For years, consumer advocates have warned there’s no free lunch. But that standing advice may be changing. An increasing number of products and services are available to consumers at no cost. Free lunch may be a reality, after all…along with free breakfast, credit reports, phone service and a host of other goods and services.
AdPerk, for […]

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Airline spammers are trying again to trick consumers into infecting their computers with malicious software. The scam involves an email with phony airline ticket invoices and boarding passes–and a warning that the purchase has been charged to the recipient’s credit card–a security company said today.
Trend Micro Inc.’s researchers caught spammed email messages featuring bogus eTickets […]

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Consumers often struggle between replacement or repair of electronic equipment. From an environmental standpoint, it’s usually better to reuse than replace it. But from an economic standpoint, that may not make sense.

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The Federal Trade Commission put telemarketers on notice this week that the end was near for several common but annoying automated direct marketing practices, including the use of prerecorded sales messages and predictive dialers.
The FTC approved amendments to the Telemarketing Sales Rule that ban prerecorded sales messages without the written consent of the target consumer […]

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Simple mistakes can affect your data and identity.

Technology is no match for the carelessness of the consumers who use it. That’s the warning from Consumer Reports, which identifies seven of the most common online errors in its September issue. The Yonkers-based organization identified the worst things computer users can do, including:
1. […]

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