Consumer Warning

Colorado Attorney General issues warning about e-mail scam

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers today issued a consumer advisory warning Colorado consumers and businesses about a new e-mail scam being reported to his office.

Businesses and consumers have reported receiving unsolicited e-mail messages claiming to be from the United States Department of Justice and concerning a supposed consumer complaint filed against the recipient.

The e-mail usually contains an attachment that is either a blank complaint form or some other document.

Consumers are advised to not open the attachment because it may contain a computer virus or other malicious software.

Warning: Scam artists want to steal your tax rebate

On the heels of the government's plan to stimulate the economy by sending out special tax rebates, authorities say crooks are posing as officials from the Internal Revenue Service or Social Security Administration.

They are calling people and asking for personal financial information so they can "directly deposit" rebate money.

One Texas woman, 69-year-old Edna Lawrence, said she was called at least eight times by a man posing as an IRS agent. She didn't fall for it, and instead notified the state's attorney general about the caller.

"Actually, he was kind of pushy. Basically he wasn't going to take 'no,' and I had to hang up on him," she said.

One of her daughter's friends, however, who received the same type of phone call, believed the caller and lost more than $200, Lawrence said.

"I think it is horrible that anybody -- anybody -- would do that to anyone, because those people are looking forward to that money," Lawrence said.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott issued a consumer alert notifying Texans about the new scams. He says economic hard times could get in the way of making good decisions.

Read full story [CNN]

Sears settles suit over allegedly dangerous stoves

Consumer advocates Wednesday hailed the settlement of a class-action lawsuit over Sears stoves in which the retailer agreed to install safety brackets for free to prevent the appliances from tipping over or provide other reimbursements.

According to the court-approved agreement, Sears will notify nearly 4 million customers who may have bought stoves between July 2000 and September 2007 that they either can get anti-tip safety brackets installed for free or receive gift cards or reimbursements of up to $100 to qualifying customers.

The brackets keep the appliances bolted to the floor or wall to prevent them from tipping over. Such accidents have caused more than 100 deaths or injuries, mostly from scalding and burns, according to the nonprofit consumer group Public Citizen.

The value of the settlement depends on how many customers respond to Sears' offer, but Public Citizen said it could end up costing the retailer more than $545 million. VideoWatch to see if your stove is in danger of tipping »

In addition to paying $17 million in legal fees, Sears will install brackets on all new stoves for free for the next three years.

"This agreement by Sears and the lawyers for the consumer is a real deal," said Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen. "This is a fantastic deal for a lawsuit to make this headway and get the protection for the consumer."

Sears Holdings Corp. spokesman Chris Brathwaite said the plaintiffs' counsel is overestimating the settlement's monetary value.

"The parties dispute many aspects of the case, including the value on this settlement -- which Sears estimates to be a small fraction of what plaintiffs' counsel estimates," Brathwaite said in a statement.

Claybrook and other consumer advocates said they would like the Consumer Product Safety Commission to require anti-tip brackets for all stove installations. Installing brackets is now voluntary.

Read full story [CNN]

Largest Recall of Ground Beef Is Ordered

A California meat company on Sunday issued the largest beef recall in history, 143 million pounds, some of which was used in school lunch programs, Department of Agriculture officials announced.

The recall by the Westland/Hallmark Meat Company, based in Chino, Calif., comes after a widening animal-abuse scandal that started after the Humane Society of the United States distributed an undercover video on Jan. 30 that showed workers kicking sick cows and using forklifts to force them to walk.

The video raised questions about the safety of the meat, because cows that cannot walk, called downer cows, pose an added risk of diseases including mad cow disease. The federal government has banned downer cows from the food supply.

Agriculture officials said there was little health risk from the recalled meat because the animals had already passed pre-slaughter inspection and much of the meat had already been eaten. In addition, the officials noted that while mad cow disease was extremely rare, the brains and spinal cords from the animals — the area most likely to harbor the disease — would not have entered the human food chain.

“The great majority has probably been consumed,” said Dr. Richard Raymond, the Agriculture Department’s under secretary for food safety.

The video was embarrassing for the Department of Agriculture, as inspectors are supposed to be monitoring slaughterhouses for abuse. It surfaced after a year of increasing concerns about the safety of the meat supply amid a sharp increase in the number of recalls tied to a particularly deadly form of the E. coli pathogen.

Read full story [NY Times]

Overcharging Batteries Can Lead to Fire

As a warning against overcharging toys with lithium batteries, a government safety agency said Tuesday there have been dozens of recent reports of remote-controlled helicopters catching fire while being charged.

Rechargeable lithium batteries are increasingly used in toys, but overcharging the batteries, which hold lots of energy in a small package, can result in overheating, fire or an explosion, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said.

Citing incidents of minor burns and minor property damage, the agency said there have been 26 reports since November 2007 of remote-controlled helicopters igniting while being charged and one report of a toy helicopter igniting during flight.

One of the toy's importers, Soft Air USA Inc. of Grapevine, Texas, announced Tuesday it was recalling 30,000 remote-controlled Fun2Fly Microcopter toys, made in China, because its batteries can catch fire during charging, posing a fire or burn hazard to consumers. The company had received six reports of helicopters catching fire, including one resulting in a minor injury.

The agency is asking consumers to follow manufacturers' instructions when charging toys with rechargeable lithium batteries. It also gives some safety recommendations:

Do not the leave the toy unattended while charging it.

Charge the device on a nonflammable surface and keep it away from flammable items.

Turn the charger off when the toy's battery is charged and always unplug it from the toy.

Disconnect AC wall chargers from outlets while not in use.

FBI: Beware of Valentine Day's Virus

The Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a warning Tuesday saying that all the romantics across the United States should be aware of a malicious computer worm spread through Valentine’s Day e-cards. Once the recipient receives the email, he is then directed to click on a link to retrieve an electronic greeting card (e-card).

After the recipient clicks on the link, malware is downloaded to the Internet-connected device and causes it to become infected and part of the Storm Worm botnet. A botnet is a network of compromised machines under the control of a single user.

"The Storm Worm virus has capitalized on various holidays in the last year by sending millions of emails advertising an e-card link within the text of the spam email. Valentine's Day has been identified as the next target," the FBI said, according to the Agence France-Presse.

Apparently, the Storm Worm virus began circulating in January 2007, surfacing in e-mails showing photos of damage from European windstorms. The Storm Worm began infecting thousands of (mostly private) computers in Europe and the United States on Friday, January 19, 2007. It spread using an e-mail message, initially with a subject line about the then-recent weather disaster (windstorm Kyrill): "230 dead as storm batters Europe".

Performance results mixed with Vista Service Pack 1

Microsoft's newly released Service Pack 1 may solve some of the performance glitches that have annoyed Windows Vista users.

Microsoft's newly released Service Pack 1 may solve some of the performance glitches that have annoyed Windows Vista users and discouraged others from adopting the OS, but it doesn't appear from our initial tests to be a panacea.

In our first tests of the service pack, file copying, one of the main performance-related complaints from Vista users, was significantly faster. But other tests showed little improvement and in two tests, our experience was actually a little better without the service pack installed than with it.

Read full story [PC World]