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Last minute shopping? Beware these gift card scams

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:00 GMT

Marvin Clemons | Las Vegas Review-Journal (TNS)Millions of shoppers turn to the quick and traditionally easy choice for giving a Christmas present — a gift card.Don’t be quick to go that route, experts say. And if you do, take extra precautions.Scammers have found ways of turning the popular choice into a minefield that could steal your money and leave your intended recipient with no gift.“Gift cards have been the number one requested gift for nearly 20 years,” says Martha Weaver, spokeswoman for the Retail Gift Card Association. “Unfortunately, like other payment tools, criminals have found ways to abuse gift cards and take advantage of honest shoppers.”Those codes on the back of a gift card can be manipulated to send scammers the value of the card the minute you purchase it.Gift card tampering (which can lead to “skimming,” where criminals drain the value of gift cards after tampering with the packaging and stealing the card numbers) is not a new type of scam, Weaver said. “Unfort...

America’s sugar shortfall leaves candy-makers scrounging

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:00 GMT

Ilena Peng | (TNS) Bloomberg NewsBonbons and candy canes may dominate the American holiday aesthetic, but U.S. confectionery companies are feeling anything but jolly as they head into one of the sugar market’s tightest years in recent memory.Prolonged droughts in major cane-producers Mexico and Louisiana have helped push U.S. sugar futures to the highest ever for this time of year and forced users to turn to high-cost imports instead. Sweets-makers paying up to snag supplies are choosing to protect their margins by raising prices for consumers — and hoping shoppers don’t balk at the mark-up.“We just found that it was better to just pay more for sugar and pass it along to the consumer than to be completely out of sugar,” said Kirk Vashaw, chief executive officer of Dum Dums lollipop maker Spangler Candy Co. “And there’s a lot of other companies that I think thought the same thing.”Candy is big business in the U.S.: Confectionery retail sales are forecast to be $48.8 billion this year...

‘Turtleboy’ released, stripped of restraints following arraignment in Karen Read case witness intimidation charges

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:00 GMT

For the first time, a blogger known for attracting large crowds to the Norfolk Superior Court hearings of Karen Read appeared on the other side of the court’s gallery.Aidan “Turtleboy” Kearney appeared ahead of his noon arraignment on 16 counts of witness intimidation and conspiracy related to his coverage and activism in the case wearing not one speck of his signature green, nor any turtle emblem or pattern. Instead, he wore a cream suit, a light blue shirt, and a dark blue tie, suggesting a new seriousness to the proceedings.And he got an early Christmas present: he was released on personal recognizance and now absent the various restrictions imposed on him when the case was at the District Court level, which included stay-away orders from various witnesses in the Read case, from whom he was also barred from “directly or indirectly” harassing or encouraging his followers to harass.And followers he has. While this appearance was not nearly as raucous a...

Buying a house in 2024: How to overcome the challenges

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:00 GMT

By Abby Badach Doyle | NerdWalletFrom high prices to low inventory, potential home buyers know it’s gnarly out there. But if you’re ready for homeownership, the long-term benefit of buying often outweighs the pain of toughing out the search — even these days.Think of it like your 5 a.m. spin class: You know it’s good for you, even if it takes grit (and leaves you feeling sore).With some market savvy, you can make the most of today’s challenging conditions. Here’s your game plan for buying a house in 2024.The challenge: Stubbornly high mortgage rates squeeze shoppers’ buying powerBuyers have been at the mercy of mortgage rates’ meteoric rise, holding on as the average 30-year fixed rate climbed from 3% to nearly 7% in 2022. In October 2023, rates topped 8% for the first time since 2000 — a surprise even many top economists didn’t predict. But throughout November, they dropped slightly, landing at an average of 7.03% for the week ending Dec. 7.Higher interest rates make it more expens...

2 charged, over $40,000 in property recovered from retail theft where items were re-sold in Toronto

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:00 GMT

York police’s Criminal Investigations Bureau has charged two people in connection with organized retail thefts, where items were being re-sold at a convenience store in Toronto.On Dec. 16, an investigation began into commercial thefts from drug stores in Vaughan and Richmond Hill. Stolen products included high-end cosmetics, hygiene items and over-the-counter medications, such as vitamins and pain-relievers. Police identified two suspects, learning that the items were being re-sold from a commercial business in Toronto.On December 20, 2023, a search warrant was executed at two locations in Toronto. More than $40,000 worth of property was recovered, and police discovered the accused were also allegedly re-selling alcohol from their business.Thi Hong Hanh Luu, 52, of Toronto and Tan Dung Nguyen, 68, of Toronto, were both charged with possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000, trafficking in possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000, and selling/offering liq...

‘Slap in the face’: Images of Canadian child abuse victims training AI generators

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:00 GMT

Pictures of Canadian victims are among the thousands of images depicting child sexual abuse that an internet watchdog group found in databases used to train popular artificial image generators“That’s another slap in the face to victims,” said Lloyd Richardson, director of technology at the Canadian Centre for Child Protection.Richardson said it shows artificial intelligence must be considered as the federal government develops its long-awaited online harms legislation. A recent report form the Stanford Internet Observatory found more than 3,200 images of suspected child sexual abuse in the database LAION — the publicly available non-profit Large-scale Artificial Intelligence Open Network — which was used to train well-known AI image-makers.The observatory, based at Stanford University, worked with the Canadian Centre for Child Protection to verify the findings through the centre’s Project Arachnid tool, which has a log of known images of child sexual abuse.Richardson did...

Woman sexually assaulted after mistaking suspect’s vehicle for ride share: Toronto police

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:00 GMT

A suspect is being sought after a woman who hopped into the wrong vehicle, thinking it was her ride share, was sexually assaulted by the driver, Toronto police said in a release Friday.Officers were called to the Portland Street and Adelaide Street West area on Sunday, December 17.Police said the victim entered a vehicle which she mistook for her ride share.The driver then took her to an unknown location and sexually assaulted her, police said.He’s described as a white male, 35 to 40 years old with an Eastern European accent. He had a brown, well-groomed beard and was wearing a white long-sleeve button-up shirt and blue jeans.The vehicle he was driving was a dark red or rust coloured SUV, possibly a Hyundai Santa Fe.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau heading to Jamaica for post-Christmas vacation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:00 GMT

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is heading to Jamaica next week for a family vacation over the holiday break.The Prime Minister’s Office says Trudeau will travel with his immediate family to the Caribbean country from Dec. 26 to Jan. 4. Jamaica is a frequent vacation spot for Trudeau, who spent time there in August as well as after Christmas last year.He will be travelling with Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, after the pair announced earlier this year they were separating following 18 years of marriage. At the time, the Prime Minister’s Office said Canadians could expect to see the family together, and both said in individual statements they would remain close. The office says it consulted the federal ethics commissioner ahead of the coming trip, and that the family will cover the cost of its stay as well as reimburse the cost of travelling on a government plane. Trudeau will also remain in contact with staff and receive briefings on issues of the day.This report by The ...

Police video shows police knew Maine shooter was a threat. They also felt confronting him was unsafe

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:00 GMT

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Police in Maine feared that confronting an Army reservist prior to the worst mass shooting in state history would “throw a stick of dynamite on a pool of gas,” according to video footage released by law enforcement.The footage release on Friday documents a call between Sgt. Aaron Skolfield of the Sagadoc County Sheriff’s Office and Army Reserve Capt. Jeremy Reamer. Skolfield was following up with Reamer about the potential threat posed by Robert Card, a 40-year-old Army reservist from the Lewiston area.Skolfield mentioned Maine’s yellow flag law after Reamer said Card had refused medical treatment after his hospitalization during his Army service. Under Maine’s yellow flag law, a warning to police can trigger a process where an officer visits an individual and makes a judgment call on whether that person should be placed in temporary protective custody, triggering assessments that with a judge’s approval can lead to a 14-day weapons restriction. A full c...

Man charged following armed carjacking robbery in Mississauga

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:00 GMT

Investigators from the Provincial Carjacking Joint Task Force (PCJTF) and Peel police’s Central Robbery Bureau (CRB) have charged a 35-year-old man after an armed carjacking in Mississauga. On Dec. 19, at approximately 11:45 p.m., a 34-year-old woman from Mississauga was allegedly in a parking lot near Queen Frederica Drive and Bloor Street. The suspect, armed with a firearm, approached her and demanded her vehicle. Fearing for her safety, the victim complied and the suspect drove away in her car. The victim did not sustain any injuries from the robbery.The PCJTF and CRB quickly located the suspect a short distance away and he was taken into custody without incident. At the time of arrest the suspect had an edged weapon and a replica firearm that were seized by police. The victim’s vehicle was recovered.Michael Birchall, a 35-year-old man from Mississauga, has been charged with robbery, use imitation firearm while committing an offence, two counts of possession of property obt...