Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray

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9/2/2010

Small businesses targeted by BBB scam

An old phishing scam has come up for air. A fraudulent complaint report is being sent to businesses from seatac@bbb.org with the subject line “BBB Complaint Case#” followed by a nine-digit number.  The body of these e-mails accuses the company of not responding to a complaint filed by Jason Harlow — other names have also been used.
9/1/2010

Hackers hunt credit card info from hotels

Summer travel season is in full swing and so are data hackers in the hotel industry. According to a recent alert issued by the Better Business Bureau, credit card hacking occurs in the hotel industry more than in any of its counterparts.

Hotels are common victims of hacking scams because they can improperly store credit card information making it easy to access. The crash in the economy forced most hotels to abandon the security systems they planned on implementing.

8/31/2010

Don't give out personal information or money for stimulus funds

E-mails, online ads and websites offering stimulus funds in return for a fee or personal information are a scam. These deceptive offers appear to be from a rebate company or the Internal Revenue Service.

Some scam artists ask targets to send a small fee in order to supposedly process a check for a larger amount that they will receive later. Others ask for targets’ bank account numbers so they can deposit the money, but they really use that information to empty accounts or open new ones.

8/30/2010

Shady tree services don't deliver

Shady tree services are invading Ohio’s neighborhoods. Last year, this industry was the sixth most complained about to the Better Business Bureau. Scammers disguise themselves as professionals and employ high-pressure sales tactics to get Ohioans to dole out up to thousands of dollars for shoddy services.

In Troy, Ohio, a door-to-door salesman approached a woman about a hazardous looking tree in her backyard. He promised her a special one-day discount price to remove the tree. When she expressed her apprehension, the salesman fired up his pitch, saying he did not feel safe leaving the dangerous limb. The woman agreed to pay him his $1,250 fee in cash, only to find her yard destroyed from his equipment. Later, she found out the worker sold his services to her neighbor by threatening to report a dangerous looking tree limb to the neighbor’s insurance company.
8/27/2010

Don't trust acai berry weight loss products

Ads for acai berry weight loss products are all over the Internet, and boast free trials and rapid weight loss. But earlier this month, a U.S. District Court ordered a marketing company of these products — Central Coast Nutraceuticals, Inc. — two individuals and four related companies to temporarily halt its Internet sales schemes. The Federal Trade Commission brought charges against these parties for using deceptive advertising and unfair billing prices to allegedly scam consumers out of more than $30 million in 2009.
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