How to Take Part in Verizon Class-Action Cramming Settlement

You’ve heard about the mounting charges that can add up if you’ve been an unknowing victim of “cramming”, the placement of unauthorized phone charges on a consumer’s phone bill, for a period of time, but there is good news today, as Verizon announces a settlement of a related class-action lawsuit. In this settlement, Verizon customers who have been subjected to such unknown charges will receive 100% of the payments they have made toward these crammed charges. Verizon has not admitted fault in this case, but they are giving full restitution to all claimants.

Genealogy Expert Shares Tips on How to Conduct Family Research

The Missouri State Genealogical Association sponsored the 30^th Genealogy Conference which attracted 170 family-history enthusiasts. Chairwoman Nancy Thomas clarified the goals of the conference by saying that it helps attendees to navigate genealogical records and the pitfalls involved. The lineup was composed of a variety of courses covering many topics including newspaper research, how to separate fact from fiction, accessing military records and online databases. Participants of the conference also had the chance to speak to experts via the conference’s new program “Ancestry Roadshow”.

Hank Jones, the genealogy expert featured on “Unsolved Mysteries” was the keynote speaker for the conference. Jones spoke about the common misconceptions and hurdles one has to overcome when researching family history.

Jones warned conference attendees not to put all of their effort into one document since sources can be deceiving. Even though he has had multiple success stories, he outlined some common errors in his presentation, When Sources Are Wrong. “I wish I didn’t have to give this talk, but it happens all the time,” he said. “Erroneous sources are part of the territory.”

Online Dating: Truth Comes Before Trust

When one engages in the world of online dating, a certain number of little white lies are almost always involved. After all, what’s an inch, or pound or two, among two people who are destined **cough** to become life partners? According to the majority of online daters, these slight untruths are trivial. At least, that is the logical conclusion one must draw in considering the fact that more than half of all online daters lie about their weight. Height and annual income are also squarely on the list of most-modified truths, and with details like these already on the line, can greater online treachery be just a stone’s throw away?

This, in fact, seems true as a growing number of scammers have taken to the field of online dating as the next, great cash-rich territory to conquer. After months or even years of building a trusted relationship, these significant others-slash-fraudsters will brazenly make a request for money – for a sick relative in need, to make a trip for the long awaited union, or for any other crisis or situation that is likely to tug on your heart strings and open your wallet. What’s more, online daters make even more attractive victims because they are less likely than victims of other scams to report such activity after suffering the embarrassment, heartache and emotional turmoil of having taken part in a relationship forged on fakery.

How to spot unauthorized phone charges

When you think of telephone fraud, you automatically picture a phone conversation in which a mysterious voice asks you for social security and bank account numbers, but the sad truth is that you can be deceived right there in black and white, on your telephone bill. “Cramming” is the addition of charges for unauthorized products or services directly to your monthly phone bill, and most of us never even notice it. In fact, according to the FCC, as many as 20 million Americans have been victims of cramming, and it is likely that 95% of us don’t even know it! The losses attributed to cramming add up — cramming can add as little as $1.99 or as much as $19.99 each month to your bill.

How to opt out of phone book delivery

They pile up on our driveways and in our homes. A relic of the past, over 660,000 tons of phone books were discarded in the 2007, and only 22% were recycled, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Moreover, the EPA equates the production and disposal of these phone books to the carbon dioxide equivalent of 770 cars on the road and a death sentence on more than 5 million trees each year.

At the same time, Internet searches and digital directories have not only replaced the bulky phone books, but now give us more functionality than any paper versions ever could provide, presenting the results of any query within milliseconds. So why, is the decision to discard the yellow-paged dinosaurs of the past so difficult? Advertising revenue, of course, as phone companies rely on these to provide a hefty sum of profits and jobs.

7 Simple Ways to Reduce Cell Phone Radiation

An announcement last week from the World Health Organization (WHO) has sent consumers into a blind panic, as a team of 31 scientists from 14 different countries released findings that cell phone use is “possibly carcinogenic to humans.” WHO assures consumers that at this point, no adverse health effects have been established, but concern is definitely among top of mind (and next to ear) for all consumers, as mobile phone usage is on the rise. Of course, even though the findings are only “possibly” conclusive, it’s still enough to make you think twice about your handy, dandy connection to the rest of the world, but are you willing to give up your phone? Probably not, so we’ve put together a handy list of tips that will allow you to continue to use your cell phone and reduce radiation exposure at the same time.

If you can’t trust the photo, what else is a lie?

Online dating is a billion dollar industry that is growing by the day. Time is short, life is busy, and sometimes it’s just not that easy to get out there and meet the person of your dreams. Thanks to a comprehensive list of online dating statistics research put together by ManVsDate, we know that in the United States alone approximately 40 million people use a service, and the average age of the online dater is 48. By gender, slightly more males (52.4%) date online than females (47.6%),  and the average time spent on a single visit to a site is just over 22 minutes.

How to tell when a telemarketer is breaking the law

If you’re fed up with telemarketers interrupting your life, you may very well be wondering, what is the law on telemarketing? Is there anything that I can do about these annoying people? Absolutely, so we’ve put together this basic primer on the law governing telemarketing, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) of 1991 to give you the quick and easy highlights so you know when you can report a telemarketer for breaking the law.

List of telephone star codes to “hack” your phone

In an age when our cell phones are capable of just about anything with an endless barrage of apps and functionality, our land line home telephones are looking pretty dumb. But are they? We think they are actually smarter than most people know, and they have been for a very long time – if you know what to do. Let’s call it old school style phone hacking, even though it’s really just knowing that your phone is capable of a number of additional services if you know the right command. Otherwise commonly known to many of us as “star codes”, vertical service codes (VSC) are special codes dialed on either a cell phone or land line phone before a traditional telephone number that initiate some special service. 

How to block calls on your home phone

If you’re frequently on the receiving end of annoying phone calls from either someone you do know or someone you don’t know, you may be excited to learn about a smart, little service from your phone company called “Call Blocking.” This service, provided by your local phone company, allows you to reject phone calls from a certain number of designated numbers, even if the annoying caller has blocked his own phone number himself! You will be unaware of the call, and the caller will hear the message,”Your call cannot be completed. The number you are calling has activated Call Blocking, indicating that they do not wish to receive calls at this time.” The number of telephone numbers that you can block may vary according to your local phone company’s specific policies.