Category: Scams & Your Rights
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The FTC is weighing a rule to hold platforms responsible for impersonation scam ads
No rule holding platforms responsible for impersonation scam ads exists yet. What exists is a question. On Sept. 24 the Federal Trade Commission asked the public whether its Impersonation Rule should be updated to reach the websites and apps that carry paid ads and listings, and it opened the earliest formal stage of rulemaking to…
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The FTC says a car’s advertised price must be one any buyer can pay
A price shown in a dealer’s ad is supposed to be a price any buyer walking in the door can actually pay. That is the standard set out in price-transparency FAQs the Federal Trade Commission published Sept. 15, and it applies to what dealers put on websites, windshields and flyers. Staff guidance is not a…
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Labcorp will pay 44 states $2.3 million over a breach hitting 10.2 million patients
Labcorp has agreed to pay $2.3 million to resolve claims brought by 44 states over a 2019 data breach that exposed information on 10.2 million of its patients. Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, who led the group, announced the deal on Sept. 24. The money goes to the states, and the agreement offers no payments…
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A federal fraud investigator collected $51,571.73 in disability pay, then hiked 50 miles in Italy’s Dolomites, prosecutors say
Federal prosecutors in Utah say a supervisor at the Agriculture Department’s inspector general office submitted paperwork declaring herself totally disabled on the same day she flew to Italy. Michelle L. Bouziden, 44, of Ogden, is accused of collecting $51,571.73 in federal workers’ compensation and of hiking more than 50 miles in the Dolomites during the…
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A New York man used his dead brother’s ATM card to take $109,746 in Social Security, prosecutors charge
Social Security keeps paying until someone tells the agency that a beneficiary has died, and prosecutors say a New York man put that gap to use. David Darling is accused of using his dead brother’s ATM card to take $109,746 in Social Security benefits, with withdrawals beginning the day after the death. The case is…
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Tyson is paying $72.5 million of a $202.7 million settlement with beef and pork plant workers, the biggest share
Among the companies that settled the meatpacking wage case, one carries more than a third of the tab. Tyson Foods agreed to $72.5 million, the largest single share of a $202.7 million total that resolves claims by beef and pork plant workers, and the next two payers, JBS and Cargill, bring the top three to…
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Heirs can pay off a parent’s reverse mortgage by selling the home for 95% of its appraised value, even if the loan is larger
When the last borrower on a reverse mortgage dies, the loan comes due, and the heirs have a short window to decide what happens to the house. If the loan is larger than the home is worth, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says heirs can still settle it by selling for at least 95% of…
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Tyson, JBS and Cargill plant workers from 2000 to 2024 have until Feb. 4, 2027, to join a $202.7 million wage settlement
Anyone who worked at a beef or pork processing plant run by a named defendant between Jan. 1, 2000, and Feb. 27, 2024, sits inside a class covered by $202.7 million in wage-suppression settlements. The paperwork differs by mailbox: some workers already hold a notice printed with a dollar amount, and others hold nothing at…
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Prosecutors say an Illinois woman hid her mother’s body in a garage freezer for two years while collecting her Social Security
Prosecutors say an Illinois woman kept her mother’s body in a garage deep freezer for two years while Social Security benefits in the mother’s name kept being collected. Her case sits inside a Justice Department sweep that charged 17 people in 11 federal districts between Aug. 21 and Sept. 18, with intended losses of $1.34…
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Progressive and State Farm drivers in Colorado and Washington can claim from auto-insurance settlements worth $15.2 million and $8.8 million
Two auto-insurance settlements are taking claims at the same time, one in Colorado and one in Washington. Progressive Direct and Progressive Preferred customers in Colorado whose cars were totaled share a settlement of about $15.2 million, with claims due by Feb. 5, 2027. State Farm customers in Washington share up to $8.8 million over underinsured-motorist…