Category: Scams & Your Rights
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Amazon customers who returned items have until December 1 to file in the return-refund settlement, while some are paid automatically
Amazon customers whose returns or refunds went wrong between 2017 and early 2026 have until December 1 to act on a class-action settlement that has already set aside money for them. Some of those customers do not have to file anything at all; the settlement pays them automatically. Others have to submit a claim form…
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A fake real-estate guru who took $2.76 million from church members was sentenced to 48 months
A Wisconsin man who built an online persona as a real-estate investment expert was sentenced to 48 months in federal prison after taking $2.76 million from investors, most of them fellow Nigerian immigrants and members of his own church. Joseph Nantomah, 49, marketed himself as “The Black Mentor” and hosted conferences and classes built around…
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A Chicago man who supplied nearly $1.5 million in stolen and altered Treasury checks was sentenced to 160 months
A Chicago man was sentenced to 160 months in federal prison for supplying nearly $1.5 million in stolen and altered U.S. Treasury checks to co-conspirators who cashed them at banks and credit unions across eastern Iowa. Tyrone Terrell Harris, 34, was sentenced in federal court in Cedar Rapids after a scheme that ran checks meant…
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The Trump administration moved against 170 New York City food stamp stores, with penalties up to permanent removal
The Trump administration’s Department of Agriculture has moved against 170 food stamp retailers across New York City, spanning all five boroughs, with penalties that range from a temporary suspension to permanent removal from the program. The announcement frames New York City as one piece of a much larger nationwide sweep against retailer fraud in the…
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Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days run October 6 and 7, with Prime at $14.99 a month
Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days will run October 6 and 7, 2026, starting at 12:01 a.m. Pacific time, the company announced, with the sale open only to shoppers paying for a Prime membership. Prime itself continues to cost $14.99 a month or $139 a year for a standard membership, the same price Amazon charged for…
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About 25,000 eight-drawer dressers are recalled for tip-over danger, and owners get a free retrofit kit
Dressers tall enough to tip over onto a small child are covered by a federal furniture-stability standard, and about 25,073 Aitjunz-brand eight-drawer dressers fail it, according to a recall the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced on September 24, 2026. Rather than a refund, owners of the recalled dressers qualify for a free retrofit kit built…
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A bank impostor who cheated elderly victims out of hundreds of thousands of dollars got 57 months, and agents seized $37,000 in cash
Franco Fuentes and his associates did not need to break into an account online. They called elderly victims by phone, posed as bank employees investigating fraud on the account, and talked victims into handing a bank card to a rideshare driver sent to the door. A federal judge in San Diego sentenced Fuentes, 30, of…
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About 43,700 light-up children’s toys are recalled because kids can reach the button batteries, and buyers get a full refund
A federal safety standard written specifically to keep small button batteries out of children’s reach is the reason about 43,700 light-up toys sold by ABC Trading no longer meet CPSC requirements, and the company is refunding every buyer in full rather than offering a repair kit. The commission says children can access the battery compartment…
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Many Maryland businesses can no longer refuse cash starting October 1
Beginning October 1, a Maryland retailer that turns away a customer’s cash for a $40 purchase is breaking state law, not just company policy. House Bill 191, now Chapter 714 of the state’s 2026 laws, bars merchants from refusing cash, requiring a card instead, or charging extra for paying with bills and coins on most…
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About 48,000 Kesyup mattresses are recalled for failing the federal flammability standard, and buyers get a full refund
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is recalling about 48,405 Kesyup mattresses sold exclusively on Amazon after testing found they fail the federal open-flame flammability standard every mattress sold in the country has to pass. Buyers who purchased one between December 2024 and April 2026 qualify for a full refund rather than a repair, once they…