Scams

The Federal Trade Commission is teaming up with tech companies and regulatory agencies around the world to crack down on tech-support scams that may have already cost U.S. consumers tens of millions of dollars. In a tech-support scam, typically originating out of India, callers claiming to be with a trusted security company tell consumers that their computers may have been infected with a virus or malware. The callers then trick people into purchasing anti-virus software they don't need, which can often range in price from $49 to $450.

Jean Crump made up fabulous fictional deaths. She wasn't a best-selling author or a fabled storyteller, but a mastermind of an elaborate life insurance scam, federal prosecutors say. For the fictional "Jim Davis," Crump created a bogus death certificate, purchased a grave plot and loaded the casket with items to simulate the weight of a corpse. On Tuesday, her tales got her 18 months in federal prison. Even when confronted during her trial with a secret FBI video of a meeting in July 2006 with a doctor, who unbeknownst to her was a federal informant, she continued to lie about her actions, federal prosecutors said.

WASHINGTON --Since early 2010, a leading civil rights group has helped compile a database of approximately 26,000 complaints about mortgage modification scams -- attempts by fraudsters to take advantage of those hardest hit by the housing market meltdown. The people making those complaints have reported losses of $63 million to the National Loan Modification Scam Database. And the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which manages the database, has filed 10 civil suits in conjunction with other organizations to try to halt mortgage assistance operations in California and New York.

Jianwei Li and two other wealthy Chinese businessmen thought they had a sure thing when they wired $1 million each to a California firm that had promised to build a fine Chinese restaurant in the Bay Area city of San Bruno. The project had an alluring budget with multiple lucky 8s - $5,888,888 - and the three investors were assured it would create enough jobs to obtain the real prize: a U.S. green card. Months passed and nothing happened. When Li's friends cornered the project developer one evening at a karaoke bar, the man, identified in court papers as Sammy Lee, apparently devised a fantastic escape.

The pitch: Early tax rebate! The scams: It's income tax season, and that means a new set of scams from fraudsters pretending to represent the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS has put out warnings on these recent frauds. Phone calls supposedly from the agency, telling people that they're eligible for early rebates. The caller asks for personal bank information. E-mails supposedly from the Taxpayer Advocate Service (a legitimate IRS organization) that include links to fake forms.

Here is a roundup of alleged cons, frauds and schemes to watch out for. Memorial Day — Memorial Day has become an opportunity for criminals to target veterans as well as active-duty military personnel and their families, the Better Business Bureau said in a recent bulletin. Older veterans are often targeted by scams this time of year, the BBB said. "The unique lifestyle of our service members makes them prime targets for scammers," said Brenda Linnington, director of the BBB's military division.

Here is a roundup of alleged cons, frauds and schemes to watch out for: Hurricane Irene — Law enforcement agencies predict that a wave of fraudulent charitable donation schemes will arrive in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene. To make sure donations get to those who need them, the Internet Crime Complaint Center suggests that donors not respond to unsolicited emails or telephone calls seeking donations. Instead, donations should go directly to recognized charitable organizations, the agency said.

Dear Karen: I get many notices telling me to renew my business documents. Are these scams? Answer: This is a common trick targeting small businesses that scammers hope are too busy or disorganized to keep track of renewals. Phishing schemes, which involve official-looking letters or e-mails, may claim that you owe money, are getting a refund or are about to be audited. Never send money or your financial account numbers in response to any of these solicitations. Pay your bills through official channels; you do not need to hire anyone to do it for you. And look at the fine print: If something says, "This is not an official government document," toss it. Get feedback in exit interviews Dear Karen: How can we keep our employees from leaving for jobs at bigger companies?

As more residents ventured back into Joplin's massive tornado zone Friday, sifting through wet belongings and shoveling aside debris, police warned against a small number of nighttime looters who have plundered the 6-mile-long path of the violent twister. "Wrapped up in what we view as debris is what's left of people's lives," Police Chief Lane Roberts told reporters, declaring that his force was "saturating" the damage zone and had already made arrests in the cases of 17 thefts and three burglaries.

When on vacation or any extended trip, you could be vulnerable to scams, both at your home and your destination. Here are tips from AARP on protecting your identity and money: • Stop mail delivery. This can be arranged online via holdmail.usps.com/holdmail or at your local post office. Not only does an overstuffed mailbox suggest you're not home, but identity thieves also could snatch your bank and credit card statements. You can pause newspaper deliveries by contacting the paper.

A Laguna Niguel man admitted defrauding online auction giant EBay Inc. out of potentially millions of dollars in a scheme of “cookie stuffing,” which is a lot less savory than it sounds. Brian Andrew Dunning, 47, pleaded guilty to wire fraud in federal court this week, U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag said. Dunning faces a fine and a possible jail sentence. Dunning admitted that between May 2006 and June 2007, he engaged in a scheme that caused EBay to pay him commissions for generating Web traffic to EBay that was achieved through fraudulent means.

SACRAMENTO - The most courageous politician in California - probably the nation - is a Berkeley city councilman, Gordon Wozniak. His gutsy act: proposing that the government tax email. Yes, sacrosanct, time-gobbling, out-of-control email. "I got a lot of nasty emails nationally," he says. "You are making Berkeley look really silly," one person wrote. Another called him "the epitome of a communist - you and all your commy liberal idiots. " Wozniak, however, is certified brainy - a retired nuclear scientist, a futurist who, he admits, may be ahead of his time about taxing email.

ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. - In Afghanistan, Tonya Long, a 13-year Army veteran, approved military cash payments to Afghan drivers of "jingle trucks," the colorful transport trucks that carry supplies to U.S. bases. Last week, Staff Sgt. Long stood in the dock in a federal courtroom here and read aloud from a statement she had written on notebook paper: "I cannot express how sorry I am … I chose to betray my country and my family. " She did not ask for mercy, she told a judge, "because I don't deserve it. " Long, 30, had pleaded guilty to stealing at least $1 million and shipping the cash in hundred-dollar bills to the U.S. in the guts of hollowed-out VCR players.

Not since an outbreak of mad cow disease a dozen years ago have Europe's food industries been embroiled in a crisis the likes of this past month's discovery of horse meat masquerading as beef in prepared-food entrees sold across the continent. The controversy over mislabeled meat in millions of frozen dinners, pastas, stews, goulashes and chilis took a turn for the worse this week when Nestle, the world's largest food company, found horse DNA in some of its products.  And testing of meals yanked from store shelves and freezers in Britain and Germany has turned up  traces of phenylbutazone, commonly known as bute, a powerful equine painkiller deemed harmful to humans.

A sportswriter here at the paper responded to a tweet from basketball star Lamar Odom to enter an online sweepstakes for a free trip to Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. And guess what? She won. "I turned it down," my colleague told me. "It was a scam, right?" It's something I get asked a lot. And usually, there's no question about the scamminess of online sweepstakes. The Federal Trade Commission says it gets thousands of complaints every year about bogus contests and lotteries.

If researchers at the nonprofit Center for Responsible Lending are on target when they say the country is only halfway through the foreclosure crisis, many more people are going to be conned out of a great deal of money trying to save their homes. But it doesn't have to be like that. And it won't be if Uncle Sam has his way. The government is coming down hard on swindlers who cheat owners willing to try almost anything to avoid foreclosure. In December, for example, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau took steps to shut down two alleged loan-modification mills that the agency says bilked people out of more than $10 million.

Scam artists posing as students or stealing identities from other people illegally obtained more than $770,000 in financial aid and loans via California community colleges and online schools, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. Seventeen people have been indicted since August in six cases that involve 15 California campuses, including Santa Barbara City College, Bakersfield College, Antelope Valley College and San Diego City College, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Sacramento.

So, you have a time-share to unload and a friendly salesperson calls to say he has a buyer. In fact, the caller can handle everything for you, including the Federal Trade Commission approval of the sale. All you have to do is pay a $3,000 deposit, to be refunded when the transaction is complete. Except that you never hear from the salesperson again. And by the way, the FTC does not review or approve time-share transactions. But the FTC did take action against the operators of a company it accused of pulling off that scam, taking in millions of dollars.

Phone bill cramming -- by which scammers arrange to add small charges to phone bills and then collect the money -- has been going on for years. But it still can be highly lucrative, according to the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC has asked a federal court to shut down a Montana-based operation that the agency alleges reaped more than $70 million by adding charges ranging from about $10 to $25 to phone bills across the nation. According to court documents, the group named in the case went by several company names -- including American eVoice and FoneRight -- and allegedly placed bogus charges for "voice mail services, electronic fax services or other noncall-related services" on the bills of unsuspecting consumers.