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The Whistleblower blog was started in 2008. Look for posts by these contributors: James Eli Shiffer, Jane Friedmann, Brandon Stahl, Eric Roper and Alejandra Matos. | Check out the Whistleblower archive.

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"Company A" ready to hire this Whistleblower

Posted by: Jane Friedmann Updated: April 26, 2013 - 11:37 AM

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 Whistleblower heard back from "Company A," mentioned in an earlier blog post. The company had sent her an email inviting her to work at home making quality-assurance phone calls for a salary of $35,000. Whistleblower replied, expressing interest in the offer.

The email just received says this:

 

"Great lets get you hired.

"""Our company handles the quality control of both online and offline businesses. You`re job duties would require you to call into our customers call centers, to see if they are courteous, helpful and that the info they relayed to you was understandable.

 "The job requires that you work at least eight hours a day, have good communication skills, be able to use a phone, write honest reviews and submit them to your supervisor.

"The job pays between 35k-45k plus performance bonuses.

 "We are looking for people who are creative, loyal, like to make good money and have fun all day long.

 "We do require you to take a test which is located at [Company A's website]  the tests have you calling a few of our customers call centers these tests will show you how your day to day duties are handled and to show us that you are able to do the job. You will need to set aside about a half hour to an hour to take the test so be near a computer and phone."

Whistleblower did a little homework and found the company's domain name is registered in Arizona, but the real location of the business is hidden.

The company advertises here and there on the web, claiming that it is a subsidiary of Robinson & Ernst Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SLH).

Robinson & Ernst does not come up independently in a web search. SLH is the stock exchange symbol for Solera Holdings, Inc., a "leading global provider of software and services for the automobile claims processing industry."

Whistleblower has a call in to Solera to verify Company A's claim.

 

Trying to scam the scambuster

Posted by: Jane Friedmann Updated: April 25, 2013 - 1:11 PM

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Whistleblower just got a fantastic offer in its inbox.

Or perhaps it is only fantastic in that the sender thinks Whistleblower might fall for the scam. Red flags include spelling, grammatical and punctuation errors, an un-businesslike pronoun ("ya"), $35K for doing almost nothing and the offer to work at home.

Here's the text, with name substitutions to prevent anyone on the internet from actually inquiring with the scammer:

"Hi This is [Person X] from [Company X].

"I`m wondering if you are still looking for work as we have a opening , the position is working in our quality control division of our call center.

"Basically you will be doing what I like to call reverse telemarketing where basically your going to be calling telemarketing companies up and seeing how they handle your call, You then write a report about if the person was knowledgeable about the product they were selling or how nice the person was on the phone or did they make you want to order the product etc etc.

"The position pays 35k to start you can work at home and will be paid by direct deposit or check every week, check out our site you can see we are a good company to work with and if you feel you would like to apply for the position then reply back to me and I`ll get you started.

"Hope to hear from ya soon

"[Person X]"

Whistleblower has responded to the email and will let readers know if she receives a reply.

 

More than 1 in 10 fall victim to fraud

Posted by: Jane Friedmann Updated: April 24, 2013 - 4:37 PM

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Nearly 11 percent of U.S. adults paid for fraudulent products and services in 2011, according to a Federal Trade Commission report just made public.
 
About 5 million people bought products that falsely promised weight loss without diet or exercise.
 
About 2.4 million spent money or went to a presentation on the promise of a prize, money or a free vacation, but they never got the goods.
 
Four million or so were billed for services they hadn’t agreed to buy, often by companies they’d never done business with.
 
About 1.8 million paid for programs that claimed a certain income from home-based businesses, but earnings fell short.
 
The Internet was the most-reported source for fraudulent solicitations. Click here to read the full report.

Lawyerless legal business told to cease and desist

Posted by: Jane Friedmann Updated: April 22, 2013 - 4:12 PM

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A Blaine man who counseled debtors and prepared legal documents is barred from those activities in Minnesota, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Minnesota ruled last month.

The ruling follows cease-and-desist orders in Colorado, Missouri and the Eastern District of Wisconsin and an agreement to refrain from certain activities in St. Louis County in Minnesota.

Edward Jonak’s business, 3rd Millennium Systems, Inc., operated under a handful of different names including Affordable Law Center and Affordable Court Services, and had an office in four Minnesota cities.  He advertised bankruptcy, divorce and DWI “legal plans” for a flat fee and freely used terms such as “legal,” “court,” “law,” and “attorney.” But Jonak isn’t a lawyer and his businesses employed no lawyers.
 
In an interview with Whistleblower last year , Jonak said that he needed no license or permission to provide help to his customers. Despite the previous court rulings, Jonak maintained he wasn't breaking the law.
 
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Gregory Kishel disagreed and called Jonak’s “flimsy structure of a self-styled ‘legal plan’ clear violations of federal law.
 
Jonak told customers how to fill out forms, gave advice, referred people to lawyers for an additional fee and contracted the typing of forms to a person in another state, according to the ruling. The typist signed the papers stating he was the bankruptcy petition preparer. Jonak’s name did not show up anywhere in the bankruptcy filings, as required by law.
 
One bankruptcy petitioner testified that Jonak advised him to list a four-wheeler under “tools” as exempt. Others said that Jonak advised them on which type of bankruptcy to file for, whether to list student loans and whether to file state or federal exemptions, among other advice. A number of customers named in the ruling were unsure whether Jonak’s business was a law firm or if Jonak was a lawyer.
 
Customers were required to initial disclaimers such as “I do not believe the advertizing [sic] responded to was misleading in anyway,” “I have not been directed by anyone to ask legal strategy questions” and “no one at Affordable Court Services can give legal advice," disclaimers that Kishel described as "grotesquely self-serving.”

Jonak was ordered to refund the fees paid by 18 former clients and pay each $2,000 in damages.

McDermott v Jonak

FTC: VOC-free paint not so after tinting

Posted by: Jane Friedmann Updated: March 6, 2013 - 5:37 PM

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Two paint manufacturers accused of making dubious claims that their interior paints contained no harmful volatile organic compounds have reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, the agency announced Wednesday.
 
Ohio-based The Sherwin-Williams Co. marketed its Dutch Boy Refresh paint as having “zero VOCs,” the FTC said. Pennsylvania-based PPG Architectural Finishes, Inc., did the same with its Pure Performance. Though the untinted paint may contain a trace amount of VOCs or less, most tints “typically have much higher levels of the compounds,” the FTC said.
 
Because most paint is tinted at the time of purchase, consumers were misled, the FTC said.
 
The companies agreed to prominently reflect the truth in its labeling and marketing.
 
Click below to read the following documents:
 
 
 
 

 

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