In 2008 the FTC went after EDebitPay, Dale Cleveland and William Wilson charging that they made unauthorized debits from consumers’ bank accounts and deceptively marketed prepaid debit cards and short-term loans. The settlement order permanently barred them from making future misrepresentations or unauthorized debits. But flash forward to more recent days when the crew was …
Under a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, two companies and three individuals are banned from the mortgage relief services business and must relinquish $2.2 million in assets for consumer refunds. The action is part of the FTC’s ongoing effort to stop scams that target financially strapped homeowners seeking mortgage relief. In November 2009, the …
The Federal Trade Commission today stepped up its ongoing campaign against scammers who falsely promise guaranteed jobs and opportunities to “be your own boss” to consumers who are struggling with unemployment and diminished incomes as a consequence of the economic downturn. “Operation Empty Promises,” a multi-agency law enforcement initiative today announced more than 90 enforcement …
I would like to preface this next news story with my exact facial expression. I encourage you join me. Please, if you would, raise your eyebrows, drop your jaw about an inch and let the fire rage in your eyes when you read about this latest fraud find. Stephanie Lowinger, owner of Neiman, Rona & …
More than $659,000 was embezzled by Constance Bexley Iwanski, a Texas energy company bookkeeper. Iwanski will face up to 27 months in federal prison and be required to pay the company their money back. Iwanski had been with the company for 31 years and had been solely in charge of the books for 17 years. …
For six months Edward Louis Molz III, under the name Frank Sullivan, scammed 247 small business owners in an advance-fee scam under a phony corporation called 3rd Street Financial LLC. According to the Criminal Complaint and Affidavit of Special Agent Deen Abbott filed, the Dallas Division of the FBI received complaints from 44 victims between …
Two men were sentenced recently to prison for their role in stealing more than $90,000 from some 200 people in Northern California by stealing personal financial information with a sophisticated skimming device placed inside ATM and credit card payment devices at gas station pumps. On January 22, 2011 in Contra Costa County Superior Court in …
Defendant Banned from Internet Businesses that Access Consumers’ Bank Accounts Defendants in an operation that the Federal Trade Commission alleged stole millions of dollars from consumers by making unauthorized charges and debits to their bank accounts have reached settlement agreements with the FTC. In Operation Short Change – a July 2009 crackdown on scammers taking …
CreditCards.com published a piece recently that talks with a former credit card thief, Dan DeFelippi, and he revels how easy it is to get into the fake credit card business. DeFelippi, 29, mostly made fake credit cards with real credit card information he bought online. “I would make fake IDs to go with them, and …
I’ll not soon forget the time I was sitting at a restaurant and watched a guy get hauled out for refusing to pay for his meal. His position was that since the place was offering a two for one deal that night that since he was eating alone he should only pay half. Needless to …