Inside Dateline : Consumer Reports

Investigation uses hidden cameras -- and Aunt Alice

Dateline Editor — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:21:00 GMT

By Chris Hansen, Dateline Correspondent

We’d been hearing complaints from senior citizens and government regulators across the country about the tactics some insurance salesmen are using to sell certain investments to retired folks. I’m a long ways off from retiring, but it’s an important subject to me because my mom’s close to that age and my aunts and uncles are already there. Given the turbulence we’ve seen on Wall Street, it seems like everyone is re-evaluating or repositioning their investments and would like to have their money in a safe place. And that’s what a lot of salesmen are pitching these days.

The investments are called equity-indexed annuities. They may be appropriate for some, but not for everyone. Why are so many people trying to sell these to retired folks? Simple: that’s where the money is. Seniors control more than $15 trillion in today’s economy and for the salesmen, these annuities pay healthy commissions.

Dateline decided to use hidden cameras to find out what salesmen were really saying or not saying to seniors when peddling these investments. We attended some of those “free lunch” seminars put on for potential clients, classes where salesman are taught the tricks of the trade. We wired some houses in communities where a lot of retired people live, so we could see the one-on-one pitch play out in real time.

...(read more)

To catch an ID thief

Dateline Editor — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 05:01:00 GMT

If you’re like most Americans, you know all too well how pervasive credit card fraud is. You might have been a victim yourself. A few years ago, I got a call from my bank asking if I had charged $24,000 dollars at a store in New Zealand? I most certainly had not, but I had bought my son something on a Web site that apparently was not secure and thieves were able to obtain and use my number.

In a groundbreaking investigation a year in the making, we’ll take you into the thieves' markets on the Internet, where your stolen credit card numbers and identity information could be for sale at this very moment. Very seldom are we able to infiltrate a criminal syndicate the way we do in the case of our investigation into identity theft and credit card fraud.

We’ll also show you who is involved in this multi-billion dollar fraud and we’ll track the identity thieves all the way from the United States, through Europe and into West Africa. It was challenging, risky, but rewarding.

There are also a few light moments. As part of our investigation, we actually form an online electronics company and a delivery service so we can follow the trail of merchandise purchased with stolen credit and debit cards. We find that a number of items ordered are going to the same address and the man who lives there is re-shipping the items overseas, not knowing he’s part of a criminal enterprise. In order to learn more about the operation, we invite him to the “offices” of “CH Delivery” to pick up some of the packages. It’s actually an old warehouse-like building we’ve rigged with hidden cameras and microphones.

When the man comes in, I greet him and we start chatting. I ask him how he got into this business and he tells me it all started in an Internet chat room when he met an attractive woman named Wendy who ultimately has become his business partner. He then leans over to me and gives me a warning about chatting online and what can happen if you get caught soliciting teenage girls for sex.

“Like you watch Dateline? A lot of these guys want to have sex with a 13-year-old and they show up and get caught.”

He’s talking about our “To Catch A Predator” investigations, but he has no idea who he’s really talking to. Now, I’m not wearing a disguise-- just regular clothes a delivery company employee might wear: a fleece and a ball cap. He goes on to describe several scenes from our shows. Apparently he’s a big fan.

As you’ll see, he’s about to find out that we’re investigating a predator of a different sort and I am about to ask him to help us.

'To Catch an I.D. Thief' aired Dateline Tuesday, March 27, 8 p.m. on NBC. Click here for more on the investigation, including Web-exclusive videos, and video to the entire episode. Here are tips on protecting your identity.

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All they want for Christmas

Sam Go — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 18:30:00 GMT

by Jesamyn Go, Dateline web producer

Parents of teenagers know all too well: When it comes to holiday presents, kids want tech toys.

“Every year, they want laptops or iPods, always something along those lines of technical gadgets,” says John Armand, 46-year-old Dateline producer and father in a blended family of six kids — five of them teenagers.

But in a world where most teens know more about computers than their parents, and where there’s always an unseen danger — like predators lurking in chat rooms and social networking sites — what’s a parent to do?

My parents had a particularly trying time with my 17-year-old sister last year. The cordless phone seemed attached to her ear, and trying to get her attention when she was on the family computer sometimes felt like talking to a dead log. She was instant messaging at all hours of the evening, and would minimize her screen anytime anybody walked by.

So my parents getting her what she wanted for Christmas— a video iPod— seemed to me to be just another thing that would keep her distracted.

I’m told it’s not an uncommon dilemma for parents. I talked to Susan Shankle, MSW, LISW-CP, and Barbara Melton MeD., LPC, authors of the upcoming book “What in the World are Your Kids Doing Online?” and they have some recommendations for parents, if you must get them the electronics they are asking for.

Talk to them about using the items responsibly. “Frame it as an opportunity for them to prove they are maturing by taking care of the items and by using them responsibly,” says Melton. “I would get across the point that getting and using these technologies is a privilege and not a right, and that the misuse can result in their being taken away.” Armand has a cell phone policy with his younger teens. “If they use it after 11 p.m., they lose it the next day,” he says. The policy, he finds, discourages them from breaking the rules.
Tell them you’ll be checking in. “If you’re getting them a cell phone, you may want to reserve the right to order detailed billing to be sure they are not using them during the hours they shouldn’t be -- like in the middle of the night or during class,” says Melton. If the item is a laptop or computer, depending on the child's age, the parent might want to prepare them for the possibility of their randomly checking history, chat logs, or their MySpace.
Added costs? Some items have recurring costs or plans attached. “You will want to discuss any additional costs to having the item. For example, for MP3s, downloading songs requires an account be set up and there is a minimal charge for each song downloaded. It adds up! With cell phones, who pays for the plan or the minutes? If they get games that are played online, are there special materials needed to play the game? Is a high-speed Internet connection necessary?”
Don’t know a Wii from a Zune? If your child wants a gadget that’s not familiar to you, ask him or her questions. “‘What is the product function?’ ‘What do you want it for?’ ‘What are some potential problems?’ Ask your child to do some research and get back to you. If he wants it bad enough, he'll help you out,” says Shankle. She also recommends for parents to do research themselves and to use reliable Web sites.
In the craziness of the season, parents should remember to emphasize that the holiday isn’t about the presents. “Use the time as an opportunity to communicate,” reminds Shankle. “They are out of school and you probably have some time off from work. Remember, you are a role model for your child at all times. Help show them life -- as well as holidays-- is not about ‘the stuff.’”

“You can also do something with your child that helps other people,” she adds. “Make sure your teen understands that doing good work is about the people for whom you do it.”

And listen. “If you spend enough time with them, just wait. They do actually want to talk to you about their lives, their friends, and their MySpace,” adds Armand.

So my sister did get her video iPod. (My dad is a softie for his girls.) But he did use it as a chance to get a message across. On the back of my sister’s new iPod, he had engraved:

“Ginger. Call your mom. She’s worried. iClean. iStudy. iBehave. Love, Dad.”