Consumer Warning

IRS warns of scams relating to donations for wildfire victims

The Internal Revenue Service is warning taxpayers to beware of a new e-mail scam which is designed to appear to be from the IRS and the U.S. government soliciting donations for the victims of the recent Southern California wildfires.

In an effort to appear legitimate, the fraudulent e-mails use text from an actual speech given by a member of the California General Assembly. The e-mail urges recipients to click on a link, which then opens what appears to be the IRS Web site, but which is in fact a fake.

John Fougere, of the Missouri State Attorney General’s, office said, “It’s not uncommon for con artists to prey upon the generosity of Missourians after disasters such as Katrina, or the ‘93 floods.”

Read full story [Darrin Miller - Branson Daily News]

SOMETHING VISHY - Be Aware of a New Online Scam

It’s one of the latest breakthroughs in telecommunications—Voice Over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, which enables telephone calls over the web.

And guess who’s hopping on the VoIP bandwagon along with millions of legitimate customers? Criminals, that’s who. They’re using the technology to hijack identities and steal money. It already has a name: “vishing.”

New wine, old wineskins. Vishing is really just a new take on an old scam—phishing. You know the drill: you get an e-mail that claims to be from your bank or credit card company asking you to update your account information and passwords (perhaps, it says cleverly, because of fraudulent activity) by clicking on a link to what appears to be a legit website. Don’t do it, of course. It’s just a ruse, nothing more than an illegal identity theft collection system.

Vishing schemes are slightly different, with a couple of variations.

    * In one version, you get the typical e-mail, like a traditional phishing scam. But instead of being directed to an Internet site, you’re asked to provide the information over the phone and given a number to call. Those who call the “customer service” number (a VoIP account, not a real financial institution) are led through a series of voice-prompted menus that ask for account numbers, passwords, and other critical information.

    * In another version you’re contacted over the phone instead of by e-mail. The call could either be a “live” person or a recorded message directing you to take action to protect your account. Often, the criminal already has some personal information on you, including your account or credit card numbers. That can create a false sense of security. The call came from a VoIP account as well.

Vishing, as you might imagine from these scams, has some advantages over traditional phishing tricks. First, VoIP service is fairly inexpensive, especially for long distance, making it cheap to make fake calls. Second, because it’s web-based, criminals can use software programs to create phony automated customer service lines.

But if the thieves are giving out their phone numbers, they should be easy to track, right? Wrong. Criminals can mask the number they are calling from, thwarting caller ID. And in some cases, the VoIP number belongs to a legitimate subscriber whose service is being hacked.

So how prevalent is vishing? Hard to say, due to reporting difficulties. “A lot of would-be victims are reporting this as SPAM or phishing,” says Dan Larkin, chief of the FBI’s Cyber Initiative and Resource Fusion Unit. “But we know it’s out there. It’s happening.”

Don’t let it happen to you. Larkin recommends greeting a phone call or e-mail seeking personal information with a healthy dose of skepticism. If you think the call is legit, you can always hang up and call back using the customer service number provided by the financial institution when the account was opened.

Source FBI

Totino's, Jeno's pizza recalled due to E. coli

Almost five million Totino's and Jeno's frozen pizzas with pepperoni toppings are being recalled because the pepperoni may be contaminated with E. coli, General Mills Inc (GIS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday.

General Mills, which owns the Totino's and Jeno's brands, said the recall affects about 414,000 cases of pizza products currently in stores and all similar pizza products that might be in consumers' freezers. Each case contains 12 pizzas.

The possible E. coli contamination was uncovered by state and federal authorities investigating 21 E. coli-related illnesses in 10 states.

General Mills said nine of the 21 people reported having eaten Totino's or Jeno's pizza with pepperoni topping at some point before becoming ill.

The people became ill between July 20 and Oct. 10, the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service said, adding that all the patients recovered.

Read full story [Reuters]

New warning on cold meds for kids

November 4, 2007
Several nonprescription cold medicines are being recalled because they come with a dosing cup that does not mark the half-teaspoon level recommended for ages 2 through 5. Wyeth Consumer Healthcare started a voluntary recall involving Robitussin Cough DM, Robitussin Cough & Cold CF, Robitussin Cough and Congestion, Robitussin Head and Chest Congestion PE, Robitussin Cough Sugar Free DM and Children's Dimetapp Cough and Chest Congestion. Wyeth recommends that consumers who have young children not use the medicines until replacement products with new cups are available.

PA. plant recalling beef linked to E. coli

The ground beef in your freezer could be contaminated with E coli, a potentially deadly bacterium, executives of a Pennsylvania meat-processing plant said yesterday.

Cargill Meat Solutions Corp. is voluntarily recalling more than 1 million pounds of ground beef that could be unsafe to eat.

No illnesses have been linked to the meat, said John Keating, Cargill regional president. Nonetheless, his company was working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to retrieve any of the beef still in the marketplace or in consumers' freezers.

Cargill produced the beef at its plant in Wyalusing, Bradford County, from Oct. 8 to Oct. 11. Then it distributed the products to grocers in Pennsylvania and nine other states in the Midwest and Northeast.

Giant Eagle, Western Pennsylvania's dominant grocery, received "several hundred thousand pounds" of the meat from Cargill, said company spokesman Rob Borella.

But Giant Eagle had none of the suspect beef on its shelves by the time the recall was announced, he said.

All of the meat had sale-expiration dates that lapsed in October, Mr. Borella said. This means customers already ate the meat, or it is sitting in their freezers.

Any beef that was not sold by its expiration date was removed from Giant Eagle stores and destroyed prior to the recall, Mr. Borella said.

Giant Eagle, like Cargill, had received no complaints of illnesses associated with the meat.

Mr. Borella said if the beef were cooked properly, in accordance with instructions on the package, any bacteria should have been killed.

Read full story [Milan Simonich, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

Are your kids' toys safe?

Lead paint. Magnets. It's all in the news, and now on your mind. One thing is clear: This is no game.

How happy they seemed, Thomas and his engine friends, with their magnet bumpers, their painted faces, their $15 6-inch switch tracks.

How hard they worked, hauling coal cars, gold cars, circus cars -- even aquarium cars, with water that sloshed over the little plastic shark. Up the mountain, over the bridge, pushed by the kids, who went around and around for hours.

Kids being kids, some of those toy engines went into mouths. Some of the paint flaked off. And Houston, we have a problem. A health problem. A corporate-image problem, with 1.7 million toys recalled. And a political problem, because Thomas, like nearly all the summer's recalled toys, was painted in China.

Read full story [Erie Times-News]