Virginia

BBB issues scam alert in Virginia over fake toy company website

Published

2 years ago

May 17, 2022

BBB issues scam alert in Virginia over fake toy company website

ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) — The Higher Enterprise Bureau (BBB) urges southwest Virginia shoppers to be cautious when purchasing on-line amid a latest spike in complaints a couple of pretend toy enterprise focusing on Fb customers.

The BBB not too long ago issued a rip-off alert in regards to the fraudulent gross sales of youngsters’ toys by means of www.littletikes.hidiscount.membership, also called littletikes.savealot.retailer.

In line with the bureau, the corporate has operated below a number of totally different names, together with Little Tikes Complete Sale Membership, Little Tikes Save A Lot Retailer, Little Tikes Low cost On-line Retailer, and Little Tikes Save Cash Retailer. They’ve additionally used electronic mail addresses equivalent to dobetterservice@gmail.com, service@happytime.membership, and repair@whole-sale.membership.

The BBB tells WFXR Information that the deal with on the corporate’s web site is definitely an empty lot in Roanoke. As well as, the location is registered in Panama, however all different info is personal.

Primarily based on this info, the BBB says it might probably verify that www.littletikes.hidiscount.membership is a fraudulent web site.

The bureau says folks from everywhere in the nation have fallen sufferer to the rip-off, incomes the corporate an “F” ranking with the BBB as a result of 28 complaints filed because the enterprise began working in 2019, none of which have been answered.

Examples of the complaints embrace clients being charged twice for his or her purchases, in addition to clients receiving pretend cargo monitoring numbers after which not getting refunds when the objects by no means truly arrive.

Julie Wheeler, the president and CEO of BBB Serving Western Virginia, says this fraudulent firm makes use of Fb adverts to advertise giant reductions on Little Tikes toys, drawing clients to a professional-looking website after which utilizing an internet cost system — equivalent to PayPal — so clients simply click on and purchase.

“Know who you might be doing busy with,” Wheeler suggested. “Don’t click on on hyperlinks that present up in your social media feed. You wish to go on to reliable websites somewhat than counting on an advert that pops up in your social.”

If you wish to keep away from being scammed when purchasing on-line, try these different suggestions from the BBB:

It’s simple for a pretend website to imitate a well-known retailer’s website, so be sure to are purchasing with a reliable website. For instance, a website with none contact info or a reliable deal with is a purple flag as a result of it means you won’t be able to achieve them when you have an issue or must make a return.
- For extra suggestions for recognizing phony web sites, click on right here.
Suppose earlier than you click on, particularly with electronic mail solicitations, on-line adverts on social media websites, and adverts that seem when you’ve got been purchasing on-line for a specific merchandise. Many sketchy retailers promote nice offers that don’t measure as much as the promotional hype.
When purchasing on-line, you should definitely take your time and skim the superb print earlier than submitting your order.
- Be sure to perceive the return coverage.
- Watch out for too-good-to-be-true offers.
Store with a bank card as a result of it supplies further protections in instances of fraudulent transactions, making it simpler to dispute prices that you just didn’t approve or get your a refund if there’s a drawback.
Hold documentation of your order. For instance, save a duplicate of the affirmation web page or electronic mail affirmation till you obtain the merchandise and are glad.

In line with the BBB, scammers are at all times creating new and improved lookalike web sites — equivalent to pretend streaming service activiation prompts, DMV imposters, and pretend postal service web sites — with the intention to steal private info and cash.

For those who see or change into a sufferer of a rip-off, you might be urged to report it to the BBB so the bureau can cease the scammers, in addition to stop others from changing into victims of the identical rip-off.

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Virginia

Virginia Remains On Top

Published

6 hours ago

November 1, 2024

Press Room

— By Katie Farthing

Read on for some of the ways Virginia is ranked tops:

Our college life

USA Today rated Charlottesville and Williamsburg as two of the best small college towns in the nation thanks to their rich history, beautiful scenery, and fun daily life.

Our beer

Staunton has the 10th best small town beer scene, according to USA Today.

Our museums

We’re home to the 7th best free museum in the nation, designated by USA Today. The Blue Ridge Music Center in Galax lets visitors write song lyrics and mix mountain music, as well as see live performances.

Our small town food scene

Abingdon may be mini in stature, but it’s high in the small town food scene—number 3 in the country to be exact, according to USA Today.

Our niche neighborhoods

Uniquely charming and underrated, Colonial Village in Arlington is the best place to live, according to Niche. It’s all thanks to a lively nightlife, beautiful parks, highly rated-schools, and a young population of residents.

Our airports

Dulles International Airport is the 11th best in the world and second in the country, according to AirHelp.

This is web-exclusive content from the December 2024 issue.

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Virginia

How Virginia's voter roll purge could impact the election

Published

14 hours ago

October 31, 2024

Press Room

How Virginia's voter roll purge could impact the election

Jude Joffe-Block:

There’s a pattern where people have visited the DMV, and they at some point there must have made a mistake on a form where they identified — they marked a box identifying themselves as noncitizens somewhere in those forms. We’re not really sure how exactly this happens.

But after that visit to the DMV, they got a letter in the mail from their local election official, saying, we think you might not be a citizen. Please affirm your citizenship.

We spoke to a voter, Nadra Wilson, who that letter was sent to the wrong address. It got forwarded. By the time she got it, the deadline had already passed. She was able to re-register. We spoke to another voter, Rina Shaw. She did get the letter in the mail letting her know that she had to affirm her citizenship. And she did send it back.

But, even then, she was still not on the rolls. And she was able to call and sort that out. But all of this does take time. Both of those voters did end up voting early this week, though.

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Virginia

Syracuse football: what to watch for vs Virginia Tech

Published

22 hours ago

October 31, 2024

Press Room

Syracuse football: what to watch for vs Virginia Tech

The Syracuse Orange (5-2, 2-2) welcome the Virginia Tech Hokies (5-3, 3-1)to the Dome on Saturday for a critical ACC match-up. Kickoff is Noon on The CW and here’s what we’re watching for:

Kevin: Protect Kyle

Virginia Tech defensive end Antwaun Powell-Ryland has nine sacks and seventeen hurries on the season and leads a strong Hokies pass rush. Syracuse needs to keep APR from disrupting their passing game so that Kyle McCord can attack a secondary rated the second-worst in coverage by PFF. Will the Orange use screens and draws to force APR to read and react instead of letting him just tee off and attack McCord? If Syracuse can negate APR’s impact they could score enough to win this one.

Mike: Make the Most of Allen

With Yasin Willis doubtful for Saturday’s game, this could be the first time since last season where LeQuint Allen is leaned on as a bell-cow back. How much that affects the offensive gameplan remains to be seen, but it might incite more designed plays as opposed to the RPO package SU has run very frequently. The o-line is struggling to block effectively on option plays lately so to make sure they can get Allen wide lanes to run through, a more traditional approach could work better this week.

Dom: Keeping momentum up for Syracuse’s 12th man

The Orange are once again back in the Dome for the first time in quite a while (September 28 to be exact). Since then, Syracuse’s road trip resulted in two nice wins over UNLV and NC State, then most recently with a bitter blowout loss. Fans will be looking for the Orange to bounce back against an inconsistent but still tough ACC opponent. Considering it’s also alumni weekend, the Dome should have plenty of seats filled and should look to take care of business.

Max: Keep Kyron Drones in the pocket

VT’s quarterback is extremely dangerous in the running game, racking up over 300 rushing yards through eight games, good for 19th in the ACC. The only conference QBs with more rushing yards are Georgia Tech’s Haynes King and Stanford’s Ashton Daniels, who gave the Orange fits on the ground this year. Syracuse’s rush defense still ranks in the top 50 in rush yards allowed per game, and it will need to keep Drones in the pocket to find some success this Saturday.

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What will you be watching for on Saturday?

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