Customers Accuse Sephora Of Banning Shoppers With Asian Surnames

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(epicharmus)

Would Sephora really ban customers who spend thousands of dollars every year with them? Last year, frequent customers say they had their ability to place online orders taken away for buying too much stuff. This year, frequent customers report having their accounts shut down or their ability to place orders restricted. Funny, thing though: all of these customers have e-mail addresses based in China, or Chinese surnames.

There’s a good reason why a makeup retailer would want to cut off its best customers. Yes, it seems counter-intuitive, but there is a potentially lucrative global gray or secondary market for certain makeup items, especially limited-edition products and lines. Think of them as collectibles that you smear on your face that can sell for many times the sticker price on auction sites and/or abroad.

Why would Sephora cut off any customers, let alone Asian customers, right now? This week, there’s a 20% off sale for Sephora customers who spend more than $350 per year, which is a fabulous time to go shopping and boost your profit margin if you’re a reseller. The question for Sephora is this: how can they tell the difference between someone who is reselling and someone who just reapplies eyeshadow a lot?

Angry customers claim that in the last day or so, Sephora has been using geographic and ethnic profiling. In addition to ustomers who use e-mail providers based in China like qq.com or 163.com say that their orders have been canceled and their accounts deactivated

On Sephora’s Facebook page, you can see complaints from customers posting from Asia, the United States, and Canada who have one thing in common: Chinese surnames. Styleite took some screen grabs, and there are plenty more still adding themselves.

In a statement, Sephora blamed site issues on international bulk buyers and re-sellers. They did not say that “sounds Asian” was not one of their criteria for deactivating a user’s account, but the company does admit that some accounts were shut down for reselling erroneously.

Our website is incredibly robust and designed to withstand a tremendous amount of volume. What caused the disruption yesterday was a high level of bulk buys and automated accounts for reselling purposes from North America and multiple countries outside the US. The technical difficulties that impacted the site are actively being addressed and our desktop US website is now functioning normally. We are actively working to restore our Canadian, mobile website, and international shipping where applicable. There has been no impact on the security and privacy of our clients’ data.

The reality is that in taking steps to restore website functionality, some of our loyal North American and international clients got temporarily blocked. We understand how frustrating it is and are deeply sorry for the disruption to your shopping experience.

However, in some instances we have, indeed, de-activated accounts due to reselling — a pervasive issue throughout the industry and the world. As part of our ongoing commitment to protecting our clients and our brands, we have identified certain entities who take advantage of promotional opportunities to purchase products in large volume on our website and re-sell them through other channels. After careful consideration, we have deactivated these accounts in order to optimize product availability for the majority of our clients, as well as ensure that consumers are not subject to increased prices or products that are not being handled or stored properly.

IF your account was deactivated and you’re a Sephora customer who is VIB level (spending $350 or more per year) you can call the VIB hotline at 877-VIB-ONLY (1-877-842-6659) to sort things out. If you don’t spend that much, or you’re outside the United States, it’s not clear what you’re supposed to do.

PSA: Many Sephora customers with Asian names/registered under Asian domains are locked out of their accounts [Makeup Addiction/Reddit]

Is Sephora Blocking Customers With Asian-Sounding Last Names? [Styleite]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Fake Pizza Hut Anniversary Email Won’t Give You Free Pizza, Just Malware

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This e-mail that didn’t come from Pizza Hut (in spite of the half-baked attempt to make it look that way) contains malware that will give you more than indigestion.

Emails for free pizza might be few and far between, so when one shows up in your inbox you might be tempted to ditch those dinner plans for a few cheesy slices. But even the promise of free pizzas can be too good to be true, that was certainly the case this week when an email purported to be from Pizza Hut didn’t end in free pizza, but dangerous malware.

MainStreet reports the email claimed to offer consumers a free personal pan pizza in celebration of Pizza Hut’s 55th anniversary (despite the fact that the chain is actually 58 years old) was really a ploy to entice consumers into downloading a virus.

By clicking on the email’s “Get Free Pizza Coupon” consumers unleashed a dangerous file containing Trojan malware that can infect computers, workstations and web servers.

Officials with data and network security provider Cloudmark Security, which detected the scam last week, says that the ploy proved successful because it used consumers’ love of pizza against them, instead of the typical invoices used to spread malware.

“Everybody wants to believe in free pizza,” Andrew Conway, an employee with Cloudmark wrote in a blog post. “We are seeing an unusually high number of people taking this email out of their spam folders. Users are more than four times more likely to take this out of their spam folder than the largest recent malware spam campaign which claimed to be a notice to appear in court.”

While the email’s topic appealed to consumers, its vehicle left much to be desired in terms of imitating the pizza giant.

In fact, the email appears to be quite simple, a plain red background accented with yellow type. The offer lacks Pizza Hut’s actual logo, instead simply writing the company’s name in what appears to be comic sans.

Still, according to MainStreet, the scam evaded one hallmark of other scams: typos.

Conway says no matter how grammatically correct or appealing an email may be its best not to click on links in unsolicited emails, especially if it lands in your span folder.

“This botnet has been around since 2008,” Andrew Conway on the Cloudmark Security says in a blog. “It goes through sudden bursts of growth from time to time, and then cuts back in size, perhaps to avoid countermeasures from the security community.”

The particular botnet included in the imitation Pizza Hut email has been known to install other programs on consumers computer in attempts to gain access to email credentials, tap bank accounts or hold computer data for ransom.

Consumers who downloaded the file, but haven’t opened it could be in the clear if they simply delete the file. If the file has been opened, MainStreet suggests running an anti-virus program to remove the infection.

What You Don’t See: This Free Pizza Could Be Contaminated with a Virus [MainStreet]

[via OnGuardOnline.gov]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

For-Profit Online University Lets You Spend ThoughtCoins On Way To Job As Digital Gardener

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Have you been thinking about enrolling in a for-profit online college that saddles you with thousands of dollars of debt and no job to show for it? Then get ready to spend your ThoughtCoins and ClassPoints at a school that will still take all your money but lets you skip the classwork and guarantees you a job when you graduate.

Check out the above infomercial for For-Profit Online University, which promises to do away with all the problems of an on-campus education, like crumbling buildings and suicide in the libraries by doing away with the buildings and the libraries… and the faculty and classes.

The enrollment process couldn’t be easier — if you have a credit card, you’re actually already enrolled whether you know it or not. And just like you can spend real money to buy virtual currency in games like Farmville, your credit card can be used to purchase ThoughtCoins, which can then be turned in to purchase facts that are yours to keep (so long as you continue to pay the monthly fee).

Classes too hard? Just level up by purchasing ClassPoints. As the French might say, “Viola!”

And you can also spend your digital money to deck out your online avatar or order a sandwich from Panera. If your account is getting low, just rat out fellow students who are committing fraud and be rewarded!

And unlike those other for-profit schools that don’t want the world to know that their students fail to find employment, FPOU’s graduates are immediately employed by the school as “digital gardeners.”

“Digital gardening is a meaningful task,” explains the school’s sole employee, “in which real live human beings look at images from the Internet and then identify them in ways that bots simply can’t.”

One former student says that when he’s “in the zone” and clicking his way through image after image, the rewards can be great.

“Sometimes i look up and it’s 8 a.m. and I’ve got 1,400 ThoughtCoins in my F-pouch,” he says. “That’s like two Panera Bread sandwiches a day… plenty to keep me energized as I attack another 20-hour day of identifying images.”

One thing to keep in mind before enrolling in FPOU — Beware of Howard. Always.

(via @alexismadrigal)

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Dorito-Flavored Mountain Dew Really Exists Outside Of Your Nightmares

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(Reddit)

In the last day or so, a specter of horrifying flavor has haunted the Internet. A student at Kent State University in Ohio posted a photo of a Mountain Dew taste test on Reddit. There were a few experimental flavors, and one of them was an orange-flavored confection. Was it some pleasant citrus variant? No. Flavor wizardry has brought us Mountain Dew Doritos. If this idea makes you want to blow up civilization and start over on a deserted island, you are not alone.

Granted, this is just a taste test, being inflicted on innocent college students, but you should find it terrifying that somebody thought of this, and that soft drink flavor chemistry is sufficiently advanced that cheese tortilla chip flavored Mountain Dew is even a thing that is possible.

“It honestly wasn’t that disgusting,” the taste-tester explained to the assembled horrified Redditors. “It tasted like orange with a Doritos aftertaste. It tasted like straight Doritos afterwards though.” The Doritos aftertaste has a Doritos aftertaste. Why?

Would you do the Dewitos? Doritos-flavored Mountain Dew might be a real thing [CNET]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Kentucky Bar Selling Rare Bourbon In $10 Jell-O Shots Because Why Not?

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Pappy in liquid, not gelatinous, form. (Edsel L)

I’m all for a nice glass of delicious bourbon, because I am a person, but when it comes to some whiskey fans, only the best is worthy of worship. And because the “best” is often linked to scarcity, Pappy Van Winkle has earned quite a reputation among tipplers for its rare, exclusive line of bourbons. So much so that people go to great lengths to steal it. But one bar owner isn’t playing into the hype. Nope, instead, he’s selling off a bunch of the stuff in $10 Jell-O shots. Just because he can.

The Louisville bar announced yesterday that it’s using some of this year’s allotment of Pappy Van Winkle bourbon, its first ever dose, for Pappy 15 Jell-O shots that will cost customers $10, reports Insider Louisville. About 7,000 cases of Pappy are produced each year, and that’s it, making demand high in the fall.

The owner says he just wants to have some fun with the seriousness of the whole bourbon culture, as everyone goes nutty over Pappy this time of year.

“It’s a way to have a little fun with how ridiculous it’s gotten,” the co-owner and man with the Jell-O shot plan told Insider Louisville. “Just because it’s expensive, it doesn’t mean it’s the best stuff on the market.”

Once the shots — actually Old Fashioned shots, as straight bourbon does not a good Jell-O shot make — are gone, they’re gone. The owner is offering up about two bottles of the whiskey to make 100 to 150 shots, with the rest of the year’s allotment selling neat or on the rocks.

“I have a smart-ass comment about everything,” the co-owner added. “The hoops we’ve had to jump through to get just a little bit (of Pappy bourbon) is ridiculous. So this is a fun way to say, ‘Don’t forget about the other bourbons out there,’ and also to celebrate Pappy time.”

Meta gets Pappy Van Winkle bourbon, makes Jell-O shots [Inside Louisville]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

United Airlines Leaves Atlantic City After Only 8 Months

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(Adam Fagen)

A year ago, a struggling Atlantic City still had hope that its sagging casino business could turn around, especially with the news that United Airlines would be offering direct flights from its hubs in Chicago and Houston. But then one-third of the casinos closed — and even Donald Trump wanted nothing to do with the seaside town that he helped bring back to prominence 30 years ago — and now United Airlines is pulling up stakes after only eight months of service.

United service to Atlantic City International launched last April and both the airline and the folks in New Jersey made a big deal of it, as the closest thing to major airline serving the airport is the much-maligned Spirit.

But the airline tells the Philadelphia Inquirer that the route was no longer worth operating.

“As a partner in our hub state’s economic development efforts, we agreed to test the Atlantic City market by reentering it earlier this year,” said United, “and our Atlantic City routes are no longer sustainable.”

Atlantic City had previously been served by AirTran (now part of Southwest) but that ended in 2012.

The airport recently underwent renovations and tourism agencies in the area spent $1 million marketing the arrival of United.

Now the nearest major airports to Atlantic City are in Philadelphia and Newark.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Parents Say Joe’s Crab Shack Accidentally Served Alcoholic Drinks To Table Of Kids

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(KKTV.com)

It’s understandable that a seafood restaurant might want to employ marine life in the naming of its drinks, both virgin and alcoholic, but perhaps it’s time to reconsider having the kiddie and adult versions named after the same sea animal, after parents say a table of kids aged 8 and under were served a round of boozy beverages.

In what might have been a mixup between a drink on the Colorado Joe’s Crab Shack menu for kids called the “Shark Nibble” and an adult beverage called the “Shark Bite,” both of which are blue drinks with grenadine, the group says a waitress told them the youngsters had accidentally been served booze, reports KKTV 11 News.

The group says that about 30 minutes after drinks were brought to the table for the kids, a waitress returned to retrieve the beverages, saying they had the wrong ingredients in them.

“Then the managers actually came back with the tray of drinks and then let us know that they had accidentally poured alcohol into our kids’ beverages,” said one of the adults. “[The manager] said it was ‘mislabeled’ and we were a little bit concerned with that kind of response.”

And at that point, the 2-year-old had already finished her entire drink.

“You order these drinks, and you order them off the kids menu with the intent that you’re providing your child with something safe and that the restaurant is doing their job,” said the customer.

One of the kids complained that she didn’t feel well, so the family called the paramedics just in case. All the kids were checked out and sent home, and their parents now just want to warn others.

“I hope that other parents are cognizant of that and take that into consideration when they are ordering these drinks…what is in each and every one of these drinks,” said one.

Joe’s Crab Shack told 11 News in a statement that it’s aware of the incident, and that it is “investigating this matter internally.”

“We do not condone underage service of any kind. Our guests can rest assured that our processes are continuously examined so that incidents like this are avoided,” the corporate office said.

Sadly, this definitely isn’t the first time we’ve seen this happen (nor the second, third or fourth time), and it won’t be the last. If you’re worried, you can always try a sip of your kid’s drink first…?

Police: Popular Restaurant Serves Alcohol To A 2-Year-Old [KKTV 11 News]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Oreo Churros Now Exist For Some Reason

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When eating Oreos (of any flavor) have you ever said, “this is great, but I wish it were twirlier, and also warm?” No. You probably haven’t. Apparently someone at convenience store snack provider J&J Snack Foods did, though, and the company teamed up with Oreo-maker Mondelez International to sell Oreo-flavored churros. Churreos?

J&J calls itself “the leading churro manufacturer” in a press release, which is apparently a thing. The key thing to remember about these Churreos (not their actual name) is that they will be served hot, in convenience stores, and some snack fans suspect that the ready-made twisted cookie snacks will bring churros into areas of the country that have previously not had access to the Latin American treat.

Churros are usually twisted bits of plain dough served as a snack or dessert. They are usually not made out of ground-up Oreos, or out of chocolate at all. The licensed convenience store version will be served with containers of Oreo creme, or whatever toppings the convenience store thinks would be interesting. We suggest cookies and cream ice cream.

J&J is one of those companies that you’ve never heard of, but that makes items under their own and some licensed brands for convenience stores to prepare and serve with minimal cooking: think premade churros, cookie dough, packaged frozen treats, and premade sandwiches. You’ve probably eaten one of their products at some point.

NEED IT NOW: OREO CHURROS ARE COMING [First We Feast]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Chrysler Ramps Up Effort To Fix Recalled Jeeps With Specialized Websites

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(David Renteria)

Back in July, officials at Chrysler said they would eventually get around to fixing millions of recalled Jeeps after regulators voiced their displeasure with the lack of progress being made to fix the potential fire issue. The car maker is finally taking steps to ensure owners repair their vehicles.

The Detroit News reports that Chrysler is ramping up its efforts with specialized websites to get the owners of nearly one million unfixed Jeeps to bring their vehicles in to be installed with a trailer hitch that could reduce the risk of fires.

According to the original recall notice [PDF] model year 1993-1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee and 2002-2007 Jeep Liberty vehicles were recalled because the rear-mounted fuel tank on the SUVs sat too low and were at risk for rear-end explosions.

So far, NHTSA reports that rear-impact fire crashes involving the Grand Cherokee have resulted in 44 deaths. Liberty vehicles have been involved in five rear-impact crashes, resulting in seven deaths.

The fix, which came after tense discussions between the two entities, was quickly criticized by consumer advocates. Their issue with the remedy rested in the fact that hitches had not traditionally been seen as safety devices.

While the carmaker isn’t going as far as bribing owners with $25 gift cards, it is reaching out to the Internet in an attempt to reach more consumers.

“We are initiating a second round of outreach via data mining to ensure we account for as many affected owners as possible,” Chrysler spokesman Eric Mayne said. “We are creating and promoting new websites dedicated to these campaigns; websites will feature campaign information, relevant instructions and live-chat capability to handle additional questions.”

The site, once it goes live, will allow owners to schedule service with their local dealer.

Officials with Chrysler, who were reprimanded by NHTSA officials for a lack of parts available, tell Detroit News that they currently have 427,000 trailer hitches in stock and will have more than 550,000 by Dec. 1.

In addition to the new outreach efforts, Chrysler announced it replace the non-factory installed trailer hitches on 1.2 million model year 1999 to 2004 Grand Cherokees. Officials with the company say they want to make sure that sharp edges from aftermarket hitches don’t have the potential to puncture gas tanks.

Chrysler ramps up effort to fix recalled Jeep SUVs [The Detroit News]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

Florida Man Accused Of Pilfering 11 Truckloads Of Fruit From Tangerine Grove, Reselling It

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(Maguis and David)

Maybe it’s just that thing where once you hear about something you never really thought about before, you start noticing it more often, but it seems like there’s been quite the rash of food thefts lately. Joining the ranks of pilfered produce like pumpkins, corn and onions is the theft of a bunch of tangerines from a Florida grove.

Officials in Florida charged an 81-year-old man with 11 counts of transporting citrus without a certificate, grand theft of more than 2,000 pieces of citrus and trespassing, reports the Associated Press.

Deputies say the man and another were caught Wednesday night picking fruit in a grove they definitely didn’t own, after allegedly picking more than four rows of Sunburst tangerines that they were preparing to load onto a truck.

And because it would be really hard to eat all that fruit on your own, he’s also accused of taking previous truck loads of ripped off fruit and selling it at a nearby market.

81-year-old charged with looting tangerine grove [Associated Press]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Treasury Dept. Urges Student Loan Servicers To Do A Better Job, Try Incentives

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(Newton Free Library)

Hot of the heels of a report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau detailing how loan servicers trick consumers into paying more, top officials with the Department of Treasury implored the industry to fix their often nefarious ways.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Deputy Treasury secretary Sarah Bloom Raskin raised concerns that improper supervision and enforcement over the servicing industry can lead to devastating effects for consumers.

Troubling industry tactics included not providing student loan borrowers with enough flexibility if they get into financial trouble and charging late fees during periods were those fees were exempt.

While Raskin says the loan servicers provide borrowers with a valuable resource, they can also take advantage of those they are supposed to help.

“With more than 40 million federal student loan borrowers interacting with servicers and debt collectors, servicer and debt collector actions heavily influence the ability of students to complete their higher education, avoid the consequences of delinquency and default, and achieve their educational potential to the benefit of themselves and to the benefit of the country,” Raskin said during the Florida conference. “In short: a lot is riding on the content of servicer actions.”

Raskin implored that servicing cannot be one-size-fits-all. Incentives should be created so that servicers have motivation to take the time to place student loan borrowers in an appropriate and sustainable repayment plan.

“The servicer needs to invest in resources, including trained personnel who can deal with often complex one-off transactions,” she said. “The incentives created by the contract with the lender—be it a private lender or the federal government—will matter to the ultimate performance of the servicer in dealing with the borrower.”

Last week, the CFPB released a report examining the practices of the companies hired by financial institutions and put in charge of collecting and processing loan payments, modifications and keeping records of borrowers’ payment history.

Examiners for the CFPB found that from March to June 2014 some student loan servicers took part in several illegal and shady practices including inflating borrowers’ minimum payments, made illegal collection calls and charged unlawful late fees.

Raskin said during her speech that she was encouraged by the Department of Education’s efforts to revise its five-year contract with companies that collect student debt payments.

“Federal student loan debt collectors need to be encouraged to remove loan accounts from default when possible, as well as deal fairly with borrowers, and the incentive structures in debt collector contracts should convey these priorities,” Raskin said.

The revisions provide incentives for servicers to optimize their performance and helping borrowers avoid delinquency.

A Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit earlier this year found that outstanding student loan balances have increased to $1.08 trillion as of Dec. 31, representing an increase of $114 billion for 2013.

At the same time, a Credit.com report estimated that one-in-three student loans may currently be considered delinquent.

Raskin says government officials are currently working on identifying actions that could be taken to strengthen the outcomes for federal student loan borrowers.

“This work is focused on ensuring that all students have access to high-quality servicing and effective collections to prevent and remediate defaults,” she says.

Student-Loan Servicers Urged to Offer More Flexibility [The Wall Street Journal]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

Toys ‘R’ Us Opening At 5 P.M. On Day That Used To Be Called ‘Thanksgiving’

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(Nicholas DiMaio)

Are you looking forward to spending Thanksgiving Day standing in line and fighting with fellow shoppers over the last remote-controlled dinosaur? No? It doesn’t really matter whether you plan to show up or not: opening at 5 P.M. on Thanksgiving Day worked out for Toys ‘R’ Us last year, and they’re planning to do the same again this year.

We’ve been keeping an eye on this trend for a few years now, mostly because we really like Thanksgiving and also think that our friends, family, and readers who work in retail deserve a turkey and mashed potatoes break before the holiday shopping frenzy begins. In 2012, Toys ‘R’ Us opened at 8 P.M. on Thanksgiving Day. Last year, in 2013, they moved the opening time up to 5 P.M., and they’re sticking with that for this year, then remaining open for 30 hours, finally closing at 11 P.M. on Friday.

Holidays? Who needs holidays?

Toys R Us will open at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving [CNN] (Warning: auto-play video)

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Nike Officially Dumps Adrian Peterson After Plea Agreement

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After previously suspending its endorsement contract with Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson when he was accused of hitting his son, Nike has now officially dropped the NFL player after his plea agreement to a misdemeanor assault charge.

Peterson hasn’t been playing in any NFL games since the child abuse allegations came to light in September, when he was indicted for hitting his son with a tree branch. Nike put his endorsement contract on hold at that time as well, and announced yesterday that the connection has now been severed completely, Bloomberg reports.

Peterson received a $4,000 fine and ordered to perform 80 hours of community service on Nov. 4 by a Texas state judge, after he pleaded no contest to reckless assault.

It’s still unclear whether he’ll return to the roster in any upcoming Vikings games, pending a decision by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Nike Cuts Ties With NFL’s Peterson After Assault Plea [Bloomberg]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

When Does The First Amendment Prevent The Release Of Public Records? When It Involves Strippers

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When two rights conflict, which one is given priority? This was the question recently put before a federal court in Washington state, where a group of strippers were trying to prevent their real names and other personal information from being shared publicly even though state law seems to require that their identities be released upon request.

Here’s the background of the case. Dancers and managers and adult entertainment establishments in Pierce County, WA, are required to obtain licenses from the county auditor’s office. And under the Washington Public Records Act, the county auditor is required to disclose public records upon request. There are some exemptions to that mandate, but none that would include exotic dancers.

But when a local man made a request through the auditor to release the license info — which includes the licensee’s full name and date of birth — for the dancers at one Pierce County club, the dancers there sued to block that request.

They also asked the court for a preliminary injunction against releasing the requested information, as once it’s been released you can’t put the genie back in the bottle.

While the man requesting the information claims that the information would be used to pray on behalf of the strippers, the plaintiffs — using the anonymous “Jane Roe” name for the suit — point out that the defendant has previously been convicted of violating anti-harassment protection orders, and they fear their true identities — information that could be used to learn the location of their homes and family members — would be used by the defendant and others to harass them.

If so, the plaintiffs argue they may no longer be able to work and express themselves in a form that is protected by the First Amendment.

In a recent ruling [PDF], a U.S. District Court judge in Tacoma writes that the dancers have “raised serious questions regarding whether their First Amendment freedoms and their right to informational privacy would be violated by the disclosure of the requested records.”

He also found that the strippers are “likely to suffer irreparable injury,” the loss of their First Amendment rights, and that the “fruits of the litigation will be irretrievably lost” unless a preliminary injunction is granted.

“Plaintiffs may suffer harassment and threats to their physical safety once their private information is disclosed,” added the judge, who also concluded that the defendant who requested the data “will not be harmed if public disclosure is restrained pending trial on the merits.”

Basically, the judge is saying that there is no urgent need for the license information to be disclosed to the public and that it can wait for a court to decide the matter.

As Eugene Volokh pointed out in a recent Washington Post column, it’s possible that the argument used by the dancers could be tried by those who oppose the public disclosure of personal information about people with licenses for firearms.

One could argue — though a court may not accept it — that, much like the release of dancers’ names may inhibit their First Amendment rights to perform, that the release of gun-owners’ names might inhibit people from taking advantage of their Second Amendment rights.

[via CJR]

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Google Study: Email Users 36 Times More Likely To Get Scammed If Friends’ Accounts Get Hacked

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(Pixteca | Len & Pix【ツ】)

So you think your job is done — you’ve secured your email against hackers by thinking up the best password in the entire world. You’re safe, or so you think. But a new study from Google says that if your friends and email contacts have already been hacked, you’re much more likely to get scammed, too.

It’s not like danger is lurking around every corner, as Google says only nine in one million email accounts gets infiltrated, reports CNNMoney. But when it does, the ball gets rolling quickly.

The study found that hackers are mostly from five countries: China, Ivory Coast, Malaysia, Nigeria and South Africa. Their tentacles reach around the world, however.

Other findings from the study: Effective scams work about 45% of the time; after your login credentials are compromised, hackers usually access/hijack an account within seven hours; scammers can scan your email for tasty tidbits in just three minutes, focusing on emails with bank account information, login credentials and other financial details. It’s a good idea to erase that kind of information from your email.

As always, setting your email account with two-factor authentication (and any account you want protected that allows it) will spare you many a headache, as hackers won’t be able to get around the obstacle of getting the right unique code to plug in your password is entered.

This is how your Gmail account got hacked [CNNMoney]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

The Alpaca Bubble Has Finally Burst

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(Adam Fagen)

While you might not have noticed, for the last decade there have been a growing number of people who became convinced that the way to drug-lord like riches was through the seemingly unlikely route of alpaca-breeding. But the market for camelid hair wasn’t what it was cracked up to be, and not only are investors realizing they will never get their money back, there a large number of alpacas being neglected or killed as a result.

Like a lot of recent investment trends, the alpaca craze began during the height of the housing boom in the early and mid-2000s.

“The biggest marketing pushes were calling them a huggable investment and attracting people who just thought they were gorgeous little lawn ornaments,” one alpaca farmer and broker tells Modern Farmer. “We got people who weren’t really animal people, who weren’t really farmers, or even business people.”

He says the mindset of these buyers was “We’ll be able to hang out at home and retire, and people will knock on our doors and pay us all these thousands of dollars and this will be easy.”

At the time, a trade group called Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association (now the Alpaca Owners Association) ran a marketing campaign calling alpacas the perfect “phased retirement opportunity” for empty nesters and urbanites looking for an easy way to make money in the country.

The trade group openly pushed breeding of the animals, but did little to create a market for alpaca fiber.

And so alpaca prices began to sink and have continued to drop, leaving investors in the red, trying to sell their animals on sites like Openherd or Craigslist.

Without any buyers, farmers are sometimes giving alpacas away just be done with the expense of caring for the animals, while others are resorting to more desperate ways of thinning their herds.

The above-quoted farmer, who is starting an alpaca-rescue operation, says that some desperate alpaca owners who can’t afford to feed their animals are placing them in large freezers, slowly killing the animals by inducing hypothermia.

“They feel it’s more humane that way. It’s a really, really heart-wrenching reality,” he tells Modern Farmer.

While it’s common to sell alpacas for meat in their native South America, that isn’t as much of an option to farmers here in the U.S.

But much like the collapse of the real estate market and the surfeit of cheap homes has resulted in a new crop of investors buying cheap with the hope of eventually selling for a reasonable price, so has the bursting of the alpaca bubble created unlikely farmers out of people who obtained animals either through rescue operations or through bottom-dollar sales.

Last year, one Missouri woman who has been rescuing animals for three decades arranged an intervention with an alpaca breeding ranch that had allowed its large herd to become severely neglected. On a freezing cold January morning, she and a group of five volunteers herded 200 starving and sick alpacas into a barn for shelter and shots and then packed them into trailers for taking away to farms that could tend to the animals properly.

That’s how she and her family ended up caring for 60 of the alpacas and created a fiber processing mill in their basement.

“Since then,” she says, “we haven’t lost a single alpaca.”

A longtime board member of the Alpaca Owners Association defends the group’s earlier drive to increase investment in alpaca breeding.

“I think the marketing was appropriate,” he tells Modern Farmer. “I would always ask somebody that’s not very satisfied, ‘How much energy did you put into it?’ When I talk to somebody, I tell them, ‘This is a business, and if you’re not prepared to show up and work every day on your business, why in the world would you think it would be successful?’”

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Sears Holdings Ponders Forming, Selling Stores To A Real Estate Investment Trust

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Pete Kraynak

Two things are true about Sears Holdings: the company owns a lot of stores, and those stores are not selling enough merchandise. In order to raise some cash, in the last year the company has spun off its best quality clothing brand, sold shares in its Canadian subsidiary, borrowed money from its CEO, and taken on some roommates. What’s next? Selling some of its stores and leasing them back.

This is a time-honored method for institutions in need of cash and saddled with a lot of real estate. What’s unique about Sears is how much real estate they have: initially, the company wants to take 200 to 300 stores and sell them, but not to an existing real estate company. It wants to create its own real estate investment trust and sell shares to that.

An REIT is exactly what it sounds like: a real estate portfolio that sells shares of itself to investors. How much cash are we talking about here? Reuters reports that Sears recently sold its Cupertino, California store for $102.5 million. Reuters does not point out that the JCPenney in that mall also sold its store to the same developer, and that both of the sold stores will close soon.

Sears Holdings explores creation of REIT to raise cash [Reuters]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Reese’s Not Content To Stay In Cups, Expands To Peanut Butter Chocolate Spread

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(Hershey)

While the Reese’s peanut butter cup has morphed from a cup (to an egg, for Easter, pumpkins on Halloween, etc.) it seems the chocolate peanut butter candy is ready for a new form — spreadable. It’s been a Nutella world so far, but Reese’s is set to enter it with a peanut butter cup spread.

Proving that candy can go on bread, the new spread “can be enjoyed on any food,” Hershey said in a press release, pointing out that people have been known to eat chocolate as a snack. You don’t say!

“Reese’s Spreads offer an authentic Reese’s experience to fans who are looking for delicious snack options throughout the day,” said Daren Russ of the Hershey Company. “Since 1928, we have been delivering the perfect combination of chocolate and peanut butter. With the launch of Reese’s Spreads, we are honoring our great heritage and bringing consumers a new, but still perfect, way to enjoy the Reese’s brand.”

Anyway, the spreads join the company’s existing line of Hershey’s chocolate spreads meant to be snacked on, and will be available nationwide in 13-ounce jars for $3.89 each.

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Takata Allegedly Knew About Airbag Defect 10 Years Ago, Senators Urge Criminal Investigation

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With 16 million vehicles recalled, a number of lawsuits and several investigations already underway related to defective Takata-produced airbags, lawmakers are urging the Department of Justice to open a criminal investigation into the Japanese auto parts maker following revelations that the company knew off issues four years prior to the first recall.

The New York Times reports that Takata began secret tests of its airbags back in 2004 after receiving a report that one of its devices had ruptured, shooting metal fragments at an Alabama driver.

Two former employees involved in the tests, one of whom was a senior member of the testing lab, tell the Times that the test were performed after normal working hours an on weekend at the company’s American headquarters in Michigan.

During the course of the testing, which involved 50 airbags recovered from scrapyards, two airbags cracked creating a condition that can lead to rupture.

The two airbags in question reportedly showed cracks and the start of “rapid disassembly,” the term used by Takata for explosion.

According to one of the former employees the results were enough to spur engineers to immediately begin looking for possible fixes in preparation for a recall.

One of the employees says engineers at the time thought the problem lied within the welding of the inflater’s canister, the area used to hold the airbag’s explosives. To counter the issue engineers reportedly designed prototypes for possible fixes, but their work was halted about three months later.

The former employees say that executives didn’t believe there was significant risk and allegedly ordered lab technicians to delete the testing data and dispose of the inflaters in the trash.

The Times reports that the two airbags that had shown issues were discounted by officials at the company because they were retrieved from cars with cracks in the windshields. The employees say executives, including Takata vice president of engineering Al Bernat, considered the airbags “corrupted by weather.”

When contacted by the Times, Bernat declined to comment and referred questions to his former employer. Takata also declined to comment.

The former employees say they brought the information forward because of concerns that Takata was not being forthright about the defective airbags.

“All the testing was hush-hush,” one former employee tells the Times. “Then one day, it was, ‘Pack it all up, shut the whole thing down.’ It was not standard procedure.”

It wasn’t until four years after the testing occurred that the first recall involving Takata airbags was initiated.

Since then 16 million vehicles from 10 different car manufactures have been recalled over concerns that the airbags could rupture shooting shrapnel at passengers. So far the airbags are believed to be responsible for at least four deaths and 139 injuries.

While a spokesperson for Takata declined to comment on the new allegations, a spokesperson for Honda, the company’s biggest customer, tells the Times that the company plans to “determine whether anyone at Honda has any evidence that these claims are credible.”

According to the Times, the accounts from the former Takata testing employees in Michigan highlight other quality issues recalled by employees at the company’s Texas distribution center.

Those employees, along with emails, photos, videos and regulatory filings viewed by the Times cast doubt on the company’s handling of airbags in the early 2000s.

The Times reports that emails show workers raising concerns that airbag units were being delivered to automakers wet or damaged because of transportation mishaps.

As Consumerist reported previously, investigators believe that moisture can render the volatile chemicals used in Takata airbags to be unstable, creating an environment where too much force is present during deployment.

“The whole situation makes me sick,” one manager wrote in a February 2007 email addressed to multiple colleagues. The email reportedly goes on to complain that measures the center had introduced to try to keep the airbags dry were being ignored.

Additionally, the Times reports that closed circuit television footage shows forklifts dropping the airbags. The employees claim those safety devices were never inspected for damage.

Takata’s own guidelines from 2009 stressed the importance of dangers related to mishandling the airbags, including a link to a video that shows side-curtain airbags deploying, shooting the inflater into the car’s cabin, the Times reports.

A 2005 email from a manager to employees further warned of issues the airbags could have if mishandled.

“The propellant arrangement inside is what can be damaged when the airbags are dropped,” that manager wrote. “Here you can see why it is important to handle our product properly.”

Employees of the Texas facility say that many of the warnings were disregarded because of the company’s need to quickly turnout airbags.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently opened an investigation into Takata’s airbags, but some lawmakers say that isn’t enough.

Senators Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Ed Markey of Massachusetts called on the Department of Justice to open a criminal investigation into Takata after news of the secret testing was revealed.

“Reports that Takata concealed and destroyed test results revealing fatal air bag defects, along with other evidence that the company was aware of these deadly problems, clearly require a criminal investigation by the Department of Justice,” Blumenthal and Markey say in a news release. “If the reports are true, the company must be held accountable for the horrific deaths and injuries that its wrongdoing caused. These allegations are credible and shocking — plainly warranting a prompt and aggressive criminal probe.”

Takata Saw and Hid Risk in Airbags in 2004, Former Workers Say [The New York Times]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

What Happened To Those Google Barges?

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The Google barge in San Francisco Bay in 2013. It’s since been towed to Stockton, CA, where it sits idle.

Remember a year ago, when Google-constructed barges popped up in the waters off San Francisco and Portland (the one in Maine)? They were supposed to be floating showrooms, but they never opened and have since been towed away or sold. But what exactly caused Google to scuttle its seafaring plans?

According to the Wall Street Journal, fire-safety concerns from the U.S. Coast Guard ultimately made the costly project not worth seeing through.

“These vessels will have over 5,000 gallons of fuel on the main deck and a substantial amount of combustible material on board,” wrote the Coast Guard’s acting chief of commercial vessel compliance, in a March 27, 2013 e-mail (uncovered via a Freedom of Information Act request) to Google’s barge contractor, Foss Maritime Co.

The Coast Guard and private fire-safety companies provided Foss and Google with a 20-page document detailing everything that would need to be done to make the barges safe for use by the public.

Google had hoped to have around 1,200 people each day visit the barge in San Francisco, telling the Coast Guard that there would be no more than 150 people on board the ship at any given time. But the Coast Guard said these were just numbers.

“I am unaware of any measures you plan to use to actually limit the number of passengers,” wrote the acting chief, who also expressed concern that Google and Foss had done so much work so quickly on these barges “without full consent of the Coast Guard.”

Even after Google gave government officials tours of the San Francisco barge to show what they had done, an Aug. 22, 2013 e-mail from the Coast Guard states that “The vessel’s design doesn’t incorporate certain fire safety features typically required… we cannot determine if evacuation of disabled persons has been considered.”

A few weeks later, Google suspended work on the project. But by this point, the public and media on both coasts were reporting on and speculating about the barges. Privately, all construction had stopped, but Google continued to release statements to the public that it was “still early days” for the project, which the company described to the press as “an interactive space where people can learn about technology.”

While Google was still being coy about the barges, the Coast Guard was internally lamenting the fact that so much had been left to the last minute.

“In hindsight we should have sought legal review earlier,” wrote one Coast Guard captain wrote a group of officers.

In March 2014, the San Francisco barge was towed 80 miles east to Stockton, its current home, while the Main barge was sold, towed to Boston Harbor and dismantled in August.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Diner Leaves Waitress $1,000 Tip On $15 Meal After Waiting For The Right Chance To Pay It Forward

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(9News.com)

Sometimes we see things on the Internet that inspire us to do really ridiculous things (cut to: actually attempting to open a wine bottle with a shoe, wine bottle shards flying everywhere). But then there are the times when the good stuff cuts through all the muckety muck of the daily grind, inspiring people to perform acts of kindness we might not otherwise have thought of on our own. Such was the case for one diner at a Colorado restaurant recently.

A waitress working a busy shift at a cafe in Vail, CO this week tells 9News.com that she had one patron who was dining solo, and didn’t stand out in any particular way.

Then towards the end of her meal, she asked for a piece of paper and a pen, the waitress says, which she dropped off for her, not thinking much of it.

She paid her $15 meal, as it turns out — and also wrote in a $1,000 tip for the waitress, leaving her a note that read: “I have waited for the right person since seeing this on FB… and you rock!”

“It was pretty shocking,” the waitress said, adding that her car had just broken down so the tip will help out with that. “I really didn’t know what to say. I literally was speechless.”

The station got in touch with the tipper, who explained that she’d read a story someone had shared on Facebook about paying it forward, and she wanted to do the same. So, she picked her waitress, who she says was giving her really excellent service during the meal, checking on her and making sure she had everything she needed.

“And I just thought to myself, ‘OK, she’s the one,'” the tipper said. “There’s just something very gratifying about doing something for someone you don’t even know and can’t pay you back.”

The waitress says she’ll never forget the woman’s generosity.

“I’m extremely forever grateful for her—just really incredible,” she said.

Vail waitress gets $1,000 tip [9News.com]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Mark Zuckerberg Explains Why Facebook Forced Everyone To Download A Separate Messaging App

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(NatalieProcter)

Whether you were dragged, kicking and screaming into downloading Facebook’s standalone messaging app when the time came, went quietly or straight up refused to do it at all (take that, The Man!), no one was really quite sure why Facebook was so into the mandatory move. Until now [cue suspenseful music]…

Some people liked messaging in the main app, after all, and were ticked to have no choice. Mark Zuckerberg has finally explained the messaging despotism — it’s what all the cool kids were doing.

The Verge has a handy excerpt from a Q&A session The Zuck did yesterday, wherein he was asked why in the heck he made everyone give up messaging or march to the App Store/Google Play and download the new app.

Saying he’s “grateful for hard questions” because it “keeps us honest,” (as if people were really afraid of his reaction in asking the question?) Zuckerberg says it’s all to keep things easier and frictonless for the user.

Using one app? Friction. Using two apps for one social network? Somehow less friction (though more work to open up a second app after receiving a notification in one app, if you ask some people). Though The Zuck does make use of that term “friction” often, admitting that forcing people to download a separate app “required friction.”

Doesn’t everything?

Anyway, he goes on to point out that the Facebook app is supposed to be all about News Feed info, and that messaging was a side thing that’s been growing in importance. An app should only do one thing, Zuckerberg thinks.

It was inconvenient for these people super into messages, he says.

“Messaging was this behavior people were doing more and more. 10 billion messages are sent per day, but in order to get to it you had to wait for the app to load and go to a separate tab,” he explained, adding that they looked around and saw that other messaging apps that were popular were devoted strictly to messsaging.

“These apps that are fast and just focused on messaging. You’re probably messaging people 15 times per day. Having to go into an app and take a bunch of steps to get to messaging is a lot of friction.”

Too much friction. But hey, it’s over now, he says.

“Asking folks to install another app is a short term painful thing, but if we wanted to focus on serving this [use case] well, we had to build a dedicated and focused experience. We build for the whole community,” he says.

As for why Facebook forced the move, it was for the greater good.

“The reason is that what we’re trying to do is build a service that’s good for everyone. Because Messenger is faster and more focused, if you’re using it, you respond to messages faster, we’ve found. If your friends are slower to respond, we might not have been able to meet up,” he explains, as apparently he has no other mode of communication other than Facebook messages.

It’s all about you, whether you know what you want or not.

Mark Zuckerberg finally explains why he forced you to download the standalone Messenger app [The Verge]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Home Depot Hackers Used Self-Checkouts To Access 56M Credit/Debit Cards, 53M Email Addresses

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(mroach)

We’re beginning to get a clearer picture of just what led to the massive Home Depot data breach discovered less than two months ago.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the hackers used infiltration tactics that mirrored those responsible for last year’s Target data breach that affected 40 million consumers.

Officials with Home Depot say the hackers accessed their systems with stolen credentials from a third-party vendor.

It’s believed that hackers then navigated Home Depot’s main computer network by exploiting a vulnerability in Microsoft’s operating system. From there the hackers were able operate as Home Depot employees with high-level permissions, the WSJ reports.

The hackers then targeted roughly 7,500 self-checkout machines at stores in the United States and Canada in order to deploy malicious software to steal the financial information.

On top of the 56 million credit and debit cards that were already revealed to have been compromised during the hack, Home Depot announced on Thursday that nearly 53 million e-mail addresses were also stolen.

The files containing the email addresses did not include passwords or other sensitive information, however customers should be on alert for phishing emails.

Home Depot officials say the hackers were able to avoid detection for five months by moving around the company’s system during regular business hours and implementing malware that erased its traces.

It’s believe that the attackers missed the company’s more than 70,000 standard cash registers because the mainline payment terminals are only identified by numbers.

Officials with Home Depot say the data breach could have continued much longer if hackers hadn’t put batches of stolen credit-card numbers up for sale on an online hacking forum.

Home Depot Chief Information Officer Matt Carey tells the WSJ that he was on vacation in Mexico when he was contacted by other executives about a suspicious credit card numbers for sale.

At the same time, executives at the company’s Atlanta headquarters were being contacted by Capital One Financial Corp. which had identified the store as the common thread linking the stolen cards.

The fourth day after the attack the company investigators found evidence of malware being deleted from a store computer. At that time the company was able to verify the breach but couldn’t be sure the attack was over.

Home Depot says that at the time of the attack they were putting the finishing touches on a 45-page playbook on how to respond to a data hack.

Home Depot Hackers Exposed 53 Million Email Addresses [The Wall Street Journal]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

Consumerist Friday Flickr Finds

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Here are seven of the best photos that readers added to the Consumerist Flickr Pool in the last week, picked for usability in a Consumerist post or for just plain neatness.

(Chris Blakeley)

(Freaktography)

(Martijn Venhuizen)

(Great Beyond)

(Дмитрий Шахов)

(C x 2)

(Benjamin Thompson)

Our Flickr Pool is the place where Consumerist readers upload photos for possible use in future Consumerist posts. Want to see your pictures on our site? Just be a registered Flickr user, go here, and click “Join Group?” up on the top right. Choose your best photos, then click “send to group” on the individual images you want to add to the pool.

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist