Class Action Blog : Class Action Lawyer & Attorney : Meiselman, Denlea, Packman, Carton & Eberz : Consumer fraud, Personal Injury

Many of us use popular websites such as eBay and Craigslist to buy and sell merchandise.  Yet even experienced sellers are being victimized by money order scams.  The way it works is that a buyer (usually from outside the county) agrees to purchase your merchandise, then sends you a money order for an amount in excess of the agreed upon price.  The seller is then told that a mistake has been made and the money order received by the seller was intended for a different purchase.  The seller is asked to deposit the money order, deduct the agreed upon price, then refund the balance to the buyer via Western Union.

While it sounds innocent enough, in reality the money order was a counterfeit.  Yet because the copied paper looks so realistic, the scam is not uncovered until the fake money order is submitted to the “Issuer” bank for collection.  By that time, the money you sent via Western Union, your merchandise, and the scammer are long gone.  Because the ultimate responsibility to know where checks and money orders are coming from rests with the consumer, one needs to be especially careful.

To avoid such scams, make sure you never send money to anyone you can’t identify.  Even if a refund is indicated, be sure the buyer’s funds clear first before transferring any money in return.  Also, beware of emails pretending to be from a known source, asking you to enter or confirm personal information.

If you have been a victim a fake check scam, please contact us to discuss your legal options.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

With the recent economic downturn, many homeowners are facing the risk of mortgage foreclosures.  Desperate to save their homes, many people are falling prey to the predatory practices of mortgage rescue scams.  Typically, these scams solicit the homeowner with promises of debt relief that often seem too good to be true.  In fact, these are fraudulent offers, designed to prey upon those most in need of financial help.

The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) has alerted consumers to look out for five major warning signs of a mortgage rescue scam.  First, they will promise to stop a foreclosure or modify your loan.  Second, they will offer “guarantees,” that your home will be saved, with claims of a 97% success rate.  Third, they usually require fees to be paid in advance.  Fourth, they will advise you to stop paying your mortgage company.  Finally, they may have the look or sound of an official agency or governmental authority.

If you believe you or someone you know has been the victim of a mortgage rescue scam, please contact us to discuss your legal options.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

In past posts, this blog warned consumers of potentially dangerous ingredients that may be harmful to you or your child’s health.  Recent events have shown the warnings to be justified.

The Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) has warned consumers to stop using zinc-based intranasal Zicam cold products and discard them or return them to stores because they have been associated with anosmia -- long lasting or permanent loss of smell.  The loss of smell can be "life-threatening," said Deborah M. Autor, director of the office of compliance for the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, because people with impaired smell cannot detect leaking gas or smoke and cannot tell if food has spoiled before they eat it.  Indeed, the FDA has received more than 130 reports of anosmia associated with use of Zicam products from doctors and consumers.  The loss of sense of smell may be long-lasting or even permanent in some people.

The affected Zicam branded products, manufactured by Matrixx Initiatives, are Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal Gel, Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal Swabs and Zicam Cold Remedy Swabs, Kids Size (a discontinued product that consumers may still have in their homes).

Moreover, Zicam products are marketed as cold remedies used purportedly to reduce the duration and severity of cold symptoms.  According to the FDA, however, these products have not seen to be effective in the reduction of the duration and severity of cold symptoms.  As such, consumers may have been deceived into purchasing a useless product.

If you have purchased a Zicam product, or have been injured as a result of using a Zicam product, please contact us to discuss your legal options.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Have you ever looked at your coffee cup, disposable razor or any other common household item and wondered when it was invented?  And if you look closely, most of the time you’ll see stamped on the item a patent number, issued by the United States Patent Office to the inventor of the item.  But what happens if the patent has expired, and the company owning the patent continues to sell the product as if the patent is still in effect?  In cases like that, a consumer may file a Qui Tam action -- Latin for a lawsuit filed by an individual on behalf of the government pursuant to the federal False Claims Act -- against the company manufacturing an item with an expired patent.  And the best part for a consumer is that lawsuits filed pursuant to the False Claims Act allow the filer to keep half of any damages recovered on behalf of the government.

For example, a sharp-eyed attorney in Washington, D.C. did some investigating after spotting patent markings on the lid to his daily cup of coffee and discovered that the patent had actually expired some 20 years before.  Now the lawyer is seeking millions of dollars in damages in a Qui Tam suit against the lid maker, Solo Cup.    The Associate Press reports that U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled that the suit filed on behalf of the government by the attorney does not violate the constitutional separation of powers doctrine, and that the suit satisfied requirements of actual harm because the United States suffered when its patent laws were broken.  This same attorney has also filed a similar suit against razor company Gillette.  Both the Gillette and Solo Cup cases were filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, the National Law Journal reports in a May 12 story.

The U.S. Justice Department is also supporting a Qui Tam action in a separate case filed over Brooks Brothers' expired patent claim on its "original Adjustolox" bow tie.  The department sought to intervene on behalf of the plaintiff after a New York federal judge dismissed the suit on standing grounds.

Consumers should take a look at items they use regularly, and see if the item has a patent number stamped upon it.  It may be that the patent has expired, in which case a Qui Tam action may be initiated against the manufacturer.  If successful, individuals filing such cases may end up with an award of up to half of any damages collected.

If you know or suspect that an item is being manufactured with an expired patent, please contact us to aid you in a patent investigation and/or to discuss your legal options.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

As the dangers of cigarette smoking have become well known, many smokers have resorted to various substitutes to their daily pack of smokes.  We all have friends or relatives who have tried to “kick the habit” by means of nicotine patches, nicotine chewing gums, herbal remedies, and prescription medicines.  Recently, electronic cigarettes – battery-operated devices that have the look, feel, and even taste of a normal cigarette – have been touted as an allegedly “safe” alternative to traditional cigarettes.  Hundreds of thousands of Americans looking for their nicotine fix have now taken up smoking these “e-cigarettes” based upon the belief that these devices pose no threat to their health.  Unfortunately, there are serious questions regarding the dangers of electronic cigarettes that remain unanswered.

The appeal of electronic cigarettes stems in large part from the fact that smokers inhale liquid nicotine, and exhale a mist of vapor, thus replicating the experience of smoking traditional cigarettes but without also ingesting the tar or tobacco that are present in traditional cigarettes.  According to a recent New York Times article, what many e-cigarette users don’t know is that along with liquid nicotine they are also inhaling propylene glycol, a liquid that is used in anti-freeze solutions and in brake and hydraulic fluids.  The material data safety sheet for propylene glycol states that chronic exposure of that substance may cause “reproductive and fetal effects,” “central nervous system depression,” damage to cell membranes, and possible seizures.  Moreover, there appears to be no evidence that inhalation of propylene glycol over a prolonged period of time is safe, and there are no independent scientific studies demonstrating that electronic cigarettes can help people to stop smoking. 

Electronic cigarettes are already banned in Australia and Hong Kong due to safety concerns.  And the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) has refused entry of shipments of electronic cigarettes coming into the U.S.  “These appear to be unapproved drug device products,” said Karen Riley, a spokeswoman for the FDA, “and as unapproved products they can’t enter the United States."

If you have purchased electronic cigarettes, or have been injured by using “e-cigarettes,” please contact us to discuss your legal options.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (11)
• Trackbacks

In these tough economic times, with almost 1 out 10 Americans unemployed, many people are desperate for a job or an opportunity to earn a little extra money to pay their bills.  Not surprisingly, it is also when scam artists come out of the dark to prey on innocent consumers.  The latest work-at-home scheme proliferating on the internet is “Easy Google Profit.”  Typically, consumers surfing the internet will click on the link “Easy Google Profit” while reading -- what they later find out to be -- a fake newspaper article or advertisement.  The link directs consumers to a work-at-home scam, where they unwittingly sign up and their credit or debit cards are charged a fee.

The New York Times recently reported about once such example:  The reporter writes about a friend who came across an article online in the “Miami Gazette” about opportunities to work at home.  The article begins with general thoughts about the economic situation and how online jobs from home may be the next big thing.  Then it zeroes in on, and praises “Easy Google Profit,” which offers people work from home posting links on Web sites using text advertising applications.  It all looked legitimate; except, as the reporter points out, the “Miami Gazette” does not exist.  Moreover, the “Reader Response” posted under the fake article also seemed genuine, complete with misspellings and success stories.  In fact, the key to the scheme was that every link in the story sent readers to “Easy Google Profit.”  And in tiny, hard to read type below the newspaper logo, the following statement appeared: “This publication is an article advertisement for Easy Google Profit.”  The reporter’s friend didn’t notice the warning signs and signed up with her debit card.  She had unknowingly authorized this scam work-at-home company to charge $72 to her debit card every month until she called to cancel.

Unfortunately, many consumers across the country are being deceived by these sham work-at-home offers, particularly because they believe that Google -- a trusted and famous household name -- may be affiliated with these offers.  For example, in April, 2009, the Texas Attorney General filed a complaint against Infusion Media, Inc., a company that allegedly ran at least three sham work-at-home websites, two of which capitalized on the Google brand: GoogleMoneyTree.com, Google TreasureChest.com and InternetIncomeIntiative.com.  The State of Texas alleged that all three websites violated the Texas consumer fraud statute because the defendants engaged in false, deceptive and misleading acts and practices in the course of trade and commerce.  And we recently published a post on another famous work-at-home opportunity: Jeff Paul’s “Shortcuts To Internet Millions” program.  As we wrote then, a website dedicated to protecting consumers from sham business opportunities wrote that Jeff Paul’s program is a “scam” and warns consumers not to “believe everything you hear!!”  Another consumer website reported that in its opinion Jeff Paul’s program is not “a legitimate program” and cites to consumer complaints posted by people who signed up for the program.

The Better Business Bureau received 3,539 complains last year about work-at-home companies, and Allison Southwick, a spokeswoman for the bureau, says that her agency is “very concerned about seeing a rise in instances of fraud targeting job hunters this year in light of the increase in the unemployment rate.”  “Scammers,” she added, “read the headlines and anytime people are vulnerable, they’ll take advantage.”

If you were deceived by a sham work-at-home scheme, please contact us to discuss your legal options.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (3)
• Trackbacks

Detox Foot Pads and similar products are seen everywhere.  They are depicted in television and Internet advertisements.  They are in drug stores of all varieties.  They are also on the bottom of lots of feet.  Successful marketing, however, does not mean they actually do anything beneficial for you.  Detox Foot Pads claim they remove “toxins” from your body.  The ingredients in the pad placed on the bottom of the foot allegedly remove heavy metals, metabolic wastes and other health-threatening substances by drawing them through the pores of the skin on the sole of your foot where they are absorbed by the pad for disposal the next morning.  Their effectiveness is proven by how the white pad attached to the foot turns dark overnight.

The Official Foot Detox Home of The Official Detox Foot Pad claims its pads (as opposed to the cheap imitations found elsewhere) can treat “sleep disturbances, muscle tension, headaches, gastrointestinal disturbances, fatigue, nervousness, anxiety, changes in eating habits including overeating, loss of enthusiasm or energy and mood changes” for only $17.99 for a box of 14 pads.  The Detox Foot Pad contains tourmaline, “a mineral found in Brazil,” that emits “far infrared rays” that generate “negative ions.”  These negative ions stimulate acupressure points to promote wellness.  The website even contains an acupressure diagram of the foot showing where to apply the pad to treat various organs of the body.

The Detox Foot Pad also contains “a vinegar essence from Bamboo trees,” a healing substance known to Chinese villagers for “thousands of years.”  Combined with other substances, it forms a “powerful synergistic detoxification product.”  To certify the integrity of this product, the website even has an Anti-Fraud Policy and proclaims that they “Actively Pursue and Prosecute Fraud Offenders.”  The website also contains a disclaimer that advises that the Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") had not certified the effectiveness of the product and that you should consult with your physician.

The Detox Foot Pad and similar products are not supported by scientific evidence.  The vinegar in the pad will clean your skin during prolonged contact and turn the pad brown.  Beyond that there is very little to suggest the products work.  In fact, according to the Mayo Clinic, “no scientific studies have been published that demonstrate that these products actually remove toxins from the body.”  Moreover, tourmaline is mined primarily as a gemstone.  While some tourmaline has colors vivid enough to appear to glow (perhaps the source of the claim to emit far infrared rays), other stones are irradiated to improve their color.  There is no scientific evidence to indicate that tourmaline, a crystal silicate mineral, once ground up in a form that can be combined with the other substances in the Detox Foot Pad would emit anything, let alone far infrared rays.  Notably, the product’s website does not indicate how much tourmaline is in each pad.

If you have purchased Detox Foot Pads or any similar product, please contact us to discuss your legal options.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Colon cleansing products are all the rage and the competition for the consumer dollar is fierce.  Numerous websites purport to be objective comparisons for colon cleansers, but are really just advertisements touting certain products.  For example, the Colon Review Board bills itself as the “Official source for colon cleanse news, reviews and information.”  They claim to be a New York based company that is a “watch dog group in the health products industry.”  Yet the website is registered to a Canadian firm, Domain Privacy Group, Inc. in Markham, Ontario.  The website reports on three colon cleanser products and goes on to praise the benefits of colon cleansing.  The website claims that our modern diet and lifestyle allegedly deposit toxins in the colon that impair our skin condition, our absorption of nutrients and may even lead to colon cancer.  Not surprisingly this website has links to the websites for the three products it rates most highly.

Another site, naturalhealingtoday.com, also offers a review of colon cleansers by its “editorial staff.”  The site claims that hardened fecal matter and other toxic materials in the colon impair digestion and nutrient absorption.  Ten separate products receive reviews and a customer feedback section is included.  The website is registered to Domains by Proxy, Inc., which at best helps conceal the real identity about this purportedly neutral pro-consumer site.

WebMD reports that colon cleansing has been examined inconclusively in regard to a few health concerns, none of which are the toxins, weight loss or other benefits alleged by the numerous current colon-cleansing advertisements.  WebMD also offers some additional observations.  The liver and the natural bacteria in the colon detoxify food wastes.  The mucus membranes colon cleansers claim should be removed are the body’s natural barrier keeping unwanted substances from being absorbed into the body.  The colon naturally sheds old cells on a regular basis, which prevents a build-up of harmful material.  And weight loss is unrelated to the colon since most calories are absorbed earlier in the digestive process.  WebMD also recommends you protect your colon health by eating 20 – 35 grams of fiber a day, drinking plenty of fluids, limiting alcohol and red meat and having colon cancer screenings after age 50 or at your doctor’s direction.

The claims made by the various colon cleansing products are almost identical to those made by Mega Systems International, Inc. regarding Eden’s Secret Nature’s Purifying Product during the late 1990s.  That product claimed to cleanse the body of toxic waste, colon waste and help the user lose weight, among other benefits.  In 1998, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) required Mega Systems to cease advertising that the product would cause significant weight loss, prevent or cure illnesses and cleanse the body of toxins.

It may well be that the current interest in colon cleansing products may only be the re-emergence of an old consumer health fraud scam.

If you have been injured or deceived into purchasing colon cleansing products, please contact us to discuss your legal options.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Using reputable websites, not responding to false solicitations or phishing scams and keeping your security software up to date may provide all the protection you need for online shopping.  An entirely new scam may leave you buying things you do not intend to purchase and even from sellers you do not want to buy from.

Clickjacking refers to hidden software that has infested a seller’s website.  The shopper sees the seller’s website on his computer screen.  Unknown to seller and shopper alike, malicious code imbedded in the website places an invisible page over the page of the seller’s website.  The action buttons or links of the visible page are actually covered by unseen code.  When the buyer clicks a button, he thinks he is performing an intended action, but is actually giving an instruction or making a purchase he is totally unaware of.  This can result in excess purchases, the transmission of credit card information to unintended recipients or even the installation of malicious software on your own computer.   Online sellers must do everything they can to prevent their site from being compromised by clickjacking software.  Their failure to do so may leave them liable to those victimized by their poor security.

No computer, operating system or web browser is naturally immune from clickjacking.  Consumers should install all security upgrades for their browsers and activate any options that are designed to prevent clickjacking.   Online shoppers must examine credit card and banking statements carefully to screen for unauthorized transactions.

If you think you have been victimized by clickjacking,  please contact us to discuss your legal options.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks