Monday 24 January 2011

Guarding Your Company's online reputation

When providers or individuals fall prey to unfair competitors, irate ex-employees or disgruntled buyers, then a SERM will become important in the financial survival of the online business.

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foreclosure search

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Exclusive: Huckabee Working With Scam Artist Notorious For Targeting Foreclosure Victims

Fox News personality and former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR) recently began appearing in television commercials calling for viewers to dial a 1-800 number to sign a repeal petition against health reform called “Repeal It Now.” The ad, a “project of Restore America’s Voice” (RAV), a political action committee run by Huckabee’s friend Ken Hoagland, also directs viewers to a website that solicits donations. “Well now, we’ll do our spanking on the Congress,” says a cheerful Huckabee before claiming that Americans will “rule” again if the petitioned is signed.

Huckabee, who has a history of using his ubiquitous media presence to fundraise for political groups benefiting himself and his family, is again associating with a shady political venture. ThinkProgress has learned that Huckabee is working with a firm notorious for defrauding families facing foreclosure with false promises and predatory fees.

According to disclosures filed with the FEC, RAV’s campaign is managed by a firm called the 949 Media Group. 949 has been paid tens of thousands of dollars to set up RAV’s website and Google search optimization, and receives a regular commission of $10,000 for related media work from RAV. ThinkProgress spoke to a representative from RAV, who told us that 949 is run by an individual named Derek Oberholtzer. According to the representative, Oberholtzer has worked with RAV since the PAC formed in October.

Oberholtzer is well known as a scam artist who has used a myriad of tricks to defraud people out of their money. In addition to 949 Media Group, he started a number of companies, including “Apply 2 Save” (A2S) and Giant Media Works. Consumer report websites are rife with complaints about Oberholtzer’s odious business practices. In one scheme, Oberholtzer paid for radio and other advertisements telling distressed homeowners to contact his company A2S to pay a flat $595 fee to receive assistance in renegotiating their loans or to block a bank foreclosure. The Federal Trade Commission has prosecuted Oberholtzer for deceptive practices. In numerous cases, Oberholtzer took the $595 payment, and never did anything to stop a foreclosure or even contact the mortgage company in question. In many instances he continued billing his customers further fees totaling nearly $1,000 without lifting a finger to actually renegotiate their mortgage or halt a foreclosure, as his “Apply 2 Save” company promised.

On message boards discussing mortgage fraud, story after story details A2S’s trickery. There are heartbreaking tales of families spending their last savings on a lifeline promised by Oberholtzer’s company — only to be defrauded and forced out of their homes.

After receiving over 150 complaints about Oberholtzer’s companies charging up-front fees of over $1,500 without delivering on any foreclosure assistance, the Idaho attorney general banned Oberholtzer from engaging in the home loan business in his state. “Apply 2 Save operated for less than a year, signed up hundreds of clients, and took in millions of dollars,” said Lawrence Wasden, Idaho’s attorney general. “Yet few consumers ever received the mortgage modification services they purchased.” After a successful lawsuit, Wasden was able to win $45,000 from A2S to distribute to Oberholtzer’s victims. In Maryland, Oberholtzer has been served an order to cease and desist after the state commissioner of financial regulation received multiple complaints about Apply 2 Save’s fraudulent scheme. Eventually, A2S was forced into bankruptcy and a wave of legal action in Idaho spurred Oberholtzer to move to California. Oberholtzer also agreed to pay $4 million to settle a civil suit filed by the Federal Trade Commission.

Once he was driven out of the business of defrauding already desperate people facing foreclosure, Oberholtzer became active in Republican politics. The “Repeal It Now” campaign set up by Restore America’s Voice and 949 Media Group claims endorsements from Huckabee, Joe “The Plumber” Wurzelbacher, and somehow from deceased president Ronald Reagan. Olberholtzer also owns inactive domains called electmichele.org (presumably for Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), repeality.biz, electme2012.com, and ravpac.info. The “Repeal It Now” campaign Huckabee stars in does nothing to accurately discuss health reform or address the health care crisis. It only exists to rake in donations and spread right-wing hysteria.

As ThinkProgress has reported, there are a number of right-wing consultants who appear to orchestrate campaigns simply to enrich themselves. For example, one of the well-paid leaders of the Tea Party Patriots made a career before the Tea Party movement concocting pyramid schemes with herbal nutrient products and the Tea Party Express is run by an infamous Republican consulting firm known for starting front groups to funnel donations back to themselves. Similarly, people like Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich seem to be willing to say or do anything to earn a quick buck. However, Huckabee’s central role in legitimizing fraudsters like Oberholtzer might be a new low, even for the radical right.

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Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 1/24 - Arrowhead Pride

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Transfer news Football Spy video: Latest on Liverpool's chase for ...

Darren Lewis is back with the best round-up of transfer news and gossip on the web.

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 1/24 - Arrowhead Pride

Aaron Sorkin's Cable News Network Project Awaits Greenlight At HBO ...

bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Transfer news Football Spy video: Latest on Liverpool's chase for ...

Darren Lewis is back with the best round-up of transfer news and gossip on the web.

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 1/24 - Arrowhead Pride

Aaron Sorkin's Cable News Network Project Awaits Greenlight At HBO ...

bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Transfer news Football Spy video: Latest on Liverpool's chase for ...

Darren Lewis is back with the best round-up of transfer news and gossip on the web.

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 1/24 - Arrowhead Pride

Aaron Sorkin's Cable News Network Project Awaits Greenlight At HBO ...

bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Transfer news Football Spy video: Latest on Liverpool's chase for ...

Darren Lewis is back with the best round-up of transfer news and gossip on the web.

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 1/24 - Arrowhead Pride

Aaron Sorkin's Cable News Network Project Awaits Greenlight At HBO ...

bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Transfer news Football Spy video: Latest on Liverpool's chase for ...

Darren Lewis is back with the best round-up of transfer news and gossip on the web.

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 1/24 - Arrowhead Pride

Aaron Sorkin's Cable News Network Project Awaits Greenlight At HBO ...

bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Transfer news Football Spy video: Latest on Liverpool's chase for ...

Darren Lewis is back with the best round-up of transfer news and gossip on the web.

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 1/24 - Arrowhead Pride

Aaron Sorkin's Cable News Network Project Awaits Greenlight At HBO ...

bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Transfer news Football Spy video: Latest on Liverpool's chase for ...

Darren Lewis is back with the best round-up of transfer news and gossip on the web.

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 1/24 - Arrowhead Pride

Aaron Sorkin's Cable News Network Project Awaits Greenlight At HBO ...

bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Transfer news Football Spy video: Latest on Liverpool's chase for ...

Darren Lewis is back with the best round-up of transfer news and gossip on the web.

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 1/24 - Arrowhead Pride

Aaron Sorkin's Cable News Network Project Awaits Greenlight At HBO ...

bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Transfer news Football Spy video: Latest on Liverpool's chase for ...

Darren Lewis is back with the best round-up of transfer news and gossip on the web.

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 1/24 - Arrowhead Pride

Aaron Sorkin's Cable News Network Project Awaits Greenlight At HBO ...

bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Transfer news Football Spy video: Latest on Liverpool's chase for ...

Darren Lewis is back with the best round-up of transfer news and gossip on the web.

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 1/24 - Arrowhead Pride

Aaron Sorkin's Cable News Network Project Awaits Greenlight At HBO ...

bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Transfer news Football Spy video: Latest on Liverpool's chase for ...

Darren Lewis is back with the best round-up of transfer news and gossip on the web.

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 1/24 - Arrowhead Pride

Aaron Sorkin's Cable News Network Project Awaits Greenlight At HBO ...

bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Transfer news Football Spy video: Latest on Liverpool's chase for ...

Darren Lewis is back with the best round-up of transfer news and gossip on the web.

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 1/24 - Arrowhead Pride

Aaron Sorkin's Cable News Network Project Awaits Greenlight At HBO ...

Tuesday 18 January 2011

Free Making Money

(Yes, I really want to start using the word ‘pivot’ in more headlines in 2011 – it’s one of my New Year resolutions).

ZapTunes.com is a gigantic scam. They used to trick people into believing they could sign up for the service – handing over their credit card details in the process – and instantly gain access to an online music catalog of more than 8 million DRM-free songs they could legally download. For $25 a month.

Of course, the ‘startup’ was quickly and diligently called out for being a devious fraud, by TorrentFreak for one. Of course, it wasn’t so hard to identify ZapTunes as a huge scam – they were stupid enough to claim they’d signed a licensing deal that enabled it to offer music from The Beatles (this was way before Apple got to that point).

Anyway, they announced their shutdown just months after launching, to no one’s surprise but undoubtedly not after taking some gullible people’s money.

In their own press release, they stated that “from the very first day of its launch, ZapTunes had been struggling against numerous DMCA complaints and lawsuits that were brought against it by a handful of label companies”.

This morning, however, the fraudulent company announced its return, this time billing itself as a social music discovery network. They will stop offering free music downloads, and all existing subscriptions are to be canceled as soon as the new website is launched.

Although ZapTunes mentions how it has struggled to “get to a point of profit” to date, the company says it has attracted 25,000 subscribers to its free music download service, which, again, sets those users back $25 per month.

I sincerely hope that, too, is a lie, and far fewer people got tricked by these fraudsters.

The reason for this post is simple: I want as many people as possible to land on this blog post or the ones I linked to above when doing a search for ZapTunes, in the hopes of making them realize they should stay far, far away from it.

This week NYCTheBlog has decided, for some reason, to champion so-called Free Swiping as a way to "stick it to the man." "You may legally use your metro card to swipe anyone at anytime, as long as you're not selling the swipe. Charging people for it is how you would run afoul of the law," they write. "So go ahead and stick it to the man, swipe someone through." That'll feel good, right? There was a fare hike! And now you have to pay $104 for your unlimited monthly pass! Unfair! Screw the MTA!

Let's think about this. It's one thing to do as some financially pressed neighborhood residents are doing, which is to band together to buy passes for the group to save money for the individual. That's a deft way to deal with a painful economic reality. And there's generosity, too, involved in helping someone who clearly can't afford a subway ride. But those aren't the people who are in it to "stick it to the man." There's something entirely different about using something you spent a hundred dollars on to swipe through someone who refuses to spend any dollars.

According to the Facebook group, you should be on the lookout for a person "standing by the turnstile making a swiping motion." You've likely seen people doing that, or heard the ones who flat-out just ask for a swipe. How often are they the type of people who look like they need the swipe in order to commute to and from work? Or, on the other hand, how often are they the type of young, entitled people who would know about this system from joining a Facebook group?

But that's beside the point. My opinion is admittedly 100 percent biased by the people I see try to pull this move at the First Avenue L station. Perhaps I'd see a more noble slice of humanity if I commuted from somewhere that wasn't the exact spot where the East Village and Williamsburg intersect. Here's the real problem: The reason these fare hikes happened was because the MTA is broke. How, exactly, is cutting into the MTA's earnings supposed to fix the situation and prevent further hikes? When you hand out your expensive swipes, are you really "sticking it to the man"? Or are you "sticking it" somewhere else, maybe a little bit closer to where you wear your messenger bag?

Source:http://removeripoffreports.net/

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Friday 14 January 2011

managing your personal finance

Best Mobile Personal Finance Tool?

Earlier this year we took a look at best money management web sites, but often, tracking money on-the-go is just as important. What's your favorite tool for managing your money on the go?

Photo by Erik Hersman.

Whether you're using a mobile-optimized web site or an application specific to the iOS, Android, BlackBerry, and so on, we want to hear from you. What mobile money management tool makes it easy to manage your money when you're away from your computer?

Hive Five nominations take place in the comments, where you post your favorite tool for the job. We get hundreds of comments, so to make your nomination clear, please include it at the top of your comment like so: VOTE: Mobile Personal Finance Tool. Please don't include your vote in a reply to another commenter. Instead, make your vote and reply separate comments. If you don't follow this format, we may not count your vote. To prevent tampering with the results, votes from first-time commenters may not be counted. After you've made your nomination, let us know what makes it stand out from the competition.

About the Hive Five: The Hive Five feature series asks readers to answer the most frequently asked question we get: "Which tool is the best?" Once a week we'll put out a call for contenders looking for the best solution to a certain problem, then YOU tell us your favorite tools to get the job done. Every weekend, we'll report back with the top five recommendations and give you a chance to vote on which is best. For an example, check out last week's Five Best Resources for Free Games.

Send an email to Jason Fitzpatrick, the author of this post, at jason@lifehacker.com.

Best Mobile Personal Finance Tool?

Earlier this year we took a look at best money management web sites, but often, tracking money on-the-go is just as important. What's your favorite tool for managing your money on the go?

Photo by Erik Hersman.

Send an email to Jason Fitzpatrick, the author of this post, at jason@lifehacker.com.

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Apple, News Corp delay The Daily's debut | iLounge News

iLounge news discussing the Apple, News Corp delay The Daily's debut. Find more Apple news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

News Corp.'s iPad-only newspaper, The Daily, delayed, reports say ...

The Daily, the iPad-only newspaper from Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., is being delayed a few weeks, according to the Associated Press. The digital paper is still working out subscription details, the AP said.