Entries Categorized as 'Alerts & Scams'

SoCalGas Warns Customers About Latest Nationwide Scam – This one claims President will provide a credit or directly pay utility bills

Date May 15, 2012

Imposters Claim President Obama is paying utility bills Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) is alerting customers to be aware of a scam that has impacted other utility customers in several states across the country. The scam claims that President Barack Obama is providing credits or applying payments to utility bills. In some cases, scammers have [...]

Fraud Alert: Don’t be tricked by jail inmates and others asking you to call phone numbers starting with *72

Date February 13, 2012

From the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department… The public is being tricked by jail inmates and others through a phone scam. This fraud has occurred off and on for many years in different parts of the country. This notice has been shared with the public by the LASD and the news media many times over [...]

The New Year Brings New Laws to California

Date January 3, 2012

First, let me wish you all a happy and healthy New Year! Did you know that in 2012, retail stores -including grocery stores- will no longer offer plastic bags? You’ll need to bring your own bags, or pay $0.10 per paper bag. If you have small children, did you know that unless they are at [...]

FBI Warns of Mass Marketing Scams – “Multi-National Day of Action”

Date June 2, 2010

Marketing scams have been around for a long time. And unfortunately, most of the time, the targets, and victims, are the elderly. Today’s warning is part of a “Multi-National Day of Action” in conjunction with various other federal agencies and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.  It is estimated that these fraud schemes cost consumers billions of dollars [...]

New Malware App Stealing Online Banking Information Detected on Droid Phones

Date January 12, 2010

A credit union has reported a new malicious banking application it discovered that apparently is designed to steal online banking account details on Google’s new Android cellphones. The credit union says the rogue Android application “creates a shell of mobile banking apps that tries to gain access to a consumer’s financial information.” The malware, developed [...]

Text Message Scam

Date December 7, 2009

I just received a text message from 270-495-0189, saying “customer issue, visa service frozen, please call 270 495 0189.” Do not text them or call them back! This is  a scam. Think about it, does your Visa Credit Card Carrier have your cell phone number? Are you signed up to get text alerts? If you [...]

Beware of Online Payday Lenders

Date April 29, 2009

I was watching Clark Howard – one of my favorite Financial Gurus – today on CNN and his segment was on Indian Online Payday Lenders. Payday lenders offer short-term loans with extremely high fees typically to consumers who live paycheck to paycheck. The consumer will write a post-dated check to the lender and the lender [...]

Don’t Pay Fees to Reduce Your Property Taxes

Date February 24, 2009

If you’re a homeowner, you more than likely have received numerous mailings from attorneys and private companies offering their help to have your property re-assessed and your property tax amount lowered. With falling property values, you may be able to save hundreds, or thousands, of dollars each year. I urge you – don’t respond or [...]

Credit Card Fraud is On the Rise

Date December 29, 2008

With the downturn of the economy, the holidays, and for whatever other reasons, credit card fraud is increasingly becoming a problem. Whether your card is stolen, or skimmed, thieves are using innocent consumers’ cards to buy gas, shop at Wal-Mart,  buy groceries, and more. What is skimming? Skimming is the theft of credit card information. [...]

Beware of Expiring or Invalid Gift Cards!

Date December 5, 2008

Apparently there have been a swarm of e-mails going around warning everyone that, because of our poor economy, stores are closing and to be careful that some gift cards may not be honored through the holidays. I’m sure you’ve seen it at least once at this point. The e-mail goes on to list numerous stores [...]