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$18 Million WIC And Food Stamps Fraud Scheme Used Pretend Grocery Stores
WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) and SNAP (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program) are both federally-funded, state-administered programs with the simple goal of preventing Americans from going...
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FCC Fines T-Mobile $819,000 For Selling Phones That Don’t Work With Hearing Aids
(las – initially)Let’s point out something very, very obvious: within reason, everyone should have the right to communicate over the phone, even if they live with some form of hearing loss. For that...
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People Buying Fewer Hot Pockets After Tastes Change, SNAP Cuts
(Mike Mozart)It’s easy to make fun of Hot Pockets. Over the years, we’ve laughed at the dough-encased food-like objects when they’ve been recalled for containing plastic and meat considered “unfit for...
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Pennies Are Still Useless, And Nickels Cost Eight Cents To Make
(Great Beyond)Printing and minting money is one of the privileges that government has. In theory, this is a privilege because the face value of coins is more than they cost to make. The problem is that...
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FTC Challenges Sysco Acquisition Of US Foods
(Don Buciak II)Sysco’s in-person meetings with the Federal Trade Commission didn’t have the desired effect. The foodservice supply giant wanted approval for its planned acquisition of competitor U.S....
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FCC Votes To Allow Cities To Expand Broadband Networks
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler speaking at the FCC’s Open Meeting on February 26, 2015. As expected, the FCC today has confirmed an order permitting two cities to expand their existing municipal fiber...
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FCC Officially Votes To Protect Net Neutrality, Reclassify Broadband
(Steve)In a landmark decision today, the FCC voted 3-2 to create enforceable, bright-line rules protecting the open internet using their Title II authority to reclassify broadband internet as a...
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Virginia Limits Retention Of License Plate Capture Data To 7 Days
(frankieleon)We’ve shared with you before the that both private companies and law enforcement are combining images of motorists’ license plates with geographic data about where those plates were...
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The IRS Is Still Using Windows XP, Has A Cybersecurity Staff Of 363 People
(afagen)In the last few years, tax return fraud has become a serious problem at the state and federal levels, thanks to the growth of e-filing and security holes in IRS and third-party tax software...
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4 Million Federal Employees Are The Latest Victims Of A Massive Data Breach
(Flyinace2000)There are millions of federal employees in the country, and not just in Washington, DC. The government is a big bureaucracy and a big employer — and that makes it a nice, juicy target for...
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Federal Data Breach Reportedly Affects An Additional 21 Million People
(Julio Marquez)Remember when it was announced that more than four million federal employees in the country were part of a massive data breach last month? Well, turns out that was just one of two rather...
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Kmart Pays $1.4 Million To Settle Accusations Of Illegal Coupon Acceptance,...
In most of the country, pharmacies can offer rewards points, coupons, or other inducements to get you to switch prescriptions to them. Not only is this illegal in certain states, it’s also illegal to...
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Federal Data Breach Included 5.6M Compromised Fingerprints, Five Times The...
Federal investigators underestimated the number of fingerprints stolen in a massive breach of the Office of Personnel Management earlier this year: the agency announced Wednesday that 5.6 million...
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Once Medicaid Decides That You’re Dead, It’s Hard To Come Back To Life
When you’re dead, you generally can’t come back. It’s also difficult to come back when you’re actually alive, but the government thinks that you’re dead. An 87-year-old on Brooklyn is understandably...
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The 3 Biggest Banks Extracted $6 Billion In ATM And Overdraft Fees From Us...
Back in 1998, comedian Al Franken published a satirical novel where the fictional Al Franken ran a single-issue presidential campaign against ATM fees in 2000. A technical malfunction erased ATM...
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6 Things We Learned About The IRS’s Fight Against Fraud And Identity Theft
Things are difficult for the IRS right now. For the last few years, people contacting the IRS have encountered lengthy phone hold times, and identity theft and refund fraud drain billions of dollars’...
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Here’s What You Should Know About Philadelphia’s New Tax On Soda
Philadelphia is just the second municipality in the United States (after Berkleley, CA) to pass a tax on sugary beverages, though dozens of places have tried it. Well, okay, but what does that mean for...
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Feds Arrest 61 For Alleged Indian Call Center Scam That Bilked Millions From...
Earlier this month, police in India detained hundreds of employees in three different call centers for allegedly proliferating a scam that involved calling unsuspecting consumers masquerading as...
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Where Attorney General Nominee Jeff Sessions Comes Down On Consumer Issues
The election may feel like it happened just yesterday, but it’s now ten days behind us, and the building transition to the administration turnover in January is well underway. As part of that, today we...
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Airbnb Won’t Be Held Liable For Law-Breaking Listings In NYC
Back in October, the state of New York passed a new law specifically aimed at micro-hoteliers who rent out one or more New York City apartments to tourists. Airbnb immediately sued the state and the...
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