Current Events in December 2010

For a while it was looking as if the American consumer had actually learned to live within their means. Conspicuous consumption was down, more of us were using cash instead of credit and a large portion of the country was paying down its credit card debt. Or at least most studies and figures seemed to indicate that trend, including numbers put out by the Federal Reserve showing credit card debt was decreasing year over year.

Well, it seems we may not have looked deep enough to see the true direction. On the surface just looking at the numbers, it does appear that overall credit card debt is going down. But according to a new study released this week, that figure has nothing to do with reality and that things may have started to change as far back as the spring of 2009.

CardHub.com, which tracks credit card use, has just released its 2010 Credit Card Debt Study for Q3. That is the quarter covering the summer months of July, August and September. The CardHub.com study shows that not only didn't consumers pay down their credit card debt this summer, but they actually increased it by $6.5 billion compared to the spring.

What's worrisome is that consumers, who had begun 2009 and 2010 with a significant net decrease in credit card debt as they paid down their balances, appear to have slipped back into old habits and have begun to use their cards again. The result is that their credit card debt has either gone back up or at least stayed the same.

More specifically, although credit card debt in the first quarter of 2010 had a net decrease of $43 billion, it was 9% less than the net decrease in the same quarter last year. In addition, during the spring and summer of this year, consumers accumulated $16.1 billion in credit card debt, 11% more than the same period last year. As a result, according to the latest Card Hub forecast, consumers are actually on track to end 2010 with no net change in their debt.

Why the discrepancy?

So why is there such a discrepancy between overall Credit Card Debt numbers and personal credit card use?

In an interview with ConsumerAffairs.com, Odysseas Papadimitriou, CEO and Founder of CardHub.com says one might look at the $93 billion decline in credit card debt, and come to the conclusion that Americans have paid down their balances in a big way. But the reality he says is that $81.6 billion of the $93 billion decrease is the direct result of Americans defaulting on their debt, not paying it off.

According to the CardHub.com study, we paid down our credit card debt in the first quarter of 2009 and the first quarter of 2010. Papadimitriou says that's usually when we get our tax refunds or bonuses. But our collective debt repayment this year was 9% less than in 2009 and continues to get worse to the point where in the spring of 2010, outstanding credit card debt was actually 246% above the same quarter of 2009 even though the figures given for overall debt implied we were reducing our debt and not adding to it.

"People look at the overall credit card debt number going down and think things are getting better," says Papadimitriou. "But if you look closer you see there are two numbers you need to consider, the number related to the debt consumers are paying down and the number associated with credit card defaults."

Beyond their means

The CardHub.com chief says his study shows that some consumers are once again beginning to use their credit cards to live beyond what their salaries or regular income would cover. "This could be due to an over-optimistic view or that they believe we are on the road to economic recovery to they've returned to their old habits," says Papadimitriou, "but the reality is people are going to find themselves deeper in debt again if this trend continues."

"It's a little like the game musical chairs," adds Papadimitriou. "As long as the music is playing, like it was during the housing bubble, everything is great. But once music stops like it did during the financial crisis, some people were left without a chair, in the form of being without a job or a home."

Papadimitriou puts a great deal of the responsibility for the financial crisis clearly on the shoulders of the Federal Reserve, which he says had the authority to step in and tell the major banks that the type of lending they were doing during the housing bubble was neither safe nor sound. "But they didn't do that"" he adds, "and neither did any of the other regulators who could have done something about it."

"Even former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan admitted that he didn't think it was a problem," says Papadimitriou, "because he figured investors simply would not buy such bad loans and that would be the end of it."

As we all know now, Greenspan was wrong, and that even though some banks like Goldman Sachs knew the loans were crap, there were enough other banks who apparently wanted to keep playing and they, to draw on Papadimitriou's analogy, along with the rest of us, were left without a chair.

For a copy of the CardHub.com study go to http://education.cardhub.com/q3-2010-credit-card-debt-study.  

Marijuana has been a cash crop for many years in this country. The only problem is that most of that crop had been grown illegally. Now, that medical marijuana is legal in 15 states and the District of Columbia, legalized marijuana has quickly become so popular it is attracting attention from hedge fund managers and venture capitalists, not to mention a whole new batch of entrepreneurs.

Doctors still can't prescribe marijuana because it is categorized as a schedule one drug like LSD. But they can recommend it and that's all anyone needs to get a medical marijuana license that allows them to buy marijuana legally in those 15 states, with three more states about join them.

Each license sells for around $130 and some clinics selling the licenses have brought in more than a million dollars in just their first year. The once illegal joint is selling like hot cakes throughout middle America to consumers who no longer have to worry about getting arrested for possession, at least by local or state authorities.

The federal government still outlaws marijuana possession but it's unlikely someone with a medical marijuana license will be busted by an FBI or DEA agent if caught smoking in his or her own home. In fact, just last year U.S. enforcers promised to leave medical marijuana operations alone if they complied with state law.

That prompted a significant increase in interest among entrepreneurs. Today, there are an estimated 2,400 medical marijuana dispensaries from California to Maine. In Colorado, they outnumber Starbucks two to one.

Making a profit, however, can still be problematic. In every state except Colorado, medical marijuana dispensaries must be structured as a not-for-profit, which is not a problem for some. Steve DeAngelo, founder of Harborside Health Center in Oakland, California, told Smart Money magazine that he likes that model because it preserves the business for local owners and keeps big-money players out.

He adds that at Harborside, he uses profits to support in-house charities that offer free pot to people who can't afford to buy it along with free addiction counseling. But he's in the minority.

Others see a lot of money in medical marijuana. Even DeAngelo's not for profit clinic brings in $50,000 a day so he also founded the for-profit CannBe, a management-consulting firm for medical marijuana start-ups.

Plus, there are a growing number of hedge fund managers and venture capitalists who are taking a close look at what is an estimated $36 billion market. They're also predicting that many states who need cash will continue to relax rules and legalize marijuana for medical use.

According to Smart Money, two hedge funds announced at a recent National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws seminar that they would consider buying any medical marijuana dispensaries available for sale.

A recent Gallup poll found that 44% of Americans are in favor of legalizing marijuana, which is almost twice as many as 15 years ago. It's still not enough however to change the laws surrounding recreational use. In November, California voted against ending cannabis prohibition all together.

Meanwhile, medicinal use of pot continues to be the acceptable method of allowing marijuana into the mainstream, even as critics clamor that it's just a legal loophole to get high.

That may be, but the debate over lost tax revenue and expensive jailing for offenders continues to grow louder and that just might be enough of a tipping point to justify a closer look into the financial viability of legal sales.

Bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical used mostly in food and beverage containers, seems to be everywhere, even in your wallet.

A study by two advocacy groups - the Washington Toxics Coalition and Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, says 95 percent of dollar bills tested positive for the substance, which studies have linked to reproductive issues.

The finding was made in a more wide-ranging test that looked for traces of the chemical on thermal paper receipts. Scientists wanted to know whether the chemical was moving from receipts to currency when consumers tucked the receipts in their wallets or held them with change from a transaction.

Unlike BPA in baby bottles and other products, BPA on thermal paper isn't chemically bound in any way: it's a powdery film on the surface of receipts. Data from this report suggests the chemical does not stay on the paper, but rather easily transfers to our skin and likely to other items that it rubs against.

"Our findings demonstrate that BPA cannot be avoided, even by the most conscious consumer," said Erika Schreder, Staff Scientist at the Washington Toxics Coalition and lead author of the report. "This unregulated use of large amounts of BPA is having unintended consequences, including exposure to people when we touch receipts."

Present in most Americans

Present in 93 percent of all Americans, scientists studying BPA have hypothesized the major route of human exposure is through food, as BPA is used as a liner in nearly all canned food and beverages. The authors say this study also suggests that skin absorption from thermal paper receipts with unbound BPA may lead to exposure at levels equivalent to exposure from food sources.

Produced in quantities of about six billion pounds each year worldwide, BPA is one of the most widely used chemicals of all time. During the past decade, researchers in a number of countries have explored the connections between BPA exposure--particularly before birth and in early childhood--and the health problems.

In particular exposure to BPA before birth has been found in laboratory studies to predispose animals to cancer; alter brain development; and lead to early puberty in female animals. Male animals exposed in the womb produce less testosterone, have larger prostate glands, and make fewer sperm than unexposed animals. Studies have also shown a correlation between BPA and obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular problems.

As part of the study, receipts made with thermal paper were collected from 22 retailers in 10 states and Washington, D.C. Laboratory tests found BPA in very large quantities--up to 2.2 percent of the total weight--in 11 of the 22 receipts.

Retailers with BPA-containing receipts included: Safeway, Shaw's, Meijer, Cub Foods, Sunoco, Kroger, Giant Eagle, H-E-B, Randalls, Fred Meyer, and the Rayburn Café in the U.S. House of Representatives. BPA-free receipts were found at Trader Joe's, Hannaford, Home Depot, Albertson's, Ace Hardware, Wal-Mart, Sears, Costco, and the Hart American Grill serving the U.S. Senate.

Moves from receipts to fingers

In tests mimicking typical handling of receipts, BPA transferred from receipts to fingers. Just ten seconds of holding a receipt transferred up to 2.5 micrograms, the researchers say. Researchers transferred much higher amounts, about 15 times as much, by rubbing receipts.

"Since BPA in thermal paper receipts is present in a powdery film, we suspected it could easily travel from those receipts to other objects," the authors wrote. Objects like money.BPA was found on 21 of the 22 dollar bills tested, they report.

Although the levels of BPA detected on money are much lower than those on receipt paper, the researchers said the near-ubiquitous presence of BPA on dollar bills indicates that BPA is escaping from products to contaminate other materials in unexpected ways.

"BPA on receipts, dollar bills, and in many other products, is a direct result of the absurdly lax controls on chemicals in the United States," said Andy Igrejas, Director of the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families coalition. "The 112th Congress should make reform of the failed 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act a top legislative priority to protect American families for generations to come."

FDA position

The Food and Drug Administration's official position on BPA is that levels found in the food supply are not harmful. The food industry remains firmly committed to the chemical. 

Last spring, when Sen. Diane Feinstein introduced an amendment to the Senate version of the Food Safety and Modernization Act to ban BPA from food and beverage containers, widespread industry support for the legislation collapsed.

"We will not support food safety legislation that bans or phases out BPA from any food and beverage container," Scott Faber, vice president for federal affairs for the Grocery Manufacturers Association, which represents food companies and retailers, told the Washington Post last April.

Indeed, the legislation remained stalled for the remainder of the year, until it passed the Senate November 30, after Feinstein agreed to withdraw the BPA-banning amendment.

Seattle Bike Supply is recalling about 200 Redline D640 bicycles. The head tube can separate from the frame, causing the rider to lose control and fall. This poses a risk of serious injury.

Seattle Bikes is aware of eight reports of head tubes separating from the frame, including four reports of minor scrapes and cuts.

This recall involves all 2008 Redline D640 bicycles. The bicycles were sold in black and have aluminum frames. "REDLINE" is written down the frame's tube. The model number is written on the frame's top tube.

Bicycle specialty stores sold the bikes nationwide from December 2007 to May 2010 for about $900. They were made in China.

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled bicycles and contact a local Redline bicycle dealer to receive a free frame replacement.

For additional information, contact Redline Bicycles at (800) 283-2453 between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. PT Monday through Friday or visit the firm's website at www.Redlinebicycles.com

For many of us, December is a month of joy and holiday celebrating. But it's also the deadliest month when it comes to home electrical fires.

Deaths from fire typically increase during the winter months as a result of increased indoor activity and they reach their peak this month from our use of holiday lighting, extra heating and poorly maintained appliances.

Each year, home electrical problems account for an estimated 67,800 electrical fires resulting in the death of 485 Americans. Another 2,305 people are injured and $868 million worth of property is lost.

These fires may be caused by electrical system failures, or defects in appliances, but the majority are the result of misuse and poor maintenance, incorrect wiring installation, and overloaded circuits and extension cords.

Here are some simple steps you can take to reduce your risk and prevent the loss of life and property:

Never overload extension cords or wall sockets.

Avoid connecting an excessive amount of holiday lighting and decorations to a single circuit whenever possible.

Routinely check electrical appliances and wiring to look for signs of fraying and have any worn, old or damaged appliance cords replaced by a professional or throw them away.

Keep electrical appliances away from wet floors and counters and pay special care to electrical appliances in the bathroom and kitchen.

When buying electrical appliances look for products evaluated by a nationally recognized laboratory, such as Underwriters Laboratories (UL).

Don't allow children to play with or around electrical appliances like space heaters, irons and hair dryers.

Keep clothes, curtains and other potentially combustible items at least three feet from all heaters.

If an appliance has a three-prong plug, use it only in a three-slot outlet. Never force it to fit into a two-slot outlet or extension cord.

Immediately shut off and professionally replace switches that are hot to the touch and lights that flicker.

Child-proof electrical outlets with safety closures.

Check your electrical tools regularly for signs of wear and if the cords are frayed or cracked, replace them as well as any tool if it causes even small electrical shocks, overheats, shorts out or gives off smoke.

Having a working smoke alarm dramatically increases your chances of surviving a fire.

And finally, it doesn't hurt to practice a home escape plan fire drill with your own family every now and then. You do it at work and school, so why not at home.

'Tis the season for many consumers to open their hearts and wallets to a variety of charities. But National Consumers League (NCL), the nation's oldest consumer advocacy organization, has issued an alert to consumers that con artists may take advantage of their generosity this time of year with bogus charities posing as legitimate ones.

"It's that time of year again, when we begin to hear from consumers about crooks' attempts to take advantage of the holiday giving season for their personal gain," said NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg. "If you're thinking of giving to a charity this season, good for you! But be careful -- some scammers out there may be looking to take advantage of your generosity."

Scam complaints rising

Complaints to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) about charity scams have become more frequent recently. The volume of complaints to the FTC's Consumer Sentinel system increased by 8.6 percent from 1.23 million in 2008 to 1.33 million in 2009.

While the volume of complaints regarding bogus charitable solicitations remained a small fraction of overall complaints, they were reported much more frequently in 2009, increased by 82.1 percent over the same period (1,908 in 2008 versus 3,474 in 2009).

NCL warns consumers to avoid becoming a statistic this holiday season by doing their homework before giving to an unfamiliar charity. Non-profit tracking Web sites like GuideStar.org and CharityNavigator.org have a free databases with detailed information on many charities.

Dodging rip-off artists

NCL offers the following tips for the charitable-minded:

• Research. Local newspapers or television or radio stations often compile lists of reputable charities responding to emergencies. Consider consulting these sources for information on how to give.
• Be in control of what you give and to whom you give it! Consider setting up a personal charity/giving budget and deciding ahead of time to whom you want to give, rather that being pressured into giving on the spur of the moment by a phone or e-mail solicitation. Consider contacting a charity directly on the phone or via the Internet to ensure that your donation is going directly to the charity of your choice.
• Pay the smartest way. Don't pay in cash, if possible. It is safer to pay by check or credit card. Be sure to get a receipt for any donation for tax purposes.
• If a charity contacts, you, be cautious. If you're approached by an unfamiliar charity, check it out. Most states require charities to register with them and file annual reports showing how they use donations. Ask your state or local consumer protection agency how to get this information.
• Get it in writing. Legitimate charities will be happy to provide details about what they do and will never insist that you act immediately.
• Beware of sound-alikes. Some crooks try to fool people by using names that are very similar to those of legitimate, well-known charities
• Know to whom you are talking. Ask about the caller's relation to the charity. The caller may be a professional fundraiser, not an employee or a volunteer. Ask what percentage of donations goes to the charity and how much the fundraiser gets.

For the past year and a half, my wife and I got into the habit of video chatting with our son and grandson in Florida, thoroughly enjoying watching the toddler try to crawl through the screen of our laptop.

Video calling has been around awhile. Companies have been employing video conferencing and online video chatting for years. Then skype made it all financially possible for the rest of us to talk to a face through our computers.

And now with the new version of the iPhone and other mobile devices, more of us are able to look at to whom we're talking on a regular basis. It's still probably not a wise thing to do while you're driving, even if you have the speaker on. In fact, there are times when I prefer to just talk and listen without having to react visibly to the other person.

Still, video calling has started to become a way of life for millions of Americans either on their computers or over a mobile phone or through their big screen TVs.

According to a recent survey from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, one in five Internet users has tried video chat. And this technology barely existed just five years ago. Plus, most computer-based video calling is free.

Analysts are predicting a steep growth in video chatting, noting new developments such as video voice-mail messages, the ability to snap still-life photos during a video conversation and calls that can be received on your web-enabled 60-inch flat-screen TV.

Skype is still the dominant force in the video chat industry with Google, Apple, Yahoo and a host of smaller competitors biting off chunks. The mobile piece of the business alone totals nearly $100 million.

Right now, your choices are through your computer, your cell phone or your television.

If you use a computer, you'll need a service like Skype, which also requires software or an AOL account. The Skype video chat is free and voice calls run from a few cents to more than $2 a minute. Skype is the only service that lets up to five people chat together via video—and view each other in high-definition. You would need a special hi-def webcam however. A less well-known service is ooVoo.

Then there's iChat, which requires an account with either AOL Instant Messenger, which is free, or Apple's MobileMe, which costs $99 a year, plus software. iChat makes free video calls to computers. Text messages may incur charges. Apple's entry into the field doesn't let users make calls in high-def yet, but four people can chat together on a single call and share photos on the computer screen at the same time.

A recent entry to computer video chatting is Google voice and video chat. It requires a Gmail account and software, but the video chatting is free. Voice calls cost between 2 cents and $1 a minute. Google's video-chat function lets you e-mail and instant-message during your chat session. But a spokesperson says video calls work with only one person at a time and that the service isn't yet available in high-def.

The cost of webcams ranges from as little as $15 to $140 for high end high-def cameras. They also come built into many laptops.

You won't need a webcam for conducting video chats over cell phones, which have their cameras already built in. Just keep in mind that video calls tend to cost more than just voice calls unless you use an Internet hot spot. You can buy an app such as Fring, which provides free video chatting over Wi-Fi but also 3G. Unless your data plan is unlimited, stick to Wi-Fi hot spots to avoid carrier overage fees.

The most recent method of video chatting is over your big flat screen television but you need a web-enabled set. Skype has rolled out a service on a handful of Web-enabled TVs allowing callers to dial other Skype customers through their TV's remote, then talk through a supersized webcam that lets people sit as far as 12 feet away.

While chatting is free, and connections to callers on the other line is via not only the TV but also the computer but the technology is being built into newer sets from Samsung and Panasonic sets that run $1,200 to $7,000. You can find cheaper models from Vizio. You also need a special webcam will cost at least $150, since regular models can't plug into a television.

To save money, you could modify your existing TV by hooking it to a computer as if it was an external monitor and then use Skype to make the video call.

Millions of Americans take statins, which are a common class of medication that lowers cholesterol.

While statins might be effective at that, new research says they can also trigger a rare but serious autoimmune muscle disease in a small number of the 30 million Americans who take them.

Statins, researchers say, can sometimes cause the body to produce antibodies against its own proteins, creating a condition that gets progressively worse -- not better -- even after the medication is discontinued.

The painful and debilitating disorder is uncommon and can be treated with steroids and other immune-suppressing drugs, so the researchers caution that people who must be on statins to reduce serious risk of heart disease and stroke should not avoid the drugs.

"We have long known that there must be environmental triggers to the development of autoimmune disorders," said Andrew L. Mammen, assistant professor of neurology and medicine at Johns Hopkins University. "Now we have evidence that this medication is just such a trigger and, under certain circumstances, provokes a sustained autoimmune disease."

Statins are a class of drug that lowers cholesterol levels by inhibiting the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase, which plays a key role in producing cholesterol in the liver. Some of the best-selling statins are Lipitor, which racked up sales of $12.4 billion in 2008, and Crestor, Zocor, and Vytorin.

Details of the study, published online in the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism, could lead to lab tests that identify early autoimmune muscle disease, guide treatment before symptoms escalate and, possibly, predict who is at risk before statins are prescribed.

Mammen cautions that the research describes a rare side effect, noting that statins are a "fantastic medication" with proven value.

"No one who needs statins should be afraid to take them because of the slim risk of developing this autoimmune disease," he said. "Statins save a huge number of lives. They dramatically reduce the risk of strokes and heart attacks."

The researchers said their ultimate goal is to determine before patients start taking statins who might be sensitive to the medication and who might be susceptible to its potentially toxic effects on the muscle.

If anyone ever asked you if you'd pay $20,000 to install a service in your home or apartment so you could watch movies as soon as they're released for another $500 a movie, you'd probably laugh and say no way. Movie tickets may be high but not that high, right?

Well, like most start-up operations and innovative ideas, the first generation of new gadgetry usually costs more than most people would spend. So the $20,000 initial installation price-tag Prima Cinema Inc. of Los Angeles is proposing may not be that far out of line.

Plus, for Prima Cinema, this service would be made available to only a few thousand customers as a way of testing out the overall appetite for what's to come regarding the so-called shared movie-going experience. The question being asked is why can't you share this experience without leaving the comfort of your home?

Prima Cinema has already received venture capital investments from Universal Pictures and Best Buy. Its plan is to charge initial customers an estimated one-time fee of $20,000 for a digital-delivery system and then an additional $500. Prima has met with all six major studios as well as several of the smaller, independent ones about licensing their films and it anticipates several of them will sign on when the company launches its service late next year.

Are theater owners worried about this? You bet they are even though Prima Cinema doesn't expect this to cut into their revenue on any significant basis.

Given the steep price, Prima Cinema only plans on selling it to a few thousand users at first and possibly to as many as 250,000 within five years. In the beginning, the high price will create an exclusive, super-premium niche market that would be seen as new revenue stream for studios by tapping into a segment of the wealthy who have stopped going to theaters.

On the other hand, The Wall Street Journal says the proposed system represents a twist in an ongoing debate over the future practice of staggering the distribution of movies through different channels to maximize profits in each. Traditionally, that has meant a movie hits theaters first, followed several months later by in-flight and hotels, followed by DVDs, video-on-demand, and subscription-cable channels.

The Journal says the release window system has already come under pressure with DVD sales falling 20% from last year while digital piracy is increasing. During this same time, consumer spending on video-on-demand services rose 17%. Another controversial issue has been an early, "premium" video-on-demand window, in which cable subscribers could pay around $30 to watch a movie a month or two after its debut in theaters.

Theater owners have been objecting to the idea of premium video-on-demand, saying it disrupts their business. The president of the National Association of Theatre Owners, John Fithian, says theater owners aren't in favor of any system that impinges on movie-going and that includes Prima Cinema. He adds that the Prima model also exposes movies to the possibility of piracy early on because there is no such thing as a secure distribution to the home. Fithian believes it will give pirates a pristine digital copy early, resulting in millions of lost revenue, while at the same time selling to a very limited audience of billionaires.

Well, guess what? Prima isn't the only company trying to bring movies to homes faster. Time Warner says it expects to test an early-release offering with a new film as soon as next year. Under the program, consumers would pay $20 to $30 to watch digital copies of movies within a month or two of their release in theaters.

This has already been tested to limited success. In 2008, Sony Pictures its Will Smith film Hancock early to users of its Bravia Televisions before the films were out on DVD.

But not every studio is in favor of early offerings. For example, Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman says his company isn't considering a new premium video-on-demand service and that they prefer to satisfy their theater distributors. Viacom owns Paramount Pictures, but it is also controlled by Sumner Redstone's closely held National Amusements, which also owns a movie-theater business which could explain its reticence to offer new releases to homes.

The software security company McAfee has what it calls its "Twelve Scams of Christmas” which they say are the 12 most dangerous online scams that computer users should be cautious of this holiday season.

Scam 1.Phony iPad Offers. Consumers are asked to purchase other products and provide their credit card number to get a free iPad. Of course, victims never receive the iPad or the other items, just the headache of reporting a stolen credit card number. There's even a social media version of the scam where users take a quiz to win a free iPad and must supply their cell phone number to receive the results. Instead they are signed up for a cell phone scam that costs $10 a week.

Scam 2.The "Help! I've Been Robbed" Scam. This travel scam sends phony distress messages to family and friends requesting that money be wired or transferred so that they can get home. There's been an increase in this scam McAfee predicts it will get even worse during the holiday travel period.

Scam 3.Fake Gift Cards. Cyber-thieves use social media to promote fake gift card offers with the goal of stealing consumers' information and money, which is then sold to marketers or used for identity theft. One recent Facebook scam offered a "free $1,000 Best Buy gift card” to the first 20,000 people who signed up for a Best Buy fan page, which was a look-a-like. To apply for the gift card they had to provide personal information and take a series of quizzes.

Scam 4.Holiday Job Offers. People seeking extra cash for gifts are vulnerable to this Twitter scam that offers dangerous links to high-paying, work-at-home jobs that ask for your personal information, such as your email address, home address and Social Security number to apply for the fake job.

Scam 5.Smishing is the latest method of extracting info by cybercrooks. They send phishing SMS texts that appear to come from your bank or an online retailer saying that there is something wrong with your account and you have to call a number to verify your account information. In reality, these efforts are merely a ruse to extract valuable personal information from the targets. Cybercrooks know that people are more vulnerable to this scam during the holiday season when consumers are doing more online shopping and checking bank balances frequently.

Scam 6.Suspicious Holiday Rentals. During peak travel times when consumers often look online for affordable holiday rentals, cyberc-thieves post fake holiday rental sites that ask for down payments on properties by credit card or wire transfer.

Scam 7.Recession Scams. Scammers target vulnerable consumers with recession related scams such as pay-in-advance credit schemes. There have been a significant number of spam emails advertising prequalified, low-interest loans and credit cards if the recipient pays a processing fee, which goes directly into the scammer's pocket.

Scam 8.Grinch-like Greetings. E-cards are a convenient and earth-friendly way to send greetings to friends and family, but cybercriminals load fake versions with links to computer viruses and other malware instead of cheer. Computers may start displaying obscene images, pop-up ads, or even start sending cards to contacts that appear to come from you.

Scam 9.Low Price Traps. Shoppers should be cautious of products offered at prices far below competitors. Cyber scammers use auction sites and fake websites to offer too-good-to-be-true deals with the goal of stealing your money and information.

Scam 10.Charity Scams.The holidays have historically been a prime time for charity scams since it's a traditional time for giving and this year is no exception. Common ploys include phone calls and spam e-mails asking you to donate to veterans' charities, children's causes and relief funds for the latest catastrophe.

Scam 11.Dangerous Holiday Downloads. Holiday-themed screensavers, jingles and animations are an easy way for scammers to spread viruses and other computer threats especially when links come from an email or an instant message that appears to be from a friend.

The Internet Crime Complaint Center has received many complaints from victims of payday loan telephone collection scams.

Callers claim the victim is delinquent in a payday loan and must repay the loan to avoid legal consequences. The callers purport to be representatives of the FBI, Federal Legislative Department, various law firms, or other legitimate-sounding agencies.

They claim to be collecting debts for companies such as United Cash Advance, U.S. Cash Advance, U.S. Cash Net, and other Internet check-cashing services.

According to complaints received from the public, the callers have accurate data about victims, including Social Security numbers, dates of birth, addresses, employer information, bank account numbers, and the names and telephone numbers of relatives and friends.

How the fraudsters obtained the personal information varies, but in some cases victims have reported they completed online applications for other loans or credit cards before the calls started. 

The fraudsters relentlessly call the victim's home, cell phone, and place of employment. They refuse to provide any details about the alleged payday loans and become abusive when questioned. The callers have threatened victims with legal actions, arrests, and, in some cases, physical violence if they do not pay. In many cases, the callers harass victims' relatives, friends, and employers. 

Some fraudsters have instructed victims to fax a statement agreeing to pay a certain amount, on a specific date, via a pre-paid Visa card. The statement further declares the victim will never dispute the debt. 

If you receive these calls, do not follow the caller's instructions. Rather, you should:

• Notify your banking institutions.

• Contact the three major credit bureaus and request an alert be put on your file.

• Contact your local law enforcement agencies if you feel you are in immediate danger.

• File a complaint at www.IC3.gov.

Tips to avoid becoming a victim of this scam:

• Never give your Social Security number—or personal information of any kind—over the telephone or online unless you initiate the contact.

• Be suspicious of any e-mail with urgent requests for personal financial information. The e-mail may include upsetting or exciting but false statements to get you to react immediately.

• Avoid filling out forms in e-mail messages that request personal information.

• Ensure that your browser is up-to-date and security patches have been applied.

• Check your bank, credit, and debit card statements regularly to make sure that there are no unauthorized transactions. If anything looks suspicious, contact your bank and all card issuers.

• When you contact companies, use numbers provided on the back of cards or statements

A West Covina, Calif., man was sentenced to 135 months in federal prison for running an investment fraud scheme that took in almost $4 million from more than 100 victims who were lured to the scheme with promises of "guaranteed” annual interest rates up to 120 percent.

Ruben Gonzalez, 34, a Mexican national, was sentenced Tuesday by United States District Judge Percy Anderson. In addition to the 11-year prison sentence, Judge Anderson ordered $2,220,771 in restitution to his 107 victims.

Gonzalez was arrested on October 23, 2009, on immigration charges after special agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation executed a search warrant at his business, New Golden Investments Group, or NGI Group, in West Covina.

Gonzalez was indicted in May, and on September 17 he pled guilty to one count of mail fraud, one count of money laundering, and one count of misuse of a Social Security number.

Gonzalez admitted that he advertised his investment program in Spanish language newspapers and on radio stations, guaranteeing returns up to 120 percent per year. Gonzalez told victims that their money would be used to invest in commodities like gold and silver, real estate developments, and a gold mine in Mexico.

Gonzalez further admitted that most of the investors' money was used to make Ponzi payments to lure additional investors, and that Gonzalez took well over $400,000 for his own personal benefit.

At Gonzalez's sentencing, Judge Anderson heard from several victims of the Ponzi scheme, including the mother of a disabled child who was defrauded out of nearly $300,000 that came from a medical malpractice award and was supposed to be used for the future care of her child.

The victim said that Gonzalez claimed she would make enough money from the investment to pay for "the best medical care in the world” for her child and that she would one day see her child walk as a result of the profits she would make from her investment.

The court also heard from an 81-year-old widow who lost more than $40,000 and who told Judge Anderson that she is forced to continue to work as a result of the losses caused by Gonzalez.

Purchasing toys and games for a child with special needs does not have to be more complicated than buying a toy for a typically developing child.

Cost, safety, educational value, age-appropriateness, and of course, the child's interests, are all factors that don't change.

Look for toys that help build skills that meet therapeutic goals and those that balance a child's developmental age with her/his chronological age.

Avoid toys that needlessly put a child in a win or lose situation.

"It is possible to find many good toy options for children with special needs in any toy store," says Elisa Mintz Delia of the Kennedy Krieger Institute, an institution devoted to improving the lives of children and adolescents with disorders of the brain, spinal cord and musculoskeletal system.

Delia said many reasonably priced toys found at a variety of stores will engage and entertain children with special needs, as well as serve as learning and skill-building tools.

The Kennedy Krieger Institute and Parents' Choice Foundation, one of the nation's oldest and most respected authorities on children's media and toys, have been working together since 2007 to test and review toys and games for children with special needs.

A multi-disciplinary team of licensed occupational, physical, speech and recreational therapists offers the following gift suggestions for children of all abilities.

Curious George Discovery Beach Game
(Promotes visual and visual motor skills, thinking skills and socialization)
In this seek-and-find board game, players draw a card with an animal or object listed on it and search the board (actually a box), which has five hidden treasure locations, to find that object. A game spinner keeps things interesting - if it lands on a wave, players have to shake the box, which moves the treasures.

Hedbanz
(Encourages thinking skills, socialization and communication)
This simple family game can be played by up to 10 people. Players wear a plastic headband with a card depicting an object or animal on it and take turns asking other players yes or no questions that will help them to guess what is on their card.

Bubble Talk
(Fosters thinking skills, socialization and communication)
This game involves 75 double-sided picture cards and 300 caption cards. Each player draws seven caption cards, and a judge draws a photo card. Players then choose and lay down the caption card that they feel best matches the photo. The judge chooses the funniest caption and that player earns points.

Bop It Bounce
(Helps build gross motor skills and sensory motor skills)
This electronic game with audio instructions guides players through six activities. Players bounce a ball on a hand-held cone, and the activities test their ability to control how the ball bounces, their speed or their endurance.

U- Build Connect Four
(Develops thinking skills, fine motor skills, visual skills and visual motor skills)
A game that takes the original Connect Four concept and adds a bit of Plinko. It is a board game constructed from interlocking pieces that allows children to assemble the playing area. Players drop checkers down chutes and position a bumper to deflect their checker pieces into the correct column, trying to arrange four checkers of the same color in a row.

B. Spinaroos
(Supports visual, fine motor and visual motor skills)
This set of interlocking bits and blocks is a new and fun take on the classic version, and includes patterned pieces, pieces with faces and others with three legs and rotating connections. Children can build elaborate play scenarios and complex new worlds -- all of their own vision.

"Whether you're shopping for a holiday, birthday or other occasion, remember that play is how children learn," says Claire Green, president of Parents' Choice Foundation. "Toys that have long term play value, have long term learning value."

A new study from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) found meditation provides the same protection against depression and depressive relapse as traditional antidepressant medication.

"With the growing recognition that major depression is a recurrent disorder, patients need treatment options for preventing depression from returning to their lives," said Dr. Zindel Segal, Head of the Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Clinic in the Clinical Research Department at CAMH.

Recent studies have shown about half of depressed people on antidepressants stop taking them, sometimes within two to four months, well before the medication has had a chance to work.

Segal said this could be due to side effects or an unwillingness to take medication for years.

"Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy is a non pharmacological approach that teaches skills in emotion regulation so that patients can monitor possible relapse triggers as well as adopt lifestyle changes conducive to sustaining mood balance," said Segal.

For the study, participants who were diagnosed with major depressive disorder were all treated with an antidepressant until their symptoms remitted.

They were then randomly assigned to come off their medication and receive MBCT, come off their medication and receive a placebo, or stay on their medication.

Participants in MBCT attended 8 weekly group sessions and practiced mindfulness as part of daily homework assignments.

Clinical assessments were conducted at regular intervals, and over an 18 month period, relapse rates for patients in the MBCT group did not differ from patients receiving antidepressants (both in the 30% range), whereas patients receiving placebo relapsed at a significantly higher rate (70%).

"The real world implications of these findings bear directly on the front line treatment of depression. For that sizeable group of patients who are unwilling or unable to tolerate maintenance antidepressant treatment, MBCT offers equal protection from relapse," said Segal.

"Sequential intervention -- offering pharmacological and psychological interventions -- may keep more patients in treatment and thereby reduce the high risk of recurrence that is characteristic of this disorder."

The study was published in the current issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.

The Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Endocrime and Metabolic Advisory panel is meeting today to review a new obesity drug application, and obesity prevention advocates say they hope it gets a fair hearing.

The drug Contrave is under review today, after two other newly developed obesity treatments - Qnexa and Lorguess - were rejected in October, when the FDA cited safety issues. Also in October, the FDA asked for the removal of the previously approved weight-loss drug Meridia (sibutramine) from the market due to safety concerns.  

In the case of Qnexa, an FDA advisory panel recommended against its approval , citing potential side effects, such as increased heart rate, birth defects, and psychiatric problems. Those voting in favor of the drug said obesity itself was a greater health risk. The two obesity groups tend to reside in that camp.

"We are deeply concerned about the effect that the FDA's recent decisions will have for on-going and future research into desperately needed new obesity treatments,” said Jennifer Lovejoy, president of The Obesity Society. "As the FDA's advisors consider the application before them, we hope that the agency will assure a balanced process, taking into account the urgent medical need."

Lovejoy says a study published in the most recent New England Journal of Medicine provides a stark reminder that the obesity epidemic is a deadly disease.  In a study of mortality in 1.46 million people sponsored by the NIH, investigators reported that weight classifications "overweight" and "obesity" are associated with significant excess mortality.

"The time for action is now," said Joe Nadglowski, Obesity Action Coalition president and CEO. "The number of those affected by obesity is growing at an incredibly rapid rate and the millions of Americans already affected by the disease are lacking the necessary medically approved treatment and long-term options so desperately needed."

The two groups said the FDA and its advisors can play a proactive and constructive role to improve what they called "this extremely serious situation.”

An appeal to the FDA

"It is imperative that the FDA review any obesity treatment presented to them with the understanding that more than 93 million Americans are depending on them for help with this disease," said Lovejoy.

Drug companies have placed new emphasis on developing medications to promote weight control, as obesity has become a greater public health concern. The track record is not inspiring.

The last major weight control drug disaster was fen-phen, which was withdrawn from the market in 1997 after it was shown to cause heart valve damage. Onexa may have been rejected, in part, because it contains part of the fen-phen cocktail.

Bedraggled by broadband-hogging iPhones, AT&T is now the worst-rated cell-phone service carrier according to a new survey of Consumer Reports readers . U.S. Cellular, a regional carrier that provides service in 26 states, beat out the long-standing top provider Verizon Wireless with outstanding marks for value, voice service and customer support.

More than half of the AT&T customers surveyed owned an iPhone, the Apple smart-phone that is currently available exclusively from AT&T. Consumer Reports data, reflecting all versions of the phone, found that iPhone owners were much less satisfied with their carrier and rated data service (Web and e-mail) lower than owners of smart phones on other carriers that, like the iPhone, have a host of apps to encourage heavy data use.

"Our survey suggests that an iPhone from Verizon Wireless, which is rumored, could indeed be good news for iPhone fans", said Paul Reynolds, Electronics Editor for Consumer Reports.

The consensus prediction among tech industry bloggers appears to be a January 2011 launch of the Verizon iPhone. Verizon Wireless recently introduced its version of the popular iPad, breaking AT&T's long-held monopoly on Apple products and further fueling speculation that a Verizon iPhone was close behind.

Cynics have predicted that the addition of tens of thousands of iPhones to the Verizon network will quickly drag it down to AT&T's performance level but others note that Verizon already supports a variety of data-hungry smartphones, including those powered by Google's Android operating system, which is seen as comparable to the iPhone in terms of data usage.

58,000 responses

In this year's version of its annual survey on cell-phone carriers, more than 58,000 ConsumerReports.org subscribers weighed in about their service and customer support experiences with contract and no-contract providers.

AT&T was the only carrier whose scores for overall satisfaction dropped significantly since last year.

Verizon Wireless remains among the better performers, but Sprint has pulled even with the carrier in overall satisfaction. The carrier actually even scored better than Verizon in some aspects of customer service, a remarkable turnaround from past years when that was a weak point for the company. T-Mobile was only slightly behind those two carriers in overall satisfaction.

The full article also features carrier Ratings in 23 metropolitan markets and is in the January 2011 issue of Consumer Reports and at www.ConsumerReports.org

Along with being more likely to be bullied by their classmates, a new study by Yale University researchers finds teens who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) are about 40 percent more likely than their straight peers to be punished by school authorities, police and the courts.

Published in the January 2011 issue of the journal Pediatrics, this is the first study to document excessive punishment of LGB youth nationwide.

"We found that virtually all types of punishment -- including school expulsions, arrests, juvenile convictions, adult convictions and especially police stops -- were more frequently meted out to LGB youth," said lead author Kathryn Himmelstein, who initiated the study while she was a Yale undergraduate. 

The research was supervised by Hannah Brueckner, professor of sociology and co-director of the Center for Research on Inequalities and the Life Course at Yale.

The study was based on the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) and included about 15,000 middle and high school students who were followed for seven years into early adulthood. 

The study collected details on participants' sexuality, including feelings of sexual attraction, sexual relationships and self-labeling as LGB. 

Add Health also surveyed participants about how frequently they engaged in a variety of misbehaviors, ranging in severity from lying to parents, to using a weapon. 

The survey also included detailed questions about school expulsions and contacts with the criminal justice system.

Himmelstein, who now teaches math at a public high school in New York City, said LGB teens were about 50 percent more likely to be stopped by police than other teenagers. 

Teens who reported feelings of attraction to members of the same sex, regardless of their self-identification, were more likely than other teens to be expelled from school or convicted of crimes as adults.

Himmelstein said girls who identified as lesbian or bisexual were especially at risk for unequal treatment. 

"They reported experiencing twice as many police stops, arrests and convictions as other girls who had engaged in similar behavior," said Himmelstein.

The study did not explore the experiences of transgender youth, but Himmelstein said anecdotal reports suggest that they are similarly at risk for excessive punishment.

The study also showed that these disparities in punishments are not explained by differences in the rates of misbehavior.

In fact, according to the study's findings, LGB adolescents actually engaged in less violence than their peers.

"The painful, even lethal bullying that LGB youth suffer at the hands of their peers has been highlighted by recent tragic events," said Himmelstein. 

"Our numbers suggest that school officials, police and judges, who should be protecting LGB youth, are instead singling them out for punishment based on their sexual orientation. LGB teens can't thrive if adults single them out for punishment because of their sexual orientation."

This study is the first and only to provide national estimates for over-representation of LGB youth in the criminal justice system. And according to the authors, additional studies are needed.

"We need more research on the processes that lead to this to help us identify ways to make our institutions more equitable with respect to policing all youth, regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation," said Brueckner.

Cigarette smoking is widespread among children and young adults with diabetes yet few health care providers are counseling children and young adults with diabetes to not smoke or stop smoking, according to a new report from the SEARCH Study Group, published online in the Journal of Pediatrics.

Children and young adults with diabetes are already at high risk for heart disease before they take up smoking, but few studies have examined the association between cigarette smoking and heart disease risk factors in youth with diabetes.

Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Kidney Diseases, the study examined tobacco use and heart disease risk factors in a racially and ethnically diverse group of 3,466 children and young adults with diabetes aged 10 to 22 years old across the United States.

Researchers found that 10 percent of youth with type 1 diabetes and 16 percent of youth with type 2 diabetes were currently using some form of tobacco products: cigarettes, cigars or smokeless tobacco.

Less than half of the youth reported that they had been counseled by their health care provider to not smoke or stop smoking.

"We found a substantial proportion of youth with diabetes are current cigarette smokers, which greatly adds to their already elevated risk for heart disease," said study lead author Kristi Reynolds, PhD, MPH, a research scientist and epidemiologist at the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Department of Research & Evaluation.

"Smoking is preventable, so aggressive smoking prevention and cessation programs are needed to prevent or delay heart disease in youth with diabetes."

These findings were based on analysis of data from the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study, a large multi-center study of youth diagnosed with diabetes before the age of 20 years who were enrolled by six clinical centers in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Ohio, South Carolina and Washington.

The study found the prevalence of current cigarette smoking in youth with type 1 diabetes to be 1.3 percent of 10- to 14-year-olds, 14.9 percent of 15- to 19-year-olds, and 27 percent of those 20 years and older.

Among youth with type 2 diabetes, 4.4 percent of 10- to 14-year-olds were currently cigarette smokers, 12.9 percent of 15- to 19-year-olds were cigarette smokers, and 37.3 percent in youth 20 years and older were cigarette smokers.

The study also found early signs of heart disease among those using cigarette products.

Youth who were past and current smokers had a higher prevalence of high triglyceride levels, high LDL cholesterol levels, low HDL cholesterol levels and more physical inactivity than non-smokers.

"Cigarette smoking is a completely preventable risk factor for cardiovascular and other diseases. While this is true for all children, it is especially true for children with diabetes because of the increased risk of cardiovascular disease in that population," said study co-author Stephen R. Daniels, MD, PhD,

Daniels is a professor and chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Pediatrician-in-Chief at The Children's Hospital in Denver.

In adults with diabetes, the risk of heart disease is greatly increased compared with adults without diabetes, and smoking may increase that risk. 

About 90 percent of adult smokers started smoking before age 18.

Because of the already increased risk of cardiovascular disease in individuals with diabetes mellitus, the American Diabetes Association emphasizes the importance of smoking cessation for those individuals.