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Verizon Was The Most Frequent Target For Identity Theft Scams In 2007 [Graphs]
Identity theft reports to the Federal Trade Commission show that Verizon was the most frequently named company, averaging over 900 events per month in 2007. According to an
updated study
by Chris Hoofnagle, senior fellow at the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, the number of complaints involving Verizon nearly tripled from 2006. Rounding out the top five are AFNI (a collection agency), JP Morgan Chase, AT&T, and Capital One.
We
wrote about
Hoofnagle's research in February, when he was analyzing identity theft at banks. Since then, he's expanded his research to include incidents at all companies.
Although the research is useful, Hoofnagle concedes that it is imperfect: a customer who falls for a phishing scam doesn't necessarily impart any fault to the company. On the other hand, the amount of phishing-related identity thefts is dwarfed by other types of fraud, such as new accounts created from pre-approved credit solicitations. Hoofnagle asks for increased transparency by businesses, which would provide more useful data and lead to better analysis.
Measuring Identity Theft (Version 2.0)
read more
Graphs
afni
att
Banks
Capital One
Fraud
Identity Theft
JP Morgan Chase
Phishing
Scams
Verizon
Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:54:12 EDT
Alex Chasick
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EBoost Media Calls Rogier A Faggot And A Queer [Slurs]
If a company promises to increase your Google PageRank, run! Rogier fell for eBoost Media's sweet words—they promised an increase in Google popularity "within about a week, at least for people entering specific search terms such as 'Maine photographer' and the like." But
after three and a half weeks of no results,
Rogier decided to cancel the service, which is when eBoost Media's dark side emerged.
I informed [my sales rep] Ashley that I wanted my money back and the agreement canceled. She put me in touch with a customer service rep named Denette.
When Denette finally got back to me, the news was not positive. She refused to say whether she would issue a refund. When I insisted (and sure, I wasn't particularly friendly, but I didn't use profanity or even raise my voice by more than a hair), she hung up on me.
I then canceled the credit card I'd given eBoost media and wrote Denette by e-mail that I'd file fraud complaints with the authorities if she did not let me know within 24 hours that eBoost Media consented to return the $99.
On Thursday of last week, she called again, trying to sweet-talk me into changing my mind. I said I wouldn't and that I had been given no reason to trust eBoost media — on the contrary. I reiterated that all I wanted was a refund. After about 20 minutes of exasperating back and forth, she hung up on me again.
On Friday, when I had left for the day, my voice mail received the psycho phone messages that I've attached.
Here's the first message, along with our concept art of Denette at the phone:
And here's the name-calling message, left only 5 minutes later, again along with our concept art:
Rogier played the messages back to eBoost and asked them for a comment:
When I called him yesterday, eBoost's acting CEO Michael Luvano agreed to listen to the recording. He then acknowledged that the second call had come from someone at eBoost Media, but curiously enough, he denied it was Denette. The mystery culprit, he said hours after hearing the messages, had already been "dealt with" — she'd been "severely reprimanded." When, puzzled, I suggested we ought to let other people listen to the messages on the Internet and solicit their opinions on whether or not it's the same voice, he got huffy and accused me of being out to badmouth his company.
Nonetheless, Luvano offered to have the CEO, Kevin Johnson (who he said was on vacation) write me a personal apology. He also said the company would finally refund the dough, which I appreciate.
As of yesterday, Rogier had received neither the apology nor the refund.
"Lend Me Your Ears, or, Who You Callin' a Faggot?"
[Nobody's Business]
(Photos:
Getty
)
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