Paying attention, fraudsters? Your buddies/role models over at Enzyte just got fried. A guilty verdict just came back on the company’s founder for conspiracy to commit mail fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering. Bob’s not smiling so much now, is he?

From the article:

Some former employees, including relatives of Warshak, pleaded guilty to other charges and cooperated with prosecutors. They testified that the company created fictitious doctors to endorse the pills, fabricated a customer-satisfaction survey and made up numbers to back claims about Enzyte’s effectiveness.

What? You mean an male enhancement product that everyone says works great really doesn’t work? Naturally, we can assume that the purveyors of every other male enhancement product out there would never stoop to such shameful depths to sell a crummy product.

Sigh. Who am I kidding? Of course they would. These guys just got caught. Still, chalk one up for the good guys with this guilty verdict! This guy will be exploring “natural male enhancement” for years whilst in prison. I hope he enjoys it.

Technorati Tags: Funny Scams Serves 'Em Right

It’s a rare day when I step in (having successfully defended myself against a nonsensical lawsuit from an idiotic company) to say a “big evil corporation” actually deserved to win one, but today’s that day.

I have an unfortunate tendency (which I openly admit) to basically assume any big company is automatically evil because it is big. I suppose the charming “pearl of wisdom” that tells us to “hate the game, not the playa,” applies here — folks argue all the time about whether companies like Wal-Mart or Starbucks are good or bad for the economy overall, because they both move in, crush local stores, and replace higher-paying jobs with lower-paying ones, but at the same time, they bring good products at low prices (comparatively; I know Starbucks isn’t the cheapest coffee in the world). Read the full story...

I don’t care if this is true or not … it still makes me laugh.

It’s a wonderful story if it is true — woman hovering around 30 (I think this one’s 32), wants kids. Starts boffing a guy. In reality, she’s boffing at least two guys (I’ve met plenty like these — they screw everybody they can find, and take their pick of the contenders when they’ve decided who the best “sugar daddy” will be), probably many, many more.

She decides the guy (the protagonist in this tale) is the “winner” — he’s the one who’s gonna knock her up and give her the baby she’s always wanted! Too bad he’s not actually the father — she just wants him to think he is. Read the full story...

Silly Copper!

I sat down at my console here a few minutes ago to write a long-winded rant about programming pet peeves (not mine, but a response to someone else’s that I thought seemed pretty silly). My kitten Monty is curled up in my lap, scooping up all the attention I’ll give him (he’s looking better, too, btw — we’re finally winning the “flea” battle). I’ve got my blinds raised and windows open to air out the apartment a bit, since I’m drying some clothes on the line and fresh (dry) air helps things run a bit quicker.

It’s about 3:00am, and just as I was getting into the bulk of the entry I was going to post, I noticed a police car drive past my apartment, stop, then back up slowly, shining its spotlight towards my building (and into my window briefly). The car parked (right behind my truck), and out came a beefy-looking, buzz-cut-styled cop brandishing a flashlight and looking quite serious. He walked by my window, glancing in briefly before moving on. Read the full story...

There is a certain class of “scam” that only perpetuates because enough people fall for them that they’re profitable to the perpetrators. I’ve written about plenty of these in the past (the 12dailypro thing comes to mind), but it’s time right now to focus on a new one, or, rather, a whole group of them all operated by the same company — Trilegiant.

Trilegiant is a marketing firm. Their goal in life is, like so many other marketing firms, to fill your brain (and mine) with as many name brand partners as they can (among a list of name brand partners who’ve paid them for this privilege). Read the full story...