Author: Elizabeth Blessing
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Fake license-renewal scams drew 496 FBI complaints and more than $348,000 in losses
The FBI’s Sept. 17 alert on government-impersonation fraud names four separate scripts, and the smallest of them by dollar loss is a fake license-renewal notice: 496 complaints and more than $348,000 lost. Unlike the alert’s medical-license and jury-duty categories, this script does not require a target to hold a specific job or have a pending…
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The FTC is sending Zelle payments to former AT&T unlimited-data customers who never cashed checks from its $5.6 million throttling refunds
Former AT&T customers who never cashed a refund check mailed to them back in 2024 are starting to see that money arrive a different way. The Federal Trade Commission says it is now sending Zelle transfers to close out its $5.6 million throttling refund program, reaching people who were eligible for the original payment but…
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Government impostors targeting medical license holders drew 3,322 complaints and more than $37 million in losses, the FBI says
Doctors, nurses and other license holders are being targeted by callers posing as medical board investigators or state licensing officials, and the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center says that scheme drew 3,322 complaints and more than $37 million in losses. The bureau counted the pattern inside the same Sept. 17 alert on law-enforcement and government…
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Amway distributors would have to resell at least 70% of what they buy, and first-year training would be free, under the FTC’s proposed court order
The Federal Trade Commission and the state of Washington have accused Amway, the multilevel marketing company, of luring independent business owners with income promises the agency says most recruits could never come close to reaching. Under a proposed court order the two sides filed together on September 17, 2026, Amway would have to resell at…
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Fake jury duty and missed-court-date scams drew 6,833 FBI complaints and nearly $36 million in losses, the FBI says
A caller who claims a missed jury summons or a missed court date is impersonating a court officer or a sheriff’s deputy, and the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center says that exact script drew 6,833 complaints and nearly $36 million in losses. The bureau logged the pattern inside a Sept. 17 alert on government-impersonation fraud…
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Credit Acceptance will have to cap car prices at 109% of retail book value for seven years for some borrowers under its multistate settlement
Buying a car with financing from Credit Acceptance is about to come with a price ceiling it did not have before. Under the multistate settlement announced September 17, 2026, the company must cap vehicle prices at 109% of retail book value for seven years for certain consumers, a limit meant to stop the kind of…
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Diesel still averages $6.47 a gallon, just below its September 22 record, AAA says
Just a few cents now separate the national diesel average from the record AAA logged less than a week earlier, a gap narrow enough to watch closely. The average stood at $6.4709 a gallon on September 27, compared with the all-time high of $6.5276 set on September 22. Regular gasoline, tracked by the same daily…
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Natural gas is up 4.4% and electricity 3.8% from a year ago, BLS says
Two of the least avoidable costs in any household, the gas bill and the electric bill, both climbed over the past year, according to the government’s latest measure of inflation. Utility natural gas service rose 4.4% and electricity rose 3.8% over the 12 months ending in August, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported.…
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About 26.7 million Americans, 7.9%, had no health insurance in 2025, Census says
About 26.7 million people in the United States, or 7.9% of the population, had no health insurance at any point in 2025, the U.S. Census Bureau reported in its annual income, poverty and health insurance release. The figure comes from the same September 15, 2026 report that found median household income hit a record $87,460…
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Airfares are up 23.4% from a year ago, the latest federal price report shows
Buying a plane ticket now costs 23.4% more than it did a year ago, according to the federal government’s most recent inflation report. Airline fares rose 2.7% in August alone, one of the sharpest monthly moves among the dozens of categories the report tracks. The increase adds a real cost to holiday and family travel…