Scams - Maizeroad ... on Diigo

02 Dec 09

29 Sep 09

Bad Medicine and Out-of-Control Health-Care Fraud | Michael Crowley | Reader's Digest

Some good links are included here, including where to report Medicare/Medicaid fraud.

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HowStuffWorks: "How Greenwashing Works"

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09 Aug 09

Beware of e-mails claiming you owe money | WOAI.COM: San Antonio News

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San Antonio financial fraud scams email online

If you get one of these or any other suspicious e-mail demanding money, you can contact the Federal Trade Commission by clicking here or you can forward it to this address: spam@uce.gov.

Water Softener Customers Angry - San Antonio News Story - KSAT San Antonio

SAN ANTONIO -- Not only will it give you soft water, it may help your child's skin problem.
That was the sales pitch for a water softener sold to a south side man by a company called Aquativa of San Antonio, but Richard Pezina said the system has never worked properly.

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San Antonio health products home money scams fraud consumer

But he said the system's been nothing but problems. Aquativa's phone was disconnected and their office on the northwest side is dark and locked, but they were there at one point. Stickers on the window show they were members of the Water Quality Association and the Better Business Bureau, but now the Better Business Bureau now knows little about Aquativa.
"We also do have an F rating on the company,” said Taylor. “We've had 23 complaints, twelve of which are unanswered."
6 more annotations...
- For those of you who are confusing Aquativa with Aquafuzion - this story is about AQUATIVA. Also, Aquativa and Aquafuzion are not the same and Aquafuzion does not bolt from city to city at all, let alone without paying their independent dealers or without ensuring our customers are taken care of. Although Aquativa may be out of business. Aquafuzion has established themselves in several cities throughout Texas and unlike Aquativa, represents General Electric. GE would never allow a company who scams people to represent them. The product that Aquafuzion sells is a GE product. GE would not put their very high reputation on the line for a product that was junk or for businesses who would not stick around or who would treat customers poorly. Also, the product that Aquativa offered is not a GE product. For those of you are commenting, you should keep in mind that these two companies are not related nor are they alike and they should not be confused with one another.
- oldguy36 3 days ago
  This is but another example of water softener companies that promise the moon but deliver less at a staggering high price. There is no excuse but for the huge sales commissions that they pay for the sales of systems when one can go to Sears, Home Depot or Lowes and save 80% or better on Well known brand name Water Softeners. It is a given that San Antonio has very hard water, as well as other contaminants. Just read the report flyer that comes with your water bill. Soft water is a healthier environment, but it does not cure disease, it will, however, prevent other conditions that can arise from consumption of unsoftened, unfiltered effluent form the water pipes. Not to mention reducing or eliminating corroded faucet valve seats, greatly more efficient hot water heaters
- What I was saying is that the exact same brands sold by the "reputable" companies are available at prices up 70% LESS than is charged by the companies who have a large sales commission burden.
  
  As for personal experience, my "department store brand" has been in service for nine years without a problem. My water supply is 22 grains of hardness pre-treatment. My periodic testing with the test kit indicates performance up to specs. As far as I am concerned, if I had to rip it out tomorrow and replace the entire unit, I would choose the same brand and still expend less than 30% of the prices charged by the "Reputable company."
- jessag 3 days ago
  We also have Aquativa and the company promised us over $7,000 in cleaning supplies. We never till this day received it. I even thought about getting an attorney to get the note off our credit but it's too expensive to hire one. I feel this was a breach of contract.
- tiggerbearsmom 3 days ago
  Jessag, I would challange the note on your credit by getting your report from all 3 credit reporting agencies and filing a dispute on that charge. I believe a creditor has 30 days to validate the charge on your credit report. If this company was the creditor, they obviously cannot respond to the challange if they're no longer in business. At the very least, if the credit reporting agencies refuse to remove the bad charge from your report, you can file a statement that will accompany that information on your report - say something like "stopped payment due to creditor's breach of contract" or something to that effect. Hope this helps you.
- vgonzalez2 3 days ago
  I would like to know if the company that lends out the loans to the company know where they are? they must be getting the funds right away and the loaner must know where to find them to get some of our hard earn money back

30 Jul 09

Buyer Beware: Web Supplement Scams - CBS Evening News - CBS News

Beware the Resveratrol, Acai Berry, and other scams. See end of article for many helpful links.

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You've probably seen the ads. They're the latest miracle supplements - acai berry, resveratrol, colon-cleansers - all promising to make you feel better, look better, live better, with news reports that seem to back up the claims.
(For more, read Business Week's report, Resveratrol: The Hard Sell on Anti-Aging.)
3 more annotations...
- The company behind the resveratrol ads, FWM Labs, has an "F" rating.
  
  "An F is a flag, an F is a failure. An F is the lowest grade that you can possibly have and that should be a sign to the public not to deal with that company," Galvin said.
  
  The problem is customers don't know who they're dealing with. The company has dozens of Web sites but none of them are registered to FWM. Internet security expert Alex Stamos says it's not how a reputable company would operate.
- It took CBS News a while, but we finally tracked down FWM at a warehouse in Hollywood, Fla. where dozens of workers were processing, packing and shipping out pills as fast as the labels would print.
- But we spoke to dozens of customers who found it next to impossible to get through to FWM. Many vented their frustrations on online forums like complaintsboard.com, calling FWM's business a "fraud" and a "rip-off." A Google search for "FWM" turns up page after page of such complaints.

27 Jun 09

Consumerist - Is This Rogue Installer Running A Scam On Comcast Customers? - Comcast

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Moving on the Cheap: 6 Tips for Cutting Costs at SmartMoney.com

Tips for cutting costs, as well as protecting your valuables and the criteria for deducting your move from your taxes.

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Consumerist - Acai Berry Drink Company Agrees To Give $350k Back To Bilked Customers - CCN

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According to the complaints, consumers who purchased the low-cost "risk-free trial offers" of CCN's health supplements were also charged for costly products and services that they did not request. These included pre-selected "up-sell" products that the consumer had to actively de-select in the online order form to avoid being charged. When consumers tried to contact CCN regarding the unauthorized charges, they often faced hold times over an hour and their e-mails never received a response.
The Better Business Bureau, which says they receive over 2200 complaints about the company in the past 12 months, says consumers can file a complaint whether they live in Arizona or not.

Victims of CCN [can] file a complaint via phone at 602.542.5763 or 800.352.8431(toll free) or via email at consumerinfo@azag.gov by August 17.
2 more annotations...
- These antioxidants alone are enough to, in fact, fight cancer. They prevent a process known as oxidation that causes free radicals that in turn causes chain reactions that damage cells (which can lead to cancer). The antioxidants terminate these chain reactions by removing free radical intermediates.
- Many of these antioxidants (ascorbic acid and carotenoids are commmonly found in fruits and vegetables) have cancer preventing as well as cancer fighting properties--and also can prevent brain issues, and reduce the chance for heart disease.

Herbalife recruiting on Monster.com

Parent company: Global Online Systems.

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Rob,

Just a note. I received a "job offering" on MONSTER.com from
those herbalife guys. What a sleezy way to do business. That is how I found
your website - you are listed higher than thier company on google for the
name that they are emailing everyone "Global Online Systems".

You will prob get about a million hits from them - so I guess they are
not all bad. Anyway, You have a cool site - congrats. If you are interested,
My side job site is Smallest-Bikini.com - a very nice bikini store site - I
would appreciate it if you could link to me & recommend that people
start something like this in their free time (like Me) instead of wasting
time on pyramids.

I just did this site on my own - from scratch - started in february from
nothing - no web experience at all - and only do it nights/weekends. I am
adding your link now.

Sincerely,

Jody Massey

www.Smallest-Bikini.com
I found you by searching google for Global Online Systems. They are
advertising on monster.com. After reading your site (and getting a good
laugh) I did a quick search on deleteddomains.com and found 215 deleted or
on hold domains in the past 60 days with the word "herbal" in
them. Most all had the look of herbalife. Seems sad to me that so many
people spend hard earned cash to try and succeed or get rich, but all they
are doing is make Herbalife fatcats rich.

Work from Home, unwelcome Herbalife Signs, Epilogue

Note the corrections/clarifications on the original article regarding Herbalife, costs for joining, etc.

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Work from Home, unwelcome Herbalife Signs, pg. 3

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The
first step is to link Herbalife with these signs in the minds of as many
people as possible. My best connection to people is my website, so if you
could please send this web address to a friend, I would appreciate it....
particularly if that friend runs CNN.com.
I
would also like to discourage new potential Herbalife customers from
getting involved with this company.

From what I have learned so far, it is very, very difficult to profit as an Herbalife distributor.

Work from Home, unwelcome Herbalife Signs, pg. 2

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articles business online internet money scams health nutrition

I began to suspect it was Herbalife. I did a search for "plastic
signs" on google and found a site called MLM watch. An article
on their site mentioned that 60% of "work from home" offers were
from Herbalife. That jibed with my findings, except for that in
Sacramento, it was 97%.
I also found Causs.org, a nationwide organization against these signs,
which they call "street spam".
2 more annotations...
- Back to my own research, I pored over the homebiz4NE1.com
  site, looking for a hint about what the product was.
  
  Eventually I found it. About halfway down on the "success
  stories" page, there was a happy couple identified as Kevin & Amy
  L. Their testimonial showed that they "aren't a slave to company
  relocations", and that they are now able to "enjoy the outdoors
  year-round". They also had a photo of their four kids with
  Santa hats playing in a pool with an inflatable Orca. The photo was named
  "lausen_kids.jpg". This was just the kind of information an
  internet detective needs.
  
  I searched Google for "Kevin Lausen" and voila! The first
  result was on the official Herbalife website. Kevin Lausen and his four
  kids were an Herbalife success story. I had found the link!
- Herbalife is the company. Their stock is traded on the Nasdaq Stock
  Exchange, and they have been in business for about 20 years. They sell
  health and diet products, as well as material to start and maintain your
  own business. They sell their products across the nation and the
  world through a network of "independent distributors".
  
  These are the people who put up the signs. These are the people trying
  to make US$1500-US$5000 a month. At the time, I hated their guts, but as I
  learned more about what Herbalife had promised them, the hatred
  subsided.

Work from Home, unwelcome Herbalife Signs

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Investigating the Process of a Craigslist / eBay / MoneyGram Vehicle Scam

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I Caught Kevin Heoffer Barbecuing at Costco

About fake advertising--and very funny.

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Consumerist - Fake News Invades Slate, Salon, HuffPo - "Fake news

Wired has documented several examples of scams-disguised-as-news on Slate, Salon, and Huffington Post, among other websites. Most of the mock news stories, none of which are labels as ads, tout lucrative Google jobs: "Can You Really Work Online at Home? We Investigate This Trend."

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