Consumer Blog

eBay apparently is promising to give 100% protection to buyers who get ripped off after using PayPal to pay for a product on eBay. 

When buying an item from an online auction like eBay, there's always the risk that something goes wrong - even that the seller is a crook. AG Nixon has prosecuted cases like this.

We get lots of consumer complaints every year about problems with these auctions. In 2007, this category was 9th on our list of top consumer complaints.

So what eBay seems to be saying is that if you use PayPal to purchase, and you don't get your stuff, they will cover your entire loss, no matter how big.

Keep in mind there are some stiff time restrictions for filing disputes - you need to act quickly for eBay to cover you. You can also file a consumer complaint with our office.

A recent blog post described an adoption scam involving a crook in Africa putting an ad on Craigslist offering a "free baby." The ad was discovered by our friend Jacqueline Lapine of KMIZ-TV in Columbia, who ran a story about it.

Around the time the story aired, a Columbia woman was just about to fall for a similar scam. After she saw Jacqueline's story, she knew she'd been fooled. She confronted the scammer in an e-mail. And the scammer came clean in this rant. Moral of the story, as always: don't do business with strangers on the Internet.

i am so sorry,i do not enjoy doing what i am doing but i am in the gloom ''prompt to do it ''please find a place in your heart to forgive me, please i am truly sorry for the hurts.it is because of my predicaments that iam doing all these, i got no choice even though i cannot justify myself and no worthy of any either,i feel so remorse and know i have really hurts you and your kids, please have mercy iam sorry, iam not a girl , i am a young boy and really sorry for what i have done,from day one i have been lying , the only truth i have ever told you was '' i cannot hurt you because i no what it meant to be hurt''but in the context that i told you so i was lying but in real life i have been hurts and just struggling to get up to no avail, i am a high school drop out and struggling to get back to school for four years now to no avail,i know it is not by this means that i can get back but i have tried so many times to but all failed me and i made up my mind to get back no matter what, i did not go to church today and last night i did not sleep, only thinking because truly i no how devastated your family is ant this point in time.please i do not want anything from you but just for you and your family to forgive me in the depth of your hearts. i know you're full of resentments for me and nothing less than that,because i have lied to you so much and everthing i said will seem to be fake, i know i will get through life someday, through my sufferings , i don't really enjoy this, i really feel bad insight , please forgive me, just try to forgive me, is all i ask of you , i have face a bitter peal of life and still face it but things at times that if i do this it can help me get back to what i love most , please forgive me and pray for God to show me his ways, iam really really sorry,if you put yourself in my shoe, you at least discover my predicaments and plight .i do not have a computer i only manage to have some few penny to pay at the cyber cafe to do all what i have been doing and hurting you.i am sorry

We get the question all the time, "Do you ever catch these guys" who commit Internet fraud? The answer is yes. Just this week the feds announced they've busted a massive global phishing operation that affected banks here in the U.S.

We hear about new phishing scams all the time - like the one that hit Mazuma credit union in Kansas City this week. This is when someone contacts you, claiming to be with your bank or some other important organization and asks for your account number or other sensitive info. It's always a scam, but consumers bite, give out their info and then find their account has been cleaned out.

Many, if not most, of these crooks are in other countries. But they send e-mail, phone calls and text messages into this country to target bank accounts. Many times, they are in Canada. Once they get account numbers, they create ATM cards, hop across the border into New York and make withdrawals at American bank ATMs.

As always, the advice is to never give personal information to people who contact you, whether it's by phone, e-mail, text or some other way. Only when you have inititated the contact should you give your info.

Thanks to Katie's post from Thursday, we have several questions about when and how these tax rebate (or stimulus) payments will arrive.

One important note: if you got a tax refund from the IRS this year, your stimulus payment will arrive that same way. So if your tax refund was a paper check, your stimulus payment will be also. If it was directed deposited, so will be your stimulus payment.

If you owed money this year, your rebate will come as a paper check.

Now, onto your questions:

My husband and I file jointly. Will our rebate check come jointly or will each of us get a separate check?

You will get one payment. When you get it is determined by the Social Security number of the first person listed on your return. (See schedule in Katie's post, above)

When will we expect our rebate? We filed jointly and by the date that is on the computer and news we should have already received our rebate but we haven't.

Did you get a tax refund via direct deposit? If not, you will be getting it via paper, and those don't even start coming until May 16. (again, see schedule)

When they say direct deposit do they mean those who got their refund on a emerald card? If I got it on an emerald card will I receive a check or will it be on my card?

I assume you are talking about the Emerald Card prepaid debit card available to customers of H&R Block. The IRS will treat this kind of stored value card just like a bank account. If it's still active, you'll get your money direct deposited on the card. If not, the IRS' attempt at direct deposit will bounce back, and they'll send you a paper check. Unless that account number has been assigned to someone else - in that case, they will get your stimulus payment!

The IRS has a personalized page called "Where's my economic stimulus payment?" You can enter your Social Security number (safe to do) and find out what info is available about the status of your payment. The only tricky part is you have to know how many exemptions you claimed on your 2007 tax return - and I can't remember.

Shopping for the perfect Mother's day gift online? Don't get scammed. If you want to be safe while shopping around the best way to visit local stores. But if you choose to shop online, I recommend that you read this article first, as it offers some guidelines to keep your personal information safe.

If you are looking for a last minute gift idea, you can always teach your mom how to be a savvy consumer. Be sure to explore our list of consumer publications.

A mid-Missouri TV station interviewed me recently because of a Craiglist posting about a baby available for adoption - for free. Sounds fishy already, right? It gets worse. The "mother" was supposedly in Africa somewhere and had her husband die recently. "She" claimed to have a baby she wanted to go to a good home.  Here is the story.

 This has all the markings of an adoption scam. My guess is that any consumer who expressed interest would receive photos of the baby, health updates, etc. All this would serve to get them emotionally hooked. Then the "mother" will ask for money - for a medical complication, diapers, travel to the U.S., whatever. This "mother" may very well be a he, and there is almost certainly no baby.

Our Welcome Home publication, released last summer, is a consumer guide that walks you through the complicated process of adoption. There is also a section, on page 15, on adoption scams. Basic tips are to work with an adoption professional (like a reputable agency or lawyer) and never send money directly to the birth parent(s).

Like all publications, Welcome Home is available for free at our online order form.

For lots of us, the summer means ball parks and baseball. If fans strike out trying to buy tickets from the team box office, they may turn to online ticket-resale websites. There are several websites similar to e-Bay, which focus primarily on auctioning tickets to sporting events and concerts.

There are some advantages to purchasing tickets through a website like StubHub.com. Often the tickets are cheaper than the ball park price--and may be tickets to "sold-out" events.

Even though StubHub guarantees its tickets, scammers have found ways to cheat consumers by selling tickets that aren't as advertised. Consumer complaints include seats in nose-bleed sections, even though they paid for closer seats and seats that aren't in the same section, and not even receiving tickets.

To avoid getting scammed, take some precautions. First, use a reputable website and never deal directly with the seller. StubHub can only guarantee your tickets when you follow its protocol. Second, do not ever pay via wire transfer or cashier's check, as there is no way to recover that money if you don't get your tickets. Use the system of payment the site recommends. Many sites use the PayPal system and that takes the money directly from your account. This way your bank will have a history of the transaction. Finally, most sites allow you to check sellers' history of satisfied customers-make sure you read and leave reviews for future customers.

If the so-called "super bug" has you super scared, you aren't alone. The staph infection that is almost completely antibiotic-resistant —known as MRSA — appears as a small infection or may look like tiny spider bite. Because of this, it can be misdiagnosed. MRSA can become more dangerous if, for instance, for people with weak immune systems, or those have had recent surgery. If these cases, infections can quickly worsen.

Recently, drug-resistant infections — including MRSA — have been in the headlines, as they have been linked to several deaths. It is important to know that staph infections can be spread by contact. But, you can contract an infection with more than just person-to-person contact; you can also pick-up the bacteria by other means, such as touching a contaminated surface.

Because many people who seek care at hospitals already have compromised immune systems, it would be natural for patients to have concerns if they are in an environment that is clean, sterile and free of germs.

That is exactly why the MO Legislature passed a bill that requires hospitals to report their healthcare related infections to the MO Department of Health and Senior Services. On its website, you can search the history of your hospital or compare hospitals regionally. While this doesn't put an end to the spread of staph infections, it should give you some peace of mind that your hospital is a safe environment in the event you are in need of medical attention.

Editor's note: Here is a blog post from Valentine's Day last year - but it still applies. The article in the link below has been updated.

To mark Valentine's Day, here's an item that goes to show you can get ripped off doing just about anything -- including looking for a date online. If you're getting to know that special someone on a dating Web site and you hear sob stories and an eventual request for money, look out.I personally took a call from a consumer three years ago who was convinced she had met (though never in person) her soul mate. The man claimed to live in another country and wanted to move to Missouri to marry her... after he bribed an African government to get his kids released from captivity. Naturally, he needed some of her money to pay the bribe. I couldn't convince her it was a scam. Never heard the outcome of that story, but good chance he broke her bank account as well as her heart.

My son has unpaid bills, and a collection agency calls me frequently. I have told him on three occasions that this is not my son's telephone number and to stop calling me. I have refused to help him contact my son. He is very abrasive and often hangs up on me. Is there a way to stop him from harassing me?

You can file a consumer complaint with our office. We have great success getting debt collectors off the backs of people who are incorrectly targeted. This is becoming a bigger problem all the time. Debt is often sold from one company to the other. With each sale, the records get more blurry, and collectors more aggressive. Thus, lots of mistakes and lots of obnoxious behavior by the collector. By the way, even if you do owe the debt, there are still limitations on what debt collectors can do. The Federal Trade Commission offers a summary of your rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

Have you ever bought an item at a store, only to find out it went on sale a few days later? At some stores, you can bring in your receipt and they'll give you money back after the fact.

But who pays such close attention to sales on items they've already bought? A couple of new Web sites, that's who.

For free, they let you register a recently purchased product, and if it goes on sale, you'll get an e-mail. Check them out here and here.

Another idea used by some consumers: just return the item, then go back and buy it on sale. But remember, there's no guarantee the store will accept your return. There's no law requiring any store to accept returned merchandise, though most do.

I just finished reading an article on ScamBusters.org that really shook me to the core. Unfortunately, in this day and age, almost everyone has lost a family member or friend to cancer. When I read stories of people and families who struggle to battle this disease, my heart breaks—and that is exactly the reaction that some scammers hope to get.

The so-called "cancer fraud" scam works like this: A cancer-free person shares a story with the world that he or she has the disease and isn't financially stable enough to seek medical treatment. This dubious claim is targeted at churches, non-profit organizations and specific people to get money and gifts. Those of us who have lost a loved-one to the disease are good candidates that could fall victim to this type of scam. This rip-off is a hard to uncover, because scammers have found a way to forge records stating that they are sick. Not to mention, it's pretty hard to say, "I need proof that you really have cancer."

Con-artists who are capable of such a wicked offense, have found two effective ways of pulling off their scam. They may reach out to their community by asking for assistance and in return, they receive money and sometimes gifts. Or, they could choose to target their victims via email. The "Nigerian fee cancer emails"--often sent to religious organizations--state that a woman has cancer and needs assistance. The bonus is that she has millions of dollars set aside that she will send when she recovers!

So, how do you protect yourself from this type of scam, but still give to a cause that you care about? Ultimately, it is safer to give to a legitimate organization that helps cancer patients and their families than to give to an individual--whom you don't know--that is making the claim that he or she is ill. Many charities provide their mission and financial information to our office. Visit our our Check-a-Charity page to learn more. Secondly, if you receive an email suggesting you send money to an individual and in exchange they'll send you millions, be wary! This type of email is almost always a scam.

We often say that fears of online ID theft are overblown - that the old-fashioned way is still the most popular. By that I mean rummaging through garbage ("dumpster diving") and mailboxes, stealing purses and wallets, etc.

But people do use the Internet to steal identities - no doubt about it. The feds have made what they call their first arrest of an ID thief who used file sharing to get his info. This is a lesson to watch what all you make available to file-sharing programs on your computer, supervise your kids' activities online, and of course -- my mantra -- check your free credit report 3x/year to find out if you've been an ID theft victim.

Sorry, that headline was just too easy.

The help-wanted ad Web site has announced that hackers accessed the personal information of 1.3 million of its users. Interesting, Monster says the stolen data did not include what we refer to as "sensitive information" - that being Social Security, bank or credit card numbers. Instead, it was contact info - name, address, phone number, etc.

It's certainly an invasion of privacy that would make you feel uneasy, but it's hard for a thief to commit ID theft with just that information.

Still, it's a reminder that even the biggest Web operators are vulnerable, and your personal info is not safe. So I repeat my mantra: you must be watching for signs of ID theft. Check your bank and credit card statements at least monthly, and check your free credit report three times a year.

We write a lot about Internet scams for good reason. According to the Kansas City Star, U.S. consumers lost more than $7 billion in web scams last year. The article cites a recent Consumer Reports survey that indicates Internet phishing scams are on the rise.

Further, the study reveals that "zombie" spams are the source of many consumer complaints. The zombie spam is delivered and hides deep in personal computers. When the victim opens an attachment that seems to be as innocent as a picture file, the spam software can take control of your computer. The statistics can be overwhelming; for instance, you face a 1 in 4 chance of being a "cyber victim." But that isn't where the story has to end. You can defend yourself from viruses and phishing scams by installing software to block such spyware. Always remember not to open attachments and emails from companies and people you don't know. Most importantly, continue to check sites like this blog to keep up on all the latest scams.