Archive for February 3rd, 2010
FTC Warns 78 Retailers, Including Wal-Mart, Target, and Kmart, to Stop Labeling and Advertising Rayon Textile Products as "Bamboo"
February 3rd, 2010. Published under Business Scams, Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
Seventy-eight companies nationwide have received Federal Trade Commission letters warning that they may be breaking the law by selling clothing and other textile products that are labeled and advertised as “bamboo,” but actually are made of manufactured rayon fiber. The letters, which the agency’s staff sent last week, make the retailers aware of the FTC’s concerns about possible mislabeling of rayon products as “bamboo,” so the companies can take corrective steps to avoid Commission action. “We need to make sure companies use proper labeling and advertising in their efforts to appeal to environmentally conscious consumers,” said David C. Vladeck, Director of the agency’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Rayon is rayon, even if bamboo has been used somewhere along the line in the manufacturing process.” The FTC sued several companies last year for allegedly selling products labeled or advertised as “bamboo” that in reality were made of rayon. Rayon is a man-made fiber created from the cellulose found in plants and trees and processed with harsh chemicals that release hazardous air pollution. Any plant or tree – including bamboo – could be used as the cellulose source, but the fiber that is created is rayon. “While we have seen action by some retailers to correct mislabeled clothing and textile products, our hope is that these warning letters will serve as a wake-up call to all companies, regardless of their size,” Vladeck said. The FTC staff letter outlines the requirements for proper labeling and advertising of textile products derived from bamboo. The letter states, “Rayon, even if manufactured using cellulose from bamboo, must be described using an appropriate term recognized under the FTC’s Textile Rules. . . . Failing to properly label and advertise textiles misleads consumers and runs afoul of both the Textile Rules and the FTC Act.” In the letter, the FTC tells the companies they should review the labeling and advertising for the textile products they are selling and remove or correct any misleading bamboo references. Along with the warning letters, the agency sent each company a synopsis of FTC decisions finding that the failure to use proper fiber names in textile labeling and advertising was deceptive and violated the FTC Act. Under the Act, the FTC can seek civil penalties of up to $16,000 per violation against any company that receives this information but fails to correct its advertising and labeling. A complete list of the companies sent warning letters can be found on the FTC’s Web site and as a link to this press release. They include small and large retailers, with both online and brick-and-mortar stores, and firms selling textile products labeled or advertised as “bamboo” that may be made of rayon. The more commonly known retailers include: Amazon.com, Barney’s New York, Bed Bath & Beyond, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Bloomingdale’s, Costco Wholesale, Garnet Hill, Gold Toe, Hanes, Isotoner, JC Penney, Jockey, Kmart, Kohl’s, Land’s End, Macy’s, Maidenform, Nordstrom, Overstock.com, QVC, REI, Saks Fifth Avenue, Sears, Shop NBC, Spiegel, Sports Authority, Target, The Gap, The Great Indoors, Tommy Bahama, Toys R’ Us, Wal-Mart, and Zappos.com . Recent Enforcement Actions. Today’s announcement comes on the heels of four FTC enforcement actions brought against companies selling rayon products that were misleadingly labeled and advertised. According to the Commission’s complaints, filed in August 2009, the companies falsely claimed that their rayon clothing and other textile products were “bamboo fiber,” marketing them using names such as “ecoKashmere,” “Pure Bamboo,” “Bamboo Comfort,” and “BambooBaby.” The complaints also challenged a number of other deceptive “green” claims, including that the products retained the bamboo plant’s antimicrobial properties, were made using environmentally friendly manufacturing processes, and are biodegradable. The four companies have settled the FTC’s charges and agreed to modify their labels to ensure their claims are not misleading or deceptive. (One of the cases still needs final FTC approval.) Press releases announcing the complaints and related settlements can be found at: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/12/dynabamboo.shtm and http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/bamboosa.shtm , respectively. Business and Consumer Information. The FTC has a publication designed to help businesses that sell clothing and textile products that are labeled as bamboo to market their products in ways that are truthful, non-deceptive, and in compliance with the law. “Avoid Bamboo-zling Your Customers” can be found at http://www.ftc.gov/bamboo . The FTC also has an alert entitled “Have You Been Bamboozled by Bamboo Fabrics?” that provides useful information for consumers shopping for bamboo-based fabrics. It also can be found at http://www.ftc.gov/bamboo . The Commission vote to publicly disclose the warning letters was 4-0. Copies of the letters and a complete list of companies that received them can be found on the FTC’s Web site at http://www.ftc.gov/bamboo and as a link to this press release. The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, click: http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/complaint.shtm or call 1-877-382-4357. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 1,700 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. For free information on a variety of consumer topics, click http://ftc.gov/bcp/consumer.shtm .
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FTC Warns 78 Retailers, Including Wal-Mart, Target, and Kmart, to Stop Labeling and Advertising Rayon Textile Products as "Bamboo"
Hackers Steal Millions in Carbon Credits – Wired News
February 3rd, 2010. Published under Fraud, Political Scams. No Comments.
Globe and Mail Hackers Steal Millions in Carbon Credits Wired News Under environmental cap-and-trade laws, there's a limit to the greenhouse gases companies can emit. Companies that exceed this limit can purchase so-called … Hackers steal emissions trading certificates Deutsche Welle all 16 news articles
Just Registered DellHellAgain.com Time To Get Busy
February 3rd, 2010. Published under Business Scams, Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
Just registered a new “sucks” domain, dellhellagain.com as this is my second major go around with Dell. I felt it only fitting. Everything will be up and running in short order. ~Allen
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Just Registered DellHellAgain.com Time To Get Busy
Exporting our unemployed to Australia
February 3rd, 2010. Published under Unemployment. No Comments.
Continued here:
Exporting our unemployed to Australia
Stamps
February 3rd, 2010. Published under Tea Party. No Comments.
got this email – can anyone tell me if it’s true or not – I’m hoping not since there doesn’t seem to be an uprising on this from the far left – guess that only applies to Mother Theresa.
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Stamps
Copeland Crack: Obscene books – Whitehaven News
February 3rd, 2010. Published under Political Scams. No Comments.
Copeland Crack: Obscene books Whitehaven News A quick check on Google and, surprise surprise, it is a well-known scam . In fact you find the exact wording with just the place name changed (for example …
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Copeland Crack: Obscene books – Whitehaven News
Cyber-scam artists disrupt emissions trading across EU – EUobserver.com
February 3rd, 2010. Published under Fraud, Political Scams. No Comments.
Globe and Mail Cyber- scam artists disrupt emissions trading across EU EUobserver.com “There's an element of Laurel and Hardy-style incompetence to this, but it raises some more serious issues,” said Oscar Reyes of Carbon Trade Watch, … Markets shaken by emissions trading certificate hackers Risk.net all 10 news articles
Hackers steal emissions trading certificates – Deutsche Welle
February 3rd, 2010. Published under Political Scams. No Comments.
Hackers steal emissions trading certificates Deutsche Welle Under the emissions trading scheme, also known as cap and trade , companies are required to buy permits in order to emit CO2 and other greenhouse gases. … and more
When Debt Collection Lawyers Pull Credit Reports and Break the law – FCRA
February 3rd, 2010. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
If you are being sued by a debt collection law firm it would be prudent to pull all three of your credit reports (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion). Chances are that the law firm pulled your credit report and this is a violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Below is a photo of my credit reporting showing Macey Wilensky, Kessler and Hennings having pulled my credit report on three occasions 6/24/2008, 7/15/2008 and 7/31/2008, shortly after that I received a summons naming American Express Centurion Bank as Plaintiff and Macey, Wilensky as the filing law firm. According to the FCRA litigation is not a permissible use of a consumers credit report as it is not a business to consumer transaction.
Coalition making sceptics of us all – Sydney Morning Herald
February 3rd, 2010. Published under Political Scams. No Comments.
Coalition making sceptics of us all Sydney Morning Herald Rudd is suddenly stuck with something becoming rapidly on the nose with the electorate, and pretty irrelevant now given cap and trade is dead in the US and … and more
Market For Clients During Tough Times
February 3rd, 2010. Published under Economic News. No Comments.
Tough financial times lead to tough decisions that can turn out to be business killers. Businesses tend to reflect their customers. When customers are spending, businesses tend to spend. When customers scale back on spending, businesses tend to make cuts to save on that extra income they aren’t making. These cuts end up costing the
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Market For Clients During Tough Times
UPDATED: Abusive Debt Collection Tactics from 866-354-5387 Freedom Financial of Los Angeles
February 3rd, 2010. Published under Business Scams, Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
I received an email last night from a consumer that claims they are only a reference listed on an account. Supposedly he isn’t a signee at all, yet he and his family are being harassed by a caller (866-354-5387) claiming to be an investigator and stated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) didn’t apply to him. Hi, i have been contacted by a debt collector looking for a person who put me down as a reference, i told the investigator Davis i did not know where the motorcycle was and i had already told that to previous collectors from his firm, i asked him never to call me again, he then stated that he was not a collector rather an investigator, and was not bound by the collection laws, he then went on to call my family members telling them i was in major trouble freaking out my mother , is there anything i can do in this situation? i recorded a call from him. he would not give me a company name but did leave a number 866-354-5387 . What are my options? If it were me, I would temporarily block my caller ID and call the number to see if the number is legitimate. If it is find out who they are and then run to the closest consumer protection you can find. “Investigator” Davis” is not an investigator, he is a debt collector using illegal tactics, that is why he refused to give you the company name, he knows he he is breaking the law by calling the consumers family members and scaring them. If he calls back again ask him for his state investigator license, if he isn’t a debt collector (he probably is though) then remind him that investigators in your state are licensed by the state and he must provide you his investigators license number. What will mostly likely happen is one of the following: (a) he’ll hang up and not call again, (b) Give you some sort of bogus license number. If he does then you can get your state involved by filing a complaint with the state regarding a fraudulent investigator. After all if he gives you a bogus number than he is incriminating himself. If he refuses to give you a license number you bet he is a debt collector that breaks the law. Either way you got him and the company involved by the “cahones”. While I believe it is a debt collector it may be a collection scam, there are quite a few of them making the rounds across the U.S. I would suggest talking to your family and tell them that it is a debt collector using scare tactics. Ask them if possible to record future conversations or at least keep a log with the dates and times that they call each family member. If you do find the company behind the number and sue them, you will need the times/dates for use in court. I did look into the phone number, I didn’t find the company behind the number but did find references to complaints of “Marshalls” and “Investigators” calling from that number. Typical rouge debt collector scare tactics. Until such time that the identity of the company behind the 866-354-5387 is found, a consumer has limited resources in which to fight back. I would start with my states consumer affairs division and file a complaint. You may also want to consider filing a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), it probably won’t help you personally but there will be a record of the abuse. You could also file a report with the local police regarding the harassing phone numbers and then have the phone company put a trace on the line. The phone company generally won’t put a trace on a line unless a police report has been filed. I once had a debt collection company call me claiming to be an officer of UCB (United Collection Bureau) and she got all kinds of nasty, even told me she would call my neighbors and while on the phone with me she did, and my neighbor called me and told me immediately. I should have sued them, but at the time I didn’t know how (now I do). I did call United Collection Bureau and talked to the vice-president of compliance. After playing back the conversation between myself and the UCB officer, he said measures would be taken and I never go hassled by UCB again. Like I said I had the physical evidence, I just wish I knew then what I know about suing debt collectors for violations of state and federal law. UPDATE: The consumer that was begin harrassed over a debt that wasn’t his, he was merely a reference on the original loan. He finally received a response, Freedom Road Financial in Los Angeles were behind the calls. “I told “agent Marshal Davis” out of “northern CA” that i did not trust that he was a real investigator, and might be a phishing scam. I managed to get him to tell me that he is working on behalf of FreedomRoad Financial www.frf1.com he then gave me his contact at freedom road financial Michelle Peacan and her number to verify that he was working for them, i called her at 775.562.3816 and asked if i could record the call and she said no and that she knew who i was and that she has an agent working the case, i then said i did not trust that she worked for freedom road financial and she gave me the their 866.455.7623 main phone number to verify that she was a company representative, stating that she was the only michelle working there, sure enough dial by name brings you to Michelle Peacan, I told her that i was recording the call, i said that i never signed for anything and was not contractually obligated to them and wanted them to stop calling me, she stated that i was involved because i had once told their collection agent i knew where my friend lived and where their bike may be, i then asked if i was in trouble she said that i was involved with the theft of the bike, again i asked if i was in trouble and she said she was not a lawyer and that she would do what she had to to get the bike back and hung up on me.” Need help in dealing with crazy or sue happy debt collectors? Give my book a read .
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UPDATED: Abusive Debt Collection Tactics from 866-354-5387 Freedom Financial of Los Angeles
Abusive Debt Collection Tactics from 866-354-5387
February 3rd, 2010. Published under Fraud. No Comments.
I received an email last night from a consumer that claims they are only a reference listed on an account. Supposedly he isn’t a signee at all, yet he and his family are being harassed by a caller (866-354-5387) claiming to be an investigator and stated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) didn’t apply to him. Hi, i have been contacted by a debt collector looking for a person who put me down as a reference, i told the investigator Davis i did not know where the motorcycle was and i had already told that to previous collectors from his firm, i asked him never to call me again, he then stated that he was not a collector rather an investigator, and was not bound by the collection laws, he then went on to call my family members telling them i was in major trouble freaking out my mother , is there anything i can do in this situation? i recorded a call from him. he would not give me a company name but did leave a number 866-354-5387 . What are my options? If it were me, I would temporarily block my caller ID and call the number to see if the number is legitimate. If it is find out who they are and then run to the closest consumer protection you can find. “Investigator” Davis” is not an investigator, he is a debt collector using illegal tactics, that is why he refused to give you the company name, he knows he he is breaking the law by calling the consumers family members and scaring them. If he calls back again ask him for his state investigator license, if he isn’t a debt collector (he probably is though) then remind him that investigators in your state are licensed by the state and he must provide you his investigators license number. What will mostly likely happen is one of the following: (a) he’ll hang up and not call again, (b) Give you some sort of bogus license number. If he does then you can get your state involved by filing a complaint with the state regarding a fraudulent investigator. After all if he gives you a bogus number than he is incriminating himself. If he refuses to give you a license number you bet he is a debt collector that breaks the law. Either way you got him and the company involved by the “cahones”. While I believe it is a debt collector it may be a collection scam, there are quite a few of them making the rounds across the U.S. I would suggest talking to your family and tell them that it is a debt collector using scare tactics. Ask them if possible to record future conversations or at least keep a log with the dates and times that they call each family member. If you do find the company behind the number and sue them, you will need the times/dates for use in court. I did look into the phone number, I didn’t find the company behind the number but did find references to complaints of “Marshalls” and “Investigators” calling from that number. Typical rouge debt collector scare tactics. Until such time that the identity of the company behind the 866-354-5387 is found, a consumer has limited resources in which to fight back. I would start with my states consumer affairs division and file a complaint. You may also want to consider filing a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), it probably won’t help you personally but there will be a record of the abuse. You could also file a report with the local police regarding the harassing phone numbers and then have the phone company put a trace on the line. The phone company generally won’t put a trace on a line unless a police report has been filed. I once had a debt collection company call me claiming to be an officer of UCB (United Collection Bureau) and she got all kinds of nasty, even told me she would call my neighbors and while on the phone with me she did, and my neighbor called me and told me immediately. I should have sued them, but at the time I didn’t know how (now I do). I did call United Collection Bureau and talked to the vice-president of compliance. After playing back the conversation between myself and the UCB officer, he said measures would be taken and I never go hassled by UCB again. Like I said I had the physical evidence, I just wish I knew then what I know about suing debt collectors for violations of state and federal law. Need help in dealing with crazy or sue happy debt collectors? Give my book a read .
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Abusive Debt Collection Tactics from 866-354-5387