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Month: April 2015

Cybercrime / Privacy

New chip credit cards called ‘a joke’ — lessons from Europe offer the punchline

April 6, 2015 Bob Sullivan 0

The way Americans spend money is on the verge of its biggest change in decades, but the drumbeat of doubters continues to get louder.  New chip-enabled credit cards are slowly getting into consumers’ hands in advance of a looming deadline later this year. But a Walmart executive recently told CNN [Keep reading]

Gotchas / Consumer

What happens inside a debt collection firm when it’s raided by the Feds

April 6, 2015 Bob Sullivan 0

Travell Thomas is desperately trying to save his business, or at least part of it. His debt collection firm, Four Star Resolution, was raided during the morning on Feb. 11, as a result of a lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission. Employees were told to leave immediately. A temporary restraining [Keep reading]

The Restless Project

Half of mid-career unemployed workers forced to change fields, take less pay

April 3, 2015 Bob Sullivan 0

In the 1970s Sci-fi movie Logan’s Run, viewers are let in on a dirty little secret about a Utopian society — everyone gets killed at age 30.  Sure keeps labor costs down. America hasn’t quite become Logan’s Run, but we seem to be tilting that way. It’s no secret that [Keep reading]

Gotchas / Consumer

The real reasons people use smartphones — to avoid other people, and because they are bored

April 2, 2015 Bob Sullivan 0

Have you ever grabbed your smartphone on your way to the bathroom? Yes, I know you have.  All the evidence you need that we are all too dependent on our smartphones.  For most of us, that’s a First World problem. But for a surprisingly large segment of the American population, [Keep reading]

Cybercrime / Privacy

Something else for Uber users to fear — driver tries to rob home after airport ride

April 1, 2015 Bob Sullivan 0

I’ve described the many flaws in Ubernomics before, and you’ve about sexual assault allegations.  Here’s a new Uber problem that users should understand.  A Colorado man has been arrested and accused of returning to a passenger’s home after dropping her off at the airport to burglarize the home, seemingly because [Keep reading]

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About me

BOB SULLIVAN is a veteran journalist and the author of four books, including the 2008 New York Times Best-Seller, Gotcha Capitalism, and the 2010 New York Times Best Seller, Stop Getting Ripped Off! His latest, The Plateau Effect, was published in 2013, and as a paperback, called Getting Unstuck in 2014. He has won the Society of Professional Journalists prestigious Public Service award, a Peabody award, and The Consumer Federation of America Betty Furness award, and been given Consumer Action’s Consumer Excellence Award.

Bob Sullivan