Consumer alert!

A Flint man who sold fraudulent promissory notes to investors who attended his “free lunch” investment seminars has been ordered by state officials to stop selling unregistered investment products.
The Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation determined that John Missitti and a company he is associated with, GetMoni.com, were not licensed to sell securities products. Promissory notes were sold to Michigan consumers in the form of contractor financing, silver mines and other related investments. In some cases the promissory notes exceeded $100,000, state officials said.
“In this economic environment, scams come in all shapes and sizes. Consumers should do their homework and call OFIR before entering into any investment opportunity,” OFIR Commissioner Ken Ross said.
If Michigan investors have any questions about an investment firm, professional or product, please contact OFIR toll-free at (877) 999-6442 or online at: www.michigan.gov/ofir.
OFIR’s cease and desist order also applies to Ronald Brito, the president of GetMoni, which is incorporated in Carson City, NV.
Failure to comply with this order could subject Missitti and Brito to a $25,000 fine and 10 years in prison.

If you get a letter in the mail recruiting you to be a mystery shopper and it contains a fat check drawn on the City National Bank of West Virginia, don’t cash it. It’s counterfeit.
Authentic-looking cashier’s checks drawn on the bank are being used in the scam.
For more information, click here.

They might pop up in your e-mail or be quarantined by your computer’s anti-spam or anti-virus software.
Regardless, all those messages that seem to be warning you that your bank might not have adequate federal deposit insurance are bogus.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has received numerous reports of the fraudulent e-mails that look like they are being sent from the FDIC.
The subject line of the e-mail states: “check your Bank Deposit Insurance Coverage.” The e-mail tells recipients that, “You have received this message because you are a holder of a FDIC-insured bank account. Recently FDIC has officially named the bank you have opened your account with as a failed bank, thus, taking control of its assets.”
The e-mail then asks recipients to “visit the official FDIC website and perform the following steps to check your Deposit Insurance Coverage.” The link is a fraud, but visitors to it are instructed to “download and open your personal FDIC Insurance File to check your Deposit Insurance Coverage.”
This e-mail and associated Web site are fraudulent. Recipients should consider the intent of this e-mail as an attempt to collect personal or confidential information, some of which may be used to gain unauthorized access to on-line banking services or to conduct identity theft.
The FDIC does not issue unsolicited e-mails to consumers. Financial institutions and consumers should NOT follow the link in the fraudulent e-mail.

Rechargeable batteries sold with certain Coby multi-media players are being recalled because they can overheat.
Details and product numbers are available by clicking here.

MoneyGram will pay the federal government $18 million to settle charges that its funds-by-wire system was widely used to run lottery or mystery shopper scams.
The feds say the company is culpable because some of its agents knew of or participated in the scams, which bilked consumers out of at least $84 million.
More details may be found by clicking here.

Smishing is on the rise and has reared its head in Monroe.
That’s the term given the growing practice of stealing personal and financial data via text messaging on cell phones.
Some members and non-members of the Monroe County Community Credit Union have received fraudulent text messages purporting to be from the credit union concerning an account that they might or might not have.
The message says “This is an automated message from Monroe County Community Credit Union Security Department, regarding your account security. Please call urgently at 877-897-1953.” When the number is called it asks for a credit card number, expiration date, and pin.
Don’t reply to the message, it’s a scam designed to capture your account or other personal information.
MCCCU said it not solicit information from its members in this way. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact our Call Center at (734) 242-3222.
A similar scam message making the rounds looks like this:

8669425647@ncua.gov() (card blocked) Alert. For more information please call 1-866-942-5647. Thank you.

A recorded message on that now-disconnected number told the victim someone was misusing her credit card number online, and asked her to key the card number for confirmation, so a new one could be sent.
Invoking the “ncua” is an attempt to use the good name of the National Credit Union Administration to provide some credibility to the scam.
But the NCUA also never asks people via a text message to key in their credit card numbers.

For instance, in a case earlier this year, a fraud ring landed $22m of merchandise by using a cell phone industry insider to access users’ account details, which were then used to order extra equipment, which was subsequently sold by the thieves.

The FBI is warning that three new e-mailed scams are afoot, claiming to be bulletins about intelligence information or homeland security.
For details, click here.

A Monroe area man reports receiving a letter containing a cashier’s check drawn on First Tennessee Bank in the amount of $3,950, supposedly as part of a “summer bonanza internet draw” sponsored by Fidelity.
He was entitled to $85,000 in the sweepstakes, which was entered from a “name data base” of recent shoppers at Walmart, JCPenney or Sears or those who subscribe or Reader’s Digest or have played online or in-store lottos during 2008.
All he had to do was cash the check, which was to help pay a processing fee, in order to claim the prize.
The check is a scam. After cashing it, recipients are instructed to call a number for further instructions, which involve wiring the proceeds to a third party in order to claim the larger cash prize.
The person who cashes the check is on the hook for the money when the check isn’t honored by the home bank.
A helpful teller at Fifth Third Bank checked with First Tennessee Bank and confirmed for the Monroe resident that the routing and account numbers on the check are fraudulent.
Any number of bank names and official-looking checks are used in such nationwide scams sent through first-class mail and often bearing postmarks from Canada. Do not cash such checks.

Michigan-based Bravata Financial, run by guys who live in Brighton and Northville, is nothing but a $50 million scam, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Ponzi scheme bilked at least 440 investors by promising high yields.
For details and the government action being taken, click here.

Churches are being targeted by scammers who are offering free church equipment in a ruse to gain access to the churches’ bank accounts.
The Federal Trade Commission issued a consumer alert about the scam today.

The FBI says it has evidence that scammers are targeting business owners of Asian descent, using specific personal information culled from the Internet.
Details may be found by clicking here.

Lenders and homeowners are continuing to get burned by mortgage fraud.
The FBI said the number of mortgage fraud cases is escalating as the economy continues to sour. See or read a report by clicking here.