In response to an avalanche of complaints, Congress set up a formal dispute process when it passed an update to Fair Credit Reporting Act in 1997. In that law , Congress mandated that consumers be given a fair trial when they believe something inaccurate is being reported. It requires the nation's credit bureaus -- Equifax, Experian, Trans Union and the smaller regional bureaus -- to take evidence from consumers, evidence from furnishers and decide who is right.
Unfortunately, this process has been turned into something of a kangaroo court. In a recent report called "Automated Injustice," the National Consumer Law Center described the disheartening procedures that are now in place.
Consumers who initiate disputes often send in pages of documentation supporting their claims. But in many cases, the paperwork is sent overseas to places like Mumbai, India, for cursory processing, the law center reported. There, employees work under tight quota and bonus systems. Subcontractors for Equifax, for example, must resolve more than 13 disputes every hour, or about one every four minutes, according to the report.
So, according to the report, the paperwork is almost always ignored and the complaint boiled down to a two-or three digit code. About one-third of the time, that code indicates simply that the consumers claims the credit blemish is "not his/hers." This code is then sent to furnisher, which is asked simply to affirm the original entry. If it does, the bureau will often decide that the case is closed.
The National Consumer Law Center doesn’t mince words when describing this procedure.
"The FCRA dispute process has become a travesty of justice," it said in the report.
How can you get around this travesty? It's not easy. But as is typical of most consumer protection disputes, there are two keys: persistence and the threat of a lawsuit. If your dispute process hits a serious snag along the way, you'll probably have to consider filing a lawsuit. But to win, you have to prove more than a simple mistake occurred. You'll have to prove the bureau, or the furnisher, were negligent. The mere threat of a lawsuit might gain you satisfaction, but you'll have an empty threat if you don't have good records showing the bureau and furnisher ignored your repeated requests for justice.
Maintaining your rights to sue, and building a good case along the way just in case, are critical to a successful dispute with the credit bureaus, says attorney Chi Chi Wu, who authored the “Automated Injustice” report. Much of the advice she gives has a dual purpose: to win the dispute, but also to preserve legal rights and create a lawsuit-ready paper trail, just in case. Here are some of the steps she recommends.
1. Request a review in writingAll three credit bureaus allow you to dispute errors using online forms.
• EXPERIAN http://www.experian.com/disputes/• EQUIFAX http://www.equifax.com/online-credit-dispute/• TRANS UNION http://annualcreditreport.transunion.com/entry/disputeonline
Wu says using them is a big mistake. The forms only help the bureaus steer your issue into one of their dispute "buckets," helping the agency automate your claim. It also means you'll have less of a paper trail to demonstrate negligence later on. Wu strongly recommends that consumers use old fashioned U.S. mail to file their complaints and send the letter return-receipt requested. And naturally, keep good records of all contact with a credit bureau. At this point, buying a shiny new notebook for just this purpose is a good idea.
• EQUIFAX mailing address• TRANS UNION mailing address• EXPERIAN No link. Address will be on credit report.
And while all three companies provide a simple form to fill out with dispute information, Wu recommends adding narrative detail and supporting documents anyway – again, to prevent the bureaus from “bucketing” you. That will help a lawyer make a case later than the bureau didn't perform even the most basic investigation.
It's always good to send the dispute to all three bureaus. While the reports can differ, the reports generally overlap and a black mark on one report usually becomes a black mark on all three. So while there may only be one bill in dispute, you probably have three disputes on your hands.
2. Also notify the furnisherIt seems reasonable that the credit bureau would send a copy of your dispute to the company that's involved, but don't count on. Send a separate, return-receipt-requested letter to the company that claims you didn't pay your bill. A carbon copy version of your dispute letter to the credit bureau should be sufficient.
3. Be ready for surprising account numbersWhen tracking a credit bureau entry, it's likely that your "bad debt" will have an unfamiliar account number next to it. Companies often assign new numbers to accounts that go into default. Also, when debts are sold to debt collectors, they usually give an account its own number. For example, a dispute involving a furniture store account No. 345234 might end up listed on your credit report as Joey's Collections No. 432432. When filing dispute letters, including all possible account numbers. That cuts down on possible confusion -- or legal squirming -- later on. For example, a consumer might send a letter saying, "Please delete account No. 345234, and the bureau might "agree" to the request while doing nothing, and leaving the unpaid bill under the other account number.
4. Tell them where to goThis step might sound presumptive, but Wu suggests that the consumer explicitly recommend the steps that the credit bureau should take to investigate the matter. For example, if you've spoken to an operator at a furnisher who admits an error, tell the credit bureau to call that furnisher and interview that operator. The bureau may not do this, but this inclusion could help a lawyer at a later date persuade a judge that the bureau didn't take even the most obvious steps to resolve the dispute.
5. Discredit the furnisherA little legal legwork can help make your case, too. If there is evidence that the furnisher involved in your dispute has a reputation for complaints of inaccuracy, include that evidence in your letter. This will help build the case that the bureau should not have presumed the furnisher was accurate.
Other adviceIt might seem natural to complain directly to the furnisher of the information rather than the credit bureaus. However, the original Fair Credit Reporting Act granted no legal rights for to consumers to do so, and steered all complaints to the credit bureau dispute process. That limitation is changing. The Fair and Accurate Transaction Act of 2003 includes provisions calling for "direct disputes" with furnishers, though the Federal Trade Commission has yet to issue formal guidelines for the process. They should appear soon; public commentary on proposed rules was entertained by the agency last year.
In the meantime, consumers can try a direct dispute, but should only do so after completing the dispute process with the credit bureaus and getting an answer. Skipping the bureau process would force a consumer to surrender their rights to sue the furnisher, Wu says.
Even before the final rules are determined, Congress spelled out a few specifics in its 2003 law. Send a letter to the furnisher demanding a “reinvestigation” of the debt. Ask for all paperwork documenting the debt. Like the credit bureaus, the furnishers will be required to supply a response within 45 days. If none is forthcoming, the debt must be removed from the credit file. Even if a response arrives, it's entirely possible the company will not be able to produce detailed records documenting the debt, which would also enable a request for removal of information.
In advance of the FTC rules, consumers may not have the right to sue companies for non-compliance. But the process can work anyway, and stronger consumer rights should arrive soon.
Finally, if either the bureau or the furnisher isn't playing ball, a lawsuit is the consumer's last resort. Credit report dispute cases are highly specialized, and it's generally best to use a lawyer who specializes in these cases, Wu said. A list can be found at the National Association of Consumer Advocates Web site, www.naca.net.
There aren't nearly as many FCRA experts as there are credit report disputes, however, so some consumers may be frustrated by their inability to interest a lawyer in their case. That's why the previous five steps are so important. Lawyers love plaintiffs who are well-prepared with the right documentation and arrive with what amounts to an open-and-shut case. It's not necessarily fair, but it's true: Consumers who think like a lawyer from step one are much more likely to get justice, and a clean credit report, in the end.
But what happens when the companies that keep this list make mistakes? After all, the credit bureaus -- which keep the list of who's been naughty and who's been nice -- are staffed by people who are just as fallible as the rest of us. Theirs is a complicated business. They keep track of billions of pieces of information. Mistakes do happen.
Unfortunately, complaining about mistakes on your credit report can be one of the most maddening experiences a consumer can have. Erasing an unfair black mark on your credit history after a bout with identity theft or a run-in with a malicious company can turn into an odyssey worthy of a Kafka novel. That's why the first installment of our "How to Complain About" series takes on this most vexing of consumer issues.
The credit report is composed of voluntary submissions by companies that you do business with. Those companies are called "furnishers." A credit card company is a furnisher. So is a furniture store where you bought a living room set from on credit; so is a car dealership. As you might imagine, your credit report is only as accurate as the furnishers who contribute information about you. Their quality control measures vary widely.
There are many reasons a mistake might find its way onto your credit report. Perhaps a furnisher forgot to give you credit when you paid your final bill. Perhaps someone impersonated you, and didn't pay their bills. Perhaps a furnisher made a data entry error when submitting updates, and accidentally blamed you for someone else's unpaid bill. Or perhaps you and a creditor have a real difference of opinion about a debt it says you owe.
In most arenas of life, if someone makes false statements about you that cost you money or reputation, you can sue for libel. That's not true in the credit reporting system, however. Decades ago, Congress granted furnishers general immunity from libel lawsuits. That gives them less incentive to be impeccably accurate when they send data to the credit bureaus.
Credit report mistakes range from inconsequential misspellings to wrongful reports of debt defaults that prevent the victim from ever borrowing money. Credit reports are notoriously inaccurate, though it's hard to say with precision how many reports have errors, as the credit bureaus keep that secret. But studies by third parties have found error rates as high as 25 percent. A small pilot study conducted by the Federal Trade Commission recently showed that 16 percent of consumer reports contained errors that would impact a consumer’s credit score. The credit bureaus, which compile and sell the credit reports, told Congress in 2004 that the error frequency is much smaller -- only 3 percent -- but that would still impact nearly 6 million Americans.
So it's entirely possible you'll find yourself battling a credit bureau about a mistake at some point in your adult life.
Dispute process is bornDecades ago, it was almost impossible to see the contents of your credit report and to fix mistakes. In response to an avalanche of complaints, Congress set up a formal dispute process when it passed an update to Fair Credit Reporting Act in 1997. In that law , Congress mandated that consumers be given a fair trial when they believe something inaccurate is being reported. It requires the nation's credit bureaus -- Equifax, Experian, Trans Union and the smaller regional bureaus -- to take evidence from consumers, evidence from furnishers and decide who is right.
Unfortunately, this process has been turned into something of a kangaroo court. In a recent report called "Automated Injustice," the National Consumer Law Center described the disheartening procedures that are now in place.
Consumers who initiate disputes often send in pages of documentation supporting their claims. But in many cases, the paperwork is sent overseas to places like Mumbai, India, for cursory processing, the law center reported. There, employees work under tight quota and bonus systems. Subcontractors for Equifax, for example, must resolve more than 13 disputes every hour, or about one every four minutes, according to the report.
So, according to the report, the paperwork is almost always ignored and the complaint boiled down to a two-or three digit code. About one-third of the time, that code indicates simply that the consumers claims the credit blemish is "not his/hers." This code is then sent to furnisher, which is asked simply to affirm the original entry. If it does, the bureau will often decide that the case is closed.
The National Consumer Law Center doesn’t mince words when describing this procedure.
"The FCRA dispute process has become a travesty of justice," it said in the report.
How can you get around this travesty? It's not easy. But as is typical of most consumer protection disputes, there are two keys: persistence and the threat of a lawsuit. If your dispute process hits a serious snag along the way, you'll probably have to consider filing a lawsuit. But to win, you have to prove more than a simple mistake occurred. You'll have to prove the bureau, or the furnisher, were negligent. The mere threat of a lawsuit might gain you satisfaction, but you'll have an empty threat if you don't have good records showing the bureau and furnisher ignored your repeated requests for justice.
Maintaining your rights to sue, and building a good case along the way just in case, are critical to a successful dispute with the credit bureaus, says attorney Chi Chi Wu, who authored the “Automated Injustice” report. Much of the advice she gives has a dual purpose: to win the dispute, but also to preserve legal rights and create a lawsuit-ready paper trail, just in case. Here are some of the steps she recommends.
1. Request a review in writingAll three credit bureaus allow you to dispute errors using online forms.
• EXPERIAN http://www.experian.com/disputes/• EQUIFAX http://www.equifax.com/online-credit-dispute/• TRANS UNION http://annualcreditreport.transunion.com/entry/disputeonline
Wu says using them is a big mistake. The forms only help the bureaus steer your issue into one of their dispute "buckets," helping the agency automate your claim. It also means you'll have less of a paper trail to demonstrate negligence later on. Wu strongly recommends that consumers use old fashioned U.S. mail to file their complaints and send the letter return-receipt requested. And naturally, keep good records of all contact with a credit bureau. At this point, buying a shiny new notebook for just this purpose is a good idea.
• EQUIFAX mailing address• TRANS UNION mailing address• EXPERIAN No link. Address will be on credit report.
And while all three companies provide a simple form to fill out with dispute information, Wu recommends adding narrative detail and supporting documents anyway – again, to prevent the bureaus from “bucketing” you. That will help a lawyer make a case later than the bureau didn't perform even the most basic investigation.
It's always good to send the dispute to all three bureaus. While the reports can differ, the reports generally overlap and a black mark on one report usually becomes a black mark on all three. So while there may only be one bill in dispute, you probably have three disputes on your hands.
2. Also notify the furnisherIt seems reasonable that the credit bureau would send a copy of your dispute to the company that's involved, but don't count on. Send a separate, return-receipt-requested letter to the company that claims you didn't pay your bill. A carbon copy version of your dispute letter to the credit bureau should be sufficient.
3. Be ready for surprising account numbersWhen tracking a credit bureau entry, it's likely that your "bad debt" will have an unfamiliar account number next to it. Companies often assign new numbers to accounts that go into default. Also, when debts are sold to debt collectors, they usually give an account its own number. For example, a dispute involving a furniture store account No. 345234 might end up listed on your credit report as Joey's Collections No. 432432. When filing dispute letters, including all possible account numbers. That cuts down on possible confusion -- or legal squirming -- later on. For example, a consumer might send a letter saying, "Please delete account No. 345234, and the bureau might "agree" to the request while doing nothing, and leaving the unpaid bill under the other account number.
4. Tell them where to goThis step might sound presumptive, but Wu suggests that the consumer explicitly recommend the steps that the credit bureau should take to investigate the matter. For example, if you've spoken to an operator at a furnisher who admits an error, tell the credit bureau to call that furnisher and interview that operator. The bureau may not do this, but this inclusion could help a lawyer at a later date persuade a judge that the bureau didn't take even the most obvious steps to resolve the dispute.
5. Discredit the furnisherA little legal legwork can help make your case, too. If there is evidence that the furnisher involved in your dispute has a reputation for complaints of inaccuracy, include that evidence in your letter. This will help build the case that the bureau should not have presumed the furnisher was accurate.
Other adviceIt might seem natural to complain directly to the furnisher of the information rather than the credit bureaus. However, the original Fair Credit Reporting Act granted no legal rights for to consumers to do so, and steered all complaints to the credit bureau dispute process. That limitation is changing. The Fair and Accurate Transaction Act of 2003 includes provisions calling for "direct disputes" with furnishers, though the Federal Trade Commission has yet to issue formal guidelines for the process. They should appear soon; public commentary on proposed rules was entertained by the agency last year.
In the meantime, consumers can try a direct dispute, but should only do so after completing the dispute process with the credit bureaus and getting an answer. Skipping the bureau process would force a consumer to surrender their rights to sue the furnisher, Wu says.
Even before the final rules are determined, Congress spelled out a few specifics in its 2003 law. Send a letter to the furnisher demanding a “reinvestigation” of the debt. Ask for all paperwork documenting the debt. Like the credit bureaus, the furnishers will be required to supply a response within 45 days. If none is forthcoming, the debt must be removed from the credit file. Even if a response arrives, it's entirely possible the company will not be able to produce detailed records documenting the debt, which would also enable a request for removal of information.
In advance of the FTC rules, consumers may not have the right to sue companies for non-compliance. But the process can work anyway, and stronger consumer rights should arrive soon.
Finally, if either the bureau or the furnisher isn't playing ball, a lawsuit is the consumer's last resort. Credit report dispute cases are highly specialized, and it's generally best to use a lawyer who specializes in these cases, Wu said. A list can be found at the National Association of Consumer Advocates Web site, www.naca.net.
There aren't nearly as many FCRA experts as there are credit report disputes, however, so some consumers may be frustrated by their inability to interest a lawyer in their case. That's why the previous five steps are so important. Lawyers love plaintiffs who are well-prepared with the right documentation and arrive with what amounts to an open-and-shut case. It's not necessarily fair, but it's true: Consumers who think like a lawyer from step one are much more likely to get justice, and a clean credit report, in the end.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Be wary of d0-it-yourself legal software
Be wary of do-it-yourself legal software
QUESTION: There are so many software programs and Internet services offering contracts, wills, deeds, incorporations, and even divorce and name changes, made specifically to order for me, do I really need a lawyer for routine legal services any more? Can't I save myself a whole lot of time and money by doing it online or buying a program?
ANSWER: Just because you can do something on your own doesn't mean it is in your best interest. Consider medical services. There are some things, such as a common headache, for which you wouldn't even consider calling your doctor. Others, like appendicitis, you wouldn't dream of treating yourself. The same is true of all professional services, including legal services.
Published legal forms, including online "self-help" services, cannot provide specific legal advice for your situation any more than a medical textbook or a video depiction of a particular surgery can teach you to perform surgery or prescribe medication.
When you consult a lawyer, you are not just buying an expensive legal form. You are obtaining legal advice from someone who will fashion, if possible, a document or a legal strategy designed to get you the specific result you need for your situation. Sometimes the document or strategy will be generic enough that a published legal form will suffice. Other times your situation will require something more specific or complex. Do you have enough knowledge, experience and expertise to differentiate between the two?
There will be some times when virtually anyone can handle a legal matter on their own, like taking a couple of aspirin. Other situations will require the equivalent of legal first aid; if you are trained or experienced enough, you can probably handle it. But if there is a lot at risk, or if you are at all unsure of what you are doing, you should at least get a free or low-cost initial consultation to check into the possible benefits of having specific legal advice before trying to perform what might be a legal appendectomy on yourself.
Don't be misled by claims that the form you are considering is "valid in all 50 states." Usually the substance of the document is equally crucial to getting a good result as the form's ultimate validity. What will it matter if the will or contract is valid, if it doesn't end up doing what you need?
The rule in the marketplace for legal documents is "buyer beware." All professions impose a higher standard on their members than that. With legal forms, you are on your own. With a licensed lawyer, doctor, accountant, engineer, architect or any other professional, you purchase the loyalty and expertise of a professional. Often enough, that's well worth the cost.
QUESTION: There are so many software programs and Internet services offering contracts, wills, deeds, incorporations, and even divorce and name changes, made specifically to order for me, do I really need a lawyer for routine legal services any more? Can't I save myself a whole lot of time and money by doing it online or buying a program?
ANSWER: Just because you can do something on your own doesn't mean it is in your best interest. Consider medical services. There are some things, such as a common headache, for which you wouldn't even consider calling your doctor. Others, like appendicitis, you wouldn't dream of treating yourself. The same is true of all professional services, including legal services.
Published legal forms, including online "self-help" services, cannot provide specific legal advice for your situation any more than a medical textbook or a video depiction of a particular surgery can teach you to perform surgery or prescribe medication.
When you consult a lawyer, you are not just buying an expensive legal form. You are obtaining legal advice from someone who will fashion, if possible, a document or a legal strategy designed to get you the specific result you need for your situation. Sometimes the document or strategy will be generic enough that a published legal form will suffice. Other times your situation will require something more specific or complex. Do you have enough knowledge, experience and expertise to differentiate between the two?
There will be some times when virtually anyone can handle a legal matter on their own, like taking a couple of aspirin. Other situations will require the equivalent of legal first aid; if you are trained or experienced enough, you can probably handle it. But if there is a lot at risk, or if you are at all unsure of what you are doing, you should at least get a free or low-cost initial consultation to check into the possible benefits of having specific legal advice before trying to perform what might be a legal appendectomy on yourself.
Don't be misled by claims that the form you are considering is "valid in all 50 states." Usually the substance of the document is equally crucial to getting a good result as the form's ultimate validity. What will it matter if the will or contract is valid, if it doesn't end up doing what you need?
The rule in the marketplace for legal documents is "buyer beware." All professions impose a higher standard on their members than that. With legal forms, you are on your own. With a licensed lawyer, doctor, accountant, engineer, architect or any other professional, you purchase the loyalty and expertise of a professional. Often enough, that's well worth the cost.
Watch an Identity thief's "commerical"
PLAY VIDEO: Click to see an excerpt of an identity thief's "commercial," which was posted on YouTube recently. Msnbc.com's Bob Sullivan reports.
Identity theft is usually a virtual, intangible crime. The theft often occurs in cyberspace, with criminals ordering merchandise with stolen credit cards, or downloading cash from online bank accounts. The victims rarely know anything has happened until months -- or even years -- later. There's no blood, no shattered glass, no broken locks. Not even the anxiety rush that comes after the brush of a pickpocket.
But identity thieves, in the end, are real people stealing real money and causing real harm. And surprisingly often, they are friends, family members, or co-workers who initiate the crime by stealing personal information found on papers left around offices or homes. The stolen data can be surprisingly easy to come by, as this ID theft “commercial” shows.
In it, a YouTube poster claims to have a cache of stolen data dossiers for sale. He films himself sitting in his car, sifting through what appear to be file folders, perhaps freshly stolen from an office or a dumpster outside an office building. With a shaky hand, he shows some of the files, then announces that he will sell complete data sets for $25 -- or at a discount of 5 for $100 -- to anyone who e-mails him.
You can watch part of the video by clicking above. We've included only a small portion of the video to avoid abetting what appears to be a crime. Here's more of what the salesman had to say in the video:
"I have records for sale. These records include the following: Name. Sex of the individual. Social Security number of the individual. Mother's name. Their current street address," he says.
At this point, a beeper begins to sound in his car, perhaps because his seat belt isn't fashioned. Then, he continues to list the items he has for sale. "License number. Their date of birth. Kind of work they are in, the industry that they're in. And their net worth. That's including real estate and any liquid assets. And I could get a good credit read on them as well."
Those details would give an identity thief all the information they’d need to wreak havoc with a victim’s credit report, and probably, their financial life,
Without purchasing records from the poster, it is impossible to determine that the records are genuine. But in a short e-mail dialog with msnbc.com, the poster claimed the information was real and said that he could sell us 100 records if we deposited money into his PayPal account.
He did not answer a question posed about the video, which was removed from YouTube a few days after it appeared, but not before msnbc.com viewed it and copied it. A message at the link now says the video was "removed by the user."
Before finishing the sales pitch in the video, the poster includes some fine print:
"These records are not to be used for any illegal purposes. They are for outsourcing marketing materials and anything of that nature," he said.
He then closed with a polite sign off.
Identity theft is usually a virtual, intangible crime. The theft often occurs in cyberspace, with criminals ordering merchandise with stolen credit cards, or downloading cash from online bank accounts. The victims rarely know anything has happened until months -- or even years -- later. There's no blood, no shattered glass, no broken locks. Not even the anxiety rush that comes after the brush of a pickpocket.
But identity thieves, in the end, are real people stealing real money and causing real harm. And surprisingly often, they are friends, family members, or co-workers who initiate the crime by stealing personal information found on papers left around offices or homes. The stolen data can be surprisingly easy to come by, as this ID theft “commercial” shows.
In it, a YouTube poster claims to have a cache of stolen data dossiers for sale. He films himself sitting in his car, sifting through what appear to be file folders, perhaps freshly stolen from an office or a dumpster outside an office building. With a shaky hand, he shows some of the files, then announces that he will sell complete data sets for $25 -- or at a discount of 5 for $100 -- to anyone who e-mails him.
You can watch part of the video by clicking above. We've included only a small portion of the video to avoid abetting what appears to be a crime. Here's more of what the salesman had to say in the video:
"I have records for sale. These records include the following: Name. Sex of the individual. Social Security number of the individual. Mother's name. Their current street address," he says.
At this point, a beeper begins to sound in his car, perhaps because his seat belt isn't fashioned. Then, he continues to list the items he has for sale. "License number. Their date of birth. Kind of work they are in, the industry that they're in. And their net worth. That's including real estate and any liquid assets. And I could get a good credit read on them as well."
Those details would give an identity thief all the information they’d need to wreak havoc with a victim’s credit report, and probably, their financial life,
Without purchasing records from the poster, it is impossible to determine that the records are genuine. But in a short e-mail dialog with msnbc.com, the poster claimed the information was real and said that he could sell us 100 records if we deposited money into his PayPal account.
He did not answer a question posed about the video, which was removed from YouTube a few days after it appeared, but not before msnbc.com viewed it and copied it. A message at the link now says the video was "removed by the user."
Before finishing the sales pitch in the video, the poster includes some fine print:
"These records are not to be used for any illegal purposes. They are for outsourcing marketing materials and anything of that nature," he said.
He then closed with a polite sign off.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Woman mistaken for girl's suspected killer
Woman mistaken for girl's suspected killer
She says she is getting death threats from people and fears for her safety
MANTECA, Calif. - A Northern California woman who has the same name as the Sunday school teacher charged with murdering an 8-year-old girl says she is getting death threats from people who mistake her for the suspect.
Like the Tracy resident who is accused of killing Sandra Cantu and putting her body in a suitcase, the Melissa Huckaby who lives 14 miles away in Manteca is 28 years old, has a 5-year-old daughter and volunteers at church.
The improbable similarities have created inevitable confusion. News crews keep calling or showing up in Manteca looking for the wrong woman. And so many people posted threatening messages on her MySpace page that the misidentified Huckaby says she fears for her safety.
She and her parents are speaking out in hopes of clearing her name.
She says she is getting death threats from people and fears for her safety
MANTECA, Calif. - A Northern California woman who has the same name as the Sunday school teacher charged with murdering an 8-year-old girl says she is getting death threats from people who mistake her for the suspect.
Like the Tracy resident who is accused of killing Sandra Cantu and putting her body in a suitcase, the Melissa Huckaby who lives 14 miles away in Manteca is 28 years old, has a 5-year-old daughter and volunteers at church.
The improbable similarities have created inevitable confusion. News crews keep calling or showing up in Manteca looking for the wrong woman. And so many people posted threatening messages on her MySpace page that the misidentified Huckaby says she fears for her safety.
She and her parents are speaking out in hopes of clearing her name.
Hackers grab more than 285M records in 2008
Hackers grab more than 285M records in 2008
Verizon: Identity thieves are getting better at exploiting careless mistakes
By Jordan Robertson
The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO - Hackers made off with at least 285 million electronic records in 2008, more than in the four previous years combined, according to a new study that shows identity thieves are getting better at exploiting careless mistakes that leave companies vulnerable to attack.
The number comes from a study of 90 data breaches investigated by Verizon Communications Inc., which is hired to do a post-mortem on most big computer intrusions.
No victims are identified in the report. Many of the breaches aren't even public. That can happen if law enforcement insists on secrecy because of an ongoing criminal investigation, or if personally identifiable information wasn't lost in the hack.
In many breaches, especially involving lost or stolen laptops, the records aren't used for anything at all.
Verizon's study looked only at breaches involving attacks that resulted in compromised records being used in a crime, like making counterfeit credit cards and buying homes and medical coverage under someone else's identity — and on their dime.
The company found that 90 percent of the breaches it investigated could have been avoided with basic security measures.
One of those is recognizing how valuable so-called "non-critical" computers are to hackers.
Peter Tippett, vice president of research and intelligence for Verizon's business security solutions division, says criminals aren't looking to crash through the front door with a brazen computer attack. Often they're content to feel around the edges and look for vulnerabilities that can get them in through the equivalent of a side window.
Even by tapping into computers of low-level employees who don't handle sensitive data, hackers can get a toehold for installing more malicious software that scans the network traffic and looks for vulnerabilities in other computers.
The study also found that data breaches are getting more severe because criminals are using sophisticated new programs that were custom-designed for particular attacks and weren't known to the security community or law enforcement.
Verizon says 93 percent of all compromised records in its study came from the financial sector.
Verizon: Identity thieves are getting better at exploiting careless mistakes
By Jordan Robertson
The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO - Hackers made off with at least 285 million electronic records in 2008, more than in the four previous years combined, according to a new study that shows identity thieves are getting better at exploiting careless mistakes that leave companies vulnerable to attack.
The number comes from a study of 90 data breaches investigated by Verizon Communications Inc., which is hired to do a post-mortem on most big computer intrusions.
No victims are identified in the report. Many of the breaches aren't even public. That can happen if law enforcement insists on secrecy because of an ongoing criminal investigation, or if personally identifiable information wasn't lost in the hack.
In many breaches, especially involving lost or stolen laptops, the records aren't used for anything at all.
Verizon's study looked only at breaches involving attacks that resulted in compromised records being used in a crime, like making counterfeit credit cards and buying homes and medical coverage under someone else's identity — and on their dime.
The company found that 90 percent of the breaches it investigated could have been avoided with basic security measures.
One of those is recognizing how valuable so-called "non-critical" computers are to hackers.
Peter Tippett, vice president of research and intelligence for Verizon's business security solutions division, says criminals aren't looking to crash through the front door with a brazen computer attack. Often they're content to feel around the edges and look for vulnerabilities that can get them in through the equivalent of a side window.
Even by tapping into computers of low-level employees who don't handle sensitive data, hackers can get a toehold for installing more malicious software that scans the network traffic and looks for vulnerabilities in other computers.
The study also found that data breaches are getting more severe because criminals are using sophisticated new programs that were custom-designed for particular attacks and weren't known to the security community or law enforcement.
Verizon says 93 percent of all compromised records in its study came from the financial sector.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Imposters wreak havoic with tax returns
When Aaron Marks tried to electronically file his tax return last spring, it was rejected by IRS computers. The reason, according to the agency, was that someone had already filed a return using his Social Security number. Not to worry, an IRS operator told him on the phone, just mail in your tax return and it’ll get fixed. "(The agent) acted like there was nothing to panic about," Marks said.
But a year later, the Boston resident still doesn’t have his $2,000 tax refund.
About the same time Marks tried to file, IRS officials testified before the Senate Finance Committee about the problem of tax return ID theft. The committee heard horror stories about the ease of filing false tax returns, the criminals who essentially steal citizens' refunds, and about the thousands of Americans who sometimes spend years dealing with the fallout.
For years, tax return scams have been relatively easy to commit. Armed with a Social Security number and the right company tax ID, criminals could file a return and likely get a refund check, as long as they filed before the legitimate SSN user. In fact, many criminals exaggerated deductions or withholding amounts in the returns to get an even bigger refund check, causing further problems for the real taxpayer down the road.
IRS Commissioner Douglas H. Shulman, who had just taken office weeks before the April 11, 2008, hearing, pledged major changes to stem the growing problem. He promised a new identity theft investigation unit within the IRS and a new 1-800 number for victims. He also said the entire agency would be trained to better handle the problem.
"If you say the words ‘identity theft,’ you'll be sent to a person trained to deal with identity-theft victims," he pledged.
The changes have achieved mixed results.
The IRS launched its new unit, the IRS Identity Protection Specialized Unit. There's a Web site and a toll-free number for victims at 1-800-908-4490 that's staffed 12 hours per day.
Aaron Marks, however, still hasn't received his $2,000 from the 2007 tax year, or, his 2008 stimulus check. And this year, when he tried to electronically file, his return was again rejected. He called the IRS. An agent told him to paper file. He insisted that more action be taken. He demanded a manager. She told him his refund check was sent out last year, but wouldn't tell him where, or even confirm that it wasn't sent to his home address.
"Then she told me to tell the Federal Trade Commission," he said. When he filled out an FTC Identity Theft affidavit, he was then told to get a police report.
"The Boston PD aren't going to know what to do about this," he said. Including his expected refund from this year, Marks figures he's out $4,000 right now. Meanwhile, he figures, a criminal is running around with his tax refund.
"The only reason I found out about this was because I expected money back," he said. "Who knows how big this problem really is?"
The IRS says it knows, and it's miniscule. Spokeswoman Michelle Lamishaw said tax return ID theft hit a tiny fraction of 1 percent of all returns all returns last year.
"It is not what we consider widespread," she said. "But the impact on individuals we take very seriously." Lamishaw said she was unable to discuss Marks' situation because IRS agents are not allowed to publicly discuss any taxpayers' account.
'A huge potential to really address the problem'Nina Olson runs the National Taxpayer Advocate Service, an agency that helps citizens engaged in entrenched battles with the IRS. A frequent critic of the agency, she gave it relatively high marks for its new identity theft initiatives.
For the first time, she said, the agency has initiated a "flag" to track citizens struggling with identity theft. Even consumers who merely suspect they might suffer tax return fraud -- for example, a victim who lost a wallet -- can now ask the IRS to add such a flag and not send a refund check to a potential imposter. And it has developed "business rules" to help it determine the rightful SSN user when multiple returns are filed, similar to rules used by credit card firms to identify fraudulent credit card transactions, she said.
The agency also has added the ability to proactively inform a citizen if a Social Security number is being used by someone else, she said. The agency has plans to send warning letters to SSN holders, but has not begun. Only recently did it get legal clearance to send such letters, she said.
"The new unit has a huge potential to really address the problem," she said. "The progress in the last year has been enormous."
On the other hand, the National Taxpayer Advocate Service has seen an 88 percent increase in ID theft cases this year over the same period last year. It's unclear if the spike means an increase in crime or merely an increase in awareness, but either way, the problem is still severe, she said.
Last year, there were 24,000 known cases of tax ID theft, and that number severely undercounts the actual number of victims, many whom have yet to discover the problem, she said.
"Those 24,000 taxpayers are spending their lives on the phone. Maybe their wages are being garnished. Maybe they found out because there was a lien," she said. "For those victims the problem is very real. It's often a full-time occupation to fix it."
No faithIt's not clear why Marks' case continues to slip through the cracks. Lamishaw said IRS operators be aware of the agency's ID theft hot line, but speculated that there might be a communications lag because the office is new.
Recently, Marks found his way to the Identity Theft Resource Center Web site, which recommended people in his situation contact the Taxpayer Advocate office. He did so, and said that he spoke to a helpful caseworker who took an interest in his problem and offered to help. He’s optimistic, but he’s still waiting for his refund.
"My faith in the federal government has been kicked down yet another notch," he said.
Lamishaw, meanwhile, urged victims like Marks to contact the IRS’ toll-free ID theft number, even if they've already tried unsuccessfully to resolve the problem earlier.
"We do recommend people give this office a try, even if they were frustrated in the past," she said.
RED TAPE WRESTLING TIPSThere are many ways an identity thief can get a hold of the necessary information and file a tax return in someone else's name. Linda Foley, director of the Identity Theft Resource Center, says some imposters are illegal immigrants using someone's Social Security number in order to get work permission. But there are many other variations on the crime.
"People who don't want criminal histories known, have bad credit reports or may be hiding under another SSN to avoid child support payments," she said. "We get a number of cases like this."
Early detection of tax return ID theft is important to quickly resolving the problem. Watch for any suspicious signs -- the rejection of a return, a surprise bill from the IRS for unpaid taxes, a lengthy delay in refund payment, or even unexpected entries in your annual Social Security earnings statement.
The IRS ID theft fact page is very useful.
At the first sign of a problem, call the IRS Identity Protection Specialized Unit at 1-800-908-4490. You don't have to wait for a tax problem to warn the IRS that you've been a victim of ID theft, however. If a criminal is using your SSN to open credit accounts or compromise your identity in other ways, consider calling the IRS hotline and asking the agency to flag your account. Lamishaw, the IRS spokeswoman, said that won't prevent a citizen from e-filing or delay refunds, it will just instruct the agency to take a bit more care before mailing out refund checks.
And every taxpayer should know about the National Taxpayers Advocate Service. Dealing with the IRS can be challenging. The advocate's service is designed to help taxpayers who feel they’ve hit a brick wall in dealing with the agency. Last year, the advocate’s office had 275,000 open cases. There are offices in every state in the nation. Click here to find the one for your state.
But a year later, the Boston resident still doesn’t have his $2,000 tax refund.
About the same time Marks tried to file, IRS officials testified before the Senate Finance Committee about the problem of tax return ID theft. The committee heard horror stories about the ease of filing false tax returns, the criminals who essentially steal citizens' refunds, and about the thousands of Americans who sometimes spend years dealing with the fallout.
For years, tax return scams have been relatively easy to commit. Armed with a Social Security number and the right company tax ID, criminals could file a return and likely get a refund check, as long as they filed before the legitimate SSN user. In fact, many criminals exaggerated deductions or withholding amounts in the returns to get an even bigger refund check, causing further problems for the real taxpayer down the road.
IRS Commissioner Douglas H. Shulman, who had just taken office weeks before the April 11, 2008, hearing, pledged major changes to stem the growing problem. He promised a new identity theft investigation unit within the IRS and a new 1-800 number for victims. He also said the entire agency would be trained to better handle the problem.
"If you say the words ‘identity theft,’ you'll be sent to a person trained to deal with identity-theft victims," he pledged.
The changes have achieved mixed results.
The IRS launched its new unit, the IRS Identity Protection Specialized Unit. There's a Web site and a toll-free number for victims at 1-800-908-4490 that's staffed 12 hours per day.
Aaron Marks, however, still hasn't received his $2,000 from the 2007 tax year, or, his 2008 stimulus check. And this year, when he tried to electronically file, his return was again rejected. He called the IRS. An agent told him to paper file. He insisted that more action be taken. He demanded a manager. She told him his refund check was sent out last year, but wouldn't tell him where, or even confirm that it wasn't sent to his home address.
"Then she told me to tell the Federal Trade Commission," he said. When he filled out an FTC Identity Theft affidavit, he was then told to get a police report.
"The Boston PD aren't going to know what to do about this," he said. Including his expected refund from this year, Marks figures he's out $4,000 right now. Meanwhile, he figures, a criminal is running around with his tax refund.
"The only reason I found out about this was because I expected money back," he said. "Who knows how big this problem really is?"
The IRS says it knows, and it's miniscule. Spokeswoman Michelle Lamishaw said tax return ID theft hit a tiny fraction of 1 percent of all returns all returns last year.
"It is not what we consider widespread," she said. "But the impact on individuals we take very seriously." Lamishaw said she was unable to discuss Marks' situation because IRS agents are not allowed to publicly discuss any taxpayers' account.
'A huge potential to really address the problem'Nina Olson runs the National Taxpayer Advocate Service, an agency that helps citizens engaged in entrenched battles with the IRS. A frequent critic of the agency, she gave it relatively high marks for its new identity theft initiatives.
For the first time, she said, the agency has initiated a "flag" to track citizens struggling with identity theft. Even consumers who merely suspect they might suffer tax return fraud -- for example, a victim who lost a wallet -- can now ask the IRS to add such a flag and not send a refund check to a potential imposter. And it has developed "business rules" to help it determine the rightful SSN user when multiple returns are filed, similar to rules used by credit card firms to identify fraudulent credit card transactions, she said.
The agency also has added the ability to proactively inform a citizen if a Social Security number is being used by someone else, she said. The agency has plans to send warning letters to SSN holders, but has not begun. Only recently did it get legal clearance to send such letters, she said.
"The new unit has a huge potential to really address the problem," she said. "The progress in the last year has been enormous."
On the other hand, the National Taxpayer Advocate Service has seen an 88 percent increase in ID theft cases this year over the same period last year. It's unclear if the spike means an increase in crime or merely an increase in awareness, but either way, the problem is still severe, she said.
Last year, there were 24,000 known cases of tax ID theft, and that number severely undercounts the actual number of victims, many whom have yet to discover the problem, she said.
"Those 24,000 taxpayers are spending their lives on the phone. Maybe their wages are being garnished. Maybe they found out because there was a lien," she said. "For those victims the problem is very real. It's often a full-time occupation to fix it."
No faithIt's not clear why Marks' case continues to slip through the cracks. Lamishaw said IRS operators be aware of the agency's ID theft hot line, but speculated that there might be a communications lag because the office is new.
Recently, Marks found his way to the Identity Theft Resource Center Web site, which recommended people in his situation contact the Taxpayer Advocate office. He did so, and said that he spoke to a helpful caseworker who took an interest in his problem and offered to help. He’s optimistic, but he’s still waiting for his refund.
"My faith in the federal government has been kicked down yet another notch," he said.
Lamishaw, meanwhile, urged victims like Marks to contact the IRS’ toll-free ID theft number, even if they've already tried unsuccessfully to resolve the problem earlier.
"We do recommend people give this office a try, even if they were frustrated in the past," she said.
RED TAPE WRESTLING TIPSThere are many ways an identity thief can get a hold of the necessary information and file a tax return in someone else's name. Linda Foley, director of the Identity Theft Resource Center, says some imposters are illegal immigrants using someone's Social Security number in order to get work permission. But there are many other variations on the crime.
"People who don't want criminal histories known, have bad credit reports or may be hiding under another SSN to avoid child support payments," she said. "We get a number of cases like this."
Early detection of tax return ID theft is important to quickly resolving the problem. Watch for any suspicious signs -- the rejection of a return, a surprise bill from the IRS for unpaid taxes, a lengthy delay in refund payment, or even unexpected entries in your annual Social Security earnings statement.
The IRS ID theft fact page is very useful.
At the first sign of a problem, call the IRS Identity Protection Specialized Unit at 1-800-908-4490. You don't have to wait for a tax problem to warn the IRS that you've been a victim of ID theft, however. If a criminal is using your SSN to open credit accounts or compromise your identity in other ways, consider calling the IRS hotline and asking the agency to flag your account. Lamishaw, the IRS spokeswoman, said that won't prevent a citizen from e-filing or delay refunds, it will just instruct the agency to take a bit more care before mailing out refund checks.
And every taxpayer should know about the National Taxpayers Advocate Service. Dealing with the IRS can be challenging. The advocate's service is designed to help taxpayers who feel they’ve hit a brick wall in dealing with the agency. Last year, the advocate’s office had 275,000 open cases. There are offices in every state in the nation. Click here to find the one for your state.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Scam pretends to be Publishers Clearing House
Scam Pretends to be Publishers Clearing House
By Hailey Higgins, Local News 8 Reporter
IDAHO FALLS - The Better Business Bureau is warning you to beware of letters claiming they're from Publishers Clearing House. The letters say you have won a second place prize of $1 million. Despite how official the letters look, the recipient is the target of a nationwide scam that is now in Idaho.
A check comes with the letter for as much as $5,900. The victims are told in order to receive the money, they must cash the check and wire back $4,000.
The BBB said the check is fraudulent and any money wired to the scammers cannot be recovered.
"If you get a check for $4,900 in the mail and it looks like it's coming from Publishers Clearing House, that's a name that's well known, as far as giving true cash giveaways and you're not going to look real logical. But do stop and think about it," said Donna Oe, Better Business Bureau.
The fake checks are copies from legitimate businesses stolen by the scammers.
Since last month, reports of the Publishers Clearing House scam have come in from 20 states. If you have received this scam, contact the better business bureau.
By Hailey Higgins, Local News 8 Reporter
IDAHO FALLS - The Better Business Bureau is warning you to beware of letters claiming they're from Publishers Clearing House. The letters say you have won a second place prize of $1 million. Despite how official the letters look, the recipient is the target of a nationwide scam that is now in Idaho.
A check comes with the letter for as much as $5,900. The victims are told in order to receive the money, they must cash the check and wire back $4,000.
The BBB said the check is fraudulent and any money wired to the scammers cannot be recovered.
"If you get a check for $4,900 in the mail and it looks like it's coming from Publishers Clearing House, that's a name that's well known, as far as giving true cash giveaways and you're not going to look real logical. But do stop and think about it," said Donna Oe, Better Business Bureau.
The fake checks are copies from legitimate businesses stolen by the scammers.
Since last month, reports of the Publishers Clearing House scam have come in from 20 states. If you have received this scam, contact the better business bureau.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Phshing Scam hits local phones
Phishing Scam Hits Local Phones
By Hailey Higgins, Local News 8 Reporter
IDAHO FALLS - There's something "phishy" going on and it's coming to cell phones in Bonneville and Fremont counties.
Both Sheriff's Offices received multiple complaints over the weekend. Residents receive calls and text messages on their phone from a caller asking them to verify credit and debit card information.
Fremont County Sheriff's office said it is an obvious attempt to obtain financial information.
By Hailey Higgins, Local News 8 Reporter
IDAHO FALLS - There's something "phishy" going on and it's coming to cell phones in Bonneville and Fremont counties.
Both Sheriff's Offices received multiple complaints over the weekend. Residents receive calls and text messages on their phone from a caller asking them to verify credit and debit card information.
Fremont County Sheriff's office said it is an obvious attempt to obtain financial information.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Putting Scammers to the test
IDAHO FALLS - People are often tempted to believe they can make a few easy, extra bucks. One 84-year-old Idaho Falls woman, got a big check in the mail and this isn't the first time it's happened to her. The directions are simple: deposit the check and get the money."I thought I was really rich," says Alice Beaty, 84-year-old."She's gotten probably about six," Diane Reinhart, Alice's daughter."I think elderly people are more vunerable," says Leonard Beaty, Alice's son."My mom who is 84-years-old, she gets excited," says Reinhart."Didn't know, never had nothing like this happen before you know," says Beaty."We called about it, there was a guy from Canada said ok if she goes, takes it and puts it in her back account she could get the money," says Reinhart."Right now all you have to do it go to the bank and deposit it. Make sure you keep this confidential because we always have double claims, people always come and want people's money, always protect your winnings and protect the letter sent to you," says the operator."This check will also serve to help pay for your occurred expenses for fraudulent and stolen identity changes," reads Beaty."That check is to help pay for your taxes," says the operator."So I have a check for 3-thousand dollars, you're saying I am going to get another check in the mail for 250-thousand dollars?" asks Araksya Karapetyan."Yes, by Friday you'll get it in the mail," says the operator."We went went to the credit union and they said the check was no good," says Reinhart."That check is good ma'am, there's nothing wrong with that check ma'am," says the operator."Call us back when you deposit the check and we'll get your bank account information, that's why I said no," says the operator."All you need to do is go to the back and deposit it, when you finish then call me back," says the operator."Usually about 3-thousand 7-hundred 40 something dollars, and then the last one was like 48-thousand dollars," says Reinhart."I am assuming if this was a check they would have her name correct, her last name is spelled with one "t" not two," says Reinhart."You should be very excited, I don't know why you're asking me too many questions. You know I get this a lot, but I am just helping you get your winning ma'am," says the operator."If I had not been there for my mother, she probably would have done it and they would have got all the bank information, " says Beaty."I am a reporter for CBS affiliate television and I am calling because this is a scam. So, I want to know if you have anything to say... Hello??? " says Araksya Karapetyan.One lady who called Eyewitness News earlier this week, says she kept getting similar checks like those in the mail. But when she went to the bank they not only cashed them, they later forced her to pay every single penny back to the bank... all 10-thousand dollars of it.
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