The Scam Alert Blog

Scammers come in all sizes, some are tried by individuals who can use their anonymity as a disguise, while others are performed by large recognizable entities who use their social acceptance as a stamp of approval for everything they do. The second type of scammer is who we’d like to talk about here.

Many of the largest online flower shops are scamming local florists out of legitimate sales. The victims here are, indirectly the customer through price compensation, but mainly the local florists who both establishes face-to-face relationships with the customers as well as fulfills most of the orders from these big online flower companies.

What flower companies are we talking about?

1-800-Flowers
TeleFlora
FTD
…and more!

What exactly are they doing?

You can read the full letter to the FTC about 1800Flowers here, but in a nutshell: These large online flower companies are deducting the service charge they normally charge for transferring an order from them to the local florist and calling it “free shipping”. This is not true in the slightest and gives an unfair advantage as many online retailers, marketers, and marketing experts will tell you that nothing increases sales online like an offering of “free shipping”.

You can find out more information on this and other issues affecting the florist trade by reading The Real Florists Blog regularly.

If you’d like to find out about more florist related scams, check out The Florist Detective.

Here is the story of one “alleged” scammer who is accused of selling trampolines and then not delivering them, but keeping the money.

Customers of Regions Bank, primarily located in the southeastern United States, were the recent target of an online scam performed using a computerized telephone call.

Bank customers were called and asked to verify their banking information online and given a website to do so. Of course, the website is fake and just a way for a scammer to gather people’s usernames, passwords, account numbers, and more. The bank has urged all customers who received this call to call or come into the bank.

Full story is here

While this particular scam was confined to customers of this specific bank, be warned that this could happen to you as well. If you ever receive word to verify your account information online… please confirm with your financial institution first if the message came from them. Don’t let the scammers win.

Here is a great (and fairly new) online dating site we’ve come across. It has tons of cool features like free chat, photos, and each user can have their own blog hosted there for everyone to read. Definitely worth checking out, especially if you feel you’ve wasted a lot of time at some of those other online dating sites. So, if you’re looking for a new free online dating community - give Friendsation a try!

Are you in need of a web design software package perfect for small to mid-sized businesses? Are you involved in one of the following business areas?

• Manufacturing
• Wholesale
• Distributing
• Supplies
• Retail

If so, then you may be interested in Advanced E-Media, Inc’s WebJaguar software application. It is made specifically to solve most businesses ecommerce hosting web design needs. Every business’s needs are different, no two businesses are exactly the same, that is why it is so important that WebJaguar be exactly as versatile as it is.

Even mid-sized corporations can use WebJaguar to either help establish themselves online, or to redesign their current website. WebJaguar is completely scalable and designed to create dynamic database-driven websites. A website’s goal should be to both look good and be highly functional, and that is exactly what you get when using WebJaguar.

Check out this site regarding luxury cars & convertible engineers designed with the extremely versatile Advanced E-Media WebJaguar program. Any company would be satisfied with such a professional and functional website for themselves.

Whether in need of a court or a commercial surety bond, it can be a daunting task to track down the best source for a bond. It is also that much harder to know who to trust nowadays because so much business is handled online. With any financial dealings online there is always some concern, but luckily along comes Bryant Surety Bonds.

State law requires a mortgage surety bond for those wanting to get a mortgage broker license. You can apply for your mortgage bond right online if you’d like, using their standard application form. You can also apply for other surety bonds like: commercial, court, auto dealer, license and permit, and more right at their site.

When it comes to surety bonds, one of the harder things to find is a bad credit surety bond, sometimes referred to as a high risk surety bond. Many people don’t know it, but even with no credit history or average credit history you still may need to apply for a high risk bond. When a person with poor credit history finds their self in need of this type of bond, it is a relief to know there is a place they can go.

Doing business with reputable companies, both online and off, is another way of preventing yourself from being scammed.