The Consumer Action Group

www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk

The Consumer Action Group is an online forum which provides free support and advice to anyone with consumer problems.

This covers dealings with banks, credit companies, retail organisations, employment, armed forces – you can see its wide reaching and it’s a huge forum with over 385,000 members and 4.8 million posts.

There’s also a library of information about consumer rights, an out of date blog, an email newsletter, access to webmail, a consumer action group magazine and more.

But really it’s the forum that makes it work and that’s where people can get free advice.

If you’re new to using a forum – basically people pose questions and any other member is free to post answers or comments. You don’t have to post something if you don’t want to – you can simply search and read on anything that interests you about being a consumer.

The site is paid for by donations and by advertising. Most of the adverts are at the top of the pages so once you scroll down they are out of sight.

The forums cover all forms of consumer action from buying to being an employee and there is a community centre with advice on how to stop smoking, technical support for electronic devices, cost cutting tips, weight loss etc.

This is a comprehensive and useful resource generally on being a consumer but especially if you have problems with a supplier’s products or service. Whatever the problem, there is likely to be someone on consumer action group who has been through it before and may be able to help you.

Do enter your email address and click on the subscribe button on top right to keep up to date with new posts.

U.S. Charges 14 Over $147 Million Scam

Federal prosecutors criminally charged 14 defendants with involvement in a $147 million stock manipulation scheme orchestrated in a New York boiler room, which swindled dozens of senior citizens and other investors.

Employees of My Street Research, based in Melville, New York, obtained shares at below-market prices from insiders of five public companies, and conducted wash trades and other manipulative trading to drive prices up, according to  acting U.S. Attorney Bridget Rohde.

My Street Research described itself as providing “unbiased stock research” and “top notch, detailed unbiased research.”

Prosecutors instead describe it as a boiler room operation that used high pressure sales tactics to inflate prices of shares which they or co-conspirators owned in a pump and dump operation – pumping up prices, then dumping stock on clients.

Victims were repeatedly pressured in cold calls and emails to buy shares and sign up for stock tips, and five defendants tried to launder $14.7 million of proceeds from the scheme, which ran from January 2014 to recently.

One such email, for the company Grilled Cheese Truck Inc, said “URGENT!!! MUST WATCH THIS LINK REGARDING THE ‘GRILLED CHEESE TRUCK'” and provided a link to a Fox Business Channel video titled “Soup Nazi Hits the Road with New Food Trucks”.

Prosecutors said the defendants Erik Matz, of Mt. Sinai, New York, and Ronald Hardy, of Port Jefferson, New York, managed the alleged boiler room My Street Research, which was previously called Dacona Financial, Power Traders Press and Trade Masters Co.

Other defendants include cold callers, people involved with stock research, and insiders or marketers affiliated with Grilled Cheese Truck, CES Synergies Inc, Hydrocarb Energy Corp, Intelligent Content Enterprises Inc and National Waste Management Holdings Inc, prosecutors said.

If you have any experiences with scammers, spammers or time-waster do let me know, by email.

Warning: As Shown on Shark Tank

Shark Tank Is an American TV series about entrepreneurs pitching their new product or service to a group of very successful business people. If they like it then they may invest their own money in the new company.

It’s a similar format to Dragons Den shown in the UK, which is based on a Japanese show and lots of countries now have their own version.

Shark Tank is a big ratings success and won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Structured Reality Program three times. A ninth season is currently being planned.

However, all is not as it seems. The sharks don’t have long to assess the businesses, products and services in front of them and a lot has to be taken on trust.

Many, and possibly a majority, of the deals made on the show are never enacted, due to the investors’ vetting process following the deal, which includes product testing and the examination of the contestants’ personal and business financials. In some cases, the entrepreneurs themselves have backed out of the deal after admitting that they only wanted to appear on the show for the publicity.

Lots of spam and scam emails for products include “As Seen on Shark Tank” and use quotes from the programme.

These may or may not be fake but appearing on Shark Tank really does not prove anything is genuine. Being liked by the Sharks does not prove a product is any good.

Many of the deals made on Shark Tank never happen because due diligence shows up the entrepreneurs either lie about their situation or product or something goes wrong in tying up the deal.

So if you see something advertised as ‘As Seen on Shark Tank” then reach for the salt and certainly do not believe it.

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