Category: Scams & Your Rights
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Brett Blackman was sentenced to 19 years for a platform that billed Medicare more than $1 billion for braces for 346,000 people, $450 million of it paid
Brett Blackman, 43, of Johnson County, Kansas, was sentenced to 19 years in prison on October 14, 2026, for running a software platform that produced fake doctors’ orders for medical braces. The platform billed Medicare and other federal health programs more than $1 billion, and more than $450 million of that was paid. The braces…
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Social Security may assign a new number only as a last resort
A stolen Social Security number does not automatically earn a new one. Social Security says it may assign a new number, but only after the person whose number was misused has done everything possible to fix the damage. Even then the word is “may,” and the agency does not promise a fresh start. The rule…
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Amazon Prime refunds now cap at $200 instead of $51, and members who used 11 to 20 Prime benefits a year began getting them automatically October 1
Amazon Prime refunds under the Federal Trade Commission’s settlement can now reach $200 per person, up from a $51 limit, and a new group of members became eligible for automatic payments on October 1, 2026. The newly covered group is anyone who used between 11 and 20 Prime benefits in a one-year period. Nobody has…
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USPS bills senders for unpaid foreign duties on goods mailed abroad from October 19
The Postal Service will start billing people who mail goods abroad if the foreign duties and taxes on those packages go unpaid. The change takes effect Monday, October 19, 2026. For anyone sending gifts overseas, a package can now come with a bill after it leaves the post office, charged on top of the postage.…
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Debt collectors generally cannot call before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. local time
Debt collectors are generally barred from calling before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., and the clock that counts is the one where the person being called lives. Collectors are also presumed to break the law if they call about the same debt more than seven times in seven days, or within seven days after…
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Credit freezes at the three big credit bureaus are free and don’t affect scores
Freezing a credit report costs nothing, and it does not lower a credit score. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says people can freeze and unfreeze their credit records for free at the three nationwide credit reporting companies, which are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. The CFPB adds that security freezes do not impact credit scores in…
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The FBI warns scammers are using the midterms to push fake PAC donations
The FBI is warning that scammers are using the 2026 midterm elections to collect money through fake political action committees, or PACs. Its Internet Crime Complaint Center issued the alert on October 15, 2026. The public service announcement, titled “Scammers Exploit 2026 U.S. Midterm Election to Perpetrate Multiple Fraud Schemes,” describes four separate pitches, ranging…
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Federal money no longer replaces food stamp benefits skimmed after December 20, 2024
SNAP benefits that criminals steal by skimming or cloning an EBT card are no longer replaced with federal money when the theft happened after December 20, 2024. Congress let that authority lapse on that date, and the Agriculture Department’s page on stolen benefits, updated September 8, 2026, shows no extension. Households hit now cannot count…
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Credit card billing-error disputes must reach the card issuer within 60 days after the first statement showing the error was sent, federal rules say
A wrong charge on a credit card bill comes with a short clock. Under the federal rule that governs card disputes, the card issuer has to receive a written billing-error notice within 60 days after it sent the first statement showing the error. The rule is Regulation Z, section 1026.13, enforced by the Consumer Financial…
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The FTC’s Funeral Rule lets families buy only the funeral goods and services they want and requires an itemized price list
Families arranging a funeral do not have to accept a bundled package. Under the Federal Trade Commission’s Funeral Rule, they can buy only the goods and services they want, and every funeral home has to hand over an itemized price list. The same rule says a casket bought somewhere else cannot be refused or charged…