Chester Frilich is a lovely retired man who spends his free time helping pet owners train their puppies at the local dog park. He was the victim of a terrible scam recently that left him penniless, struggling to get by on Social Security alone. Then, he was told he owed [Keep reading]
Airline tickets* for sale! (*Seats cost extra). Major U.S. airlines brought in an extra $12 billion during 2018-2023 by charging seat fees, a Gotcha Capitalism practice that deserves its own wing in the Hidden Fee Hall of Fame. I’m sorry for those of you traveling this busy week, but it’s [Keep reading]
Facebook publicly acknowledged on Thursday that it’s engaged in a massive struggle with online crime gangs who abuse the service and steal from consumers worldwide. In a blog post, the firm said it had removed two million accounts just this year that had been linked to crime gangs, and was [Keep reading]
If it acts like a bank, works like a bank, makes money like a bank — and when things go wrong, it can wreck lives like a bank — it should have to follow the same rules as a bank. That’s the logic behind a new rule established Thursday by [Keep reading]
It’s my birthday today, and while that might sound like a desperate plea for attention…it is. This week, we interviewed an adult daughter and son whose father took his own life after becoming embroiled in a crypto/romance scam. “When he had to accept that this is a world where this [Keep reading]
It’s an irony too obvious to avoid writing: a group of big tech firms has sued to put the new “Click-to-Cancel Rule” on hold. Enough. We should hang up on them. Maybe I’m just unlucky, but I often pull my smartphone out of my pocket and I’m aghast to see [Keep reading]
Everyone should be concerned about deepfakes and voice cloning; what’s difficult is deciding how concerned to be. When it comes to the use of AI in crime, I think we have a 5-alarm fire on our hands. I just came back from a week of talks at the University of [Keep reading]
Imagine owning a piece of land — your childhood backyard, in fact — and finding out that a construction company had built a brand new home on it without permission? Then, imagine moving your family across the country into a new rental home, moving in, living there for a while, [Keep reading]
HOBOKEN, N.J. — They say you can die from a broken heart — I’m sure that’s true — and you can really feel that in a place like Hoboken, N.J. on Sept. 11. A quick ferry or train ride from Wall Street, Hoboken is believed to have lost the most [Keep reading]
To paraphrase a long-ago election campaign slogan, “It’s the housing, stupid.” America’s housing market is desperately out of whack. How out of whack? Nearly one in 10 homes in America are now — on paper, anyway — worth $1 million. Congrats, all you millionaires! To rob from rock band Barenaked [Keep reading]
Bob Sullivan