New Year, Same Tendency to Scam People | DayRiffer

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Once upon a time, con men helped people part with their money on Mississippi riverboats. Or sold some kind of ?snake oil? ? a supposed cure-all that actually didn?t do anything. We can?t forget Charles Ponzi, the skeezball who helped to popularize the pyramid scheme successfully enough (for a time) that his name gave birth to his own eponymous scheme. (Come to think of it, the building of the Pyramids is one of the great scams of all time, but since some of the actual builders were slaves, it?s hard to suggest they got conned into giving up their time and lives.)

More recently, our scams have included email pleas from alleged Kenyan businessmen to help them get millions out of some bank, in return for a hefty fee; ?brokers? who ?pump and dump? stocks; identity theft; hacking and viruses; doctors practicing without a license. New era, same tendency to manipulate and steal from the unsuspecting.

According to NBC News, a new survey conducted by consumer advocacy groups (Consumer Federation of America and the North American Consumer Protection Investigators) lists the fastest-growing consumer complaints, including ?debt collection abuses, Do Not Call list violations, mortgage-related problems and home improvement scams.? Also, ?a set of real estate related complaints cracked the top 10 for the first time covering issues with timeshare sales and resales, retirement and assisted living facilities and real estate fraud.?

There's no absolute protection against slimeballs - short of hiding under one's bed - but a good place to check out current dubious commercial activity in your area is the Better Business Bureau website. Good luck.

According to the story, "In Florida, the state's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services said bogus 'free energy audit' solicitation phone calls were among the fastest-growing Do Not Call violation complaints. Callers often falsely claimed that because the audit was free, the call was not subject to the restrictions of the Do Not Call law."

Don't let scammers make the first move on you. Here's the website for the U.S. government's Do Not Call registry. At their website, they point out, in red letters, "Scammers have been making phone calls claiming to represent the National Do Not Call Registry." If you want to put your number on the registry, start with the link just above.

Here are the top 10 consumer complaints from this year?s survey:

?1. Auto: Misrepresentations in advertising or sales of new and used cars, lemons, faulty repairs, leasing and towing disputes.
2. Credit/Debt: Billing and fee disputes, mortgage modifications and mortgage-related fraud, credit repair, debt relief services, predatory lending, illegal or abusive debt collection tactics.
3. Home Improvement/Construction: Shoddy work, failure to start or complete the job.
4. Retail Sales: False advertising and other deceptive practices, defective merchandise, problems with rebates, coupons, gift cards and gift certificates, failure to deliver.
5. Utilities: Service problems or billing disputes with phone, cable, satellite, Internet, electric and gas service.
6. Services: Misrepresentations, shoddy work, failure to have required licenses, failure to perform.
7. Internet Sales: Misrepresentations or other deceptive practice, failure to deliver online purchases.
7. Landlord/Tenant: Unhealthy or unsafe conditions, failure to make repairs or provide promised amenities, deposit and rent disputes, illegal eviction tactics.
8. Fraud: Bogus sweepstakes and lotteries, work-at-home schemes, grant offers, fake check scams, the ?grandparent scam? and other common frauds.
9. Real Estate: Timeshare sales and resales, retirement communities and assisted living facilities, real estate fraud.
10. Household Goods: Misrepresentations, failure to deliver, faulty repairs in connection with furniture or appliances; Home Solicitations
10. Misrepresentations: Failure to deliver in door-to-door, telemarketing or mail solicitations, do-not-call violations.?

Stories like this, about people like this, are bound to make us even more cynical. Is no one to be trusted? One of the few organizations with unimpeachable credibility among American consumers ? for generations ? is Consumers Union, the people who produce Consumer Reports. While they evaluate products more often than services, it can?t hurt to check out their recommendations before you?re about to put real money down on anything.

Source: http://www.dayriffer.com/2012/08/01/new-year-same-tendency-to-scam-people/

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