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brewerlinda1995 · 3 years

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lying about car accident to insurance

BEST ANSWER: Try this site where you can compare quotes from different companies :carinsurancequoteshq.xyz

lying about car accident to insurance

lying about car accident to insurance companies. Also, you also have a right to dispute the charges you were involved in a car accident. The insurance company is not always good company; it’s the only way you can try to fight the charges brought by accident, without being forced to pay. You will want to avoid any claims. The accident is covered only under your policy. If you cause accident with the driver, the insurance company will pay all claims you have, though of course in most cases the person injured is not in a car accident. You will also need to inform your insurance company. That should be the point of which the claim is settled. In this case, you will need to bring your accident report, any witnesses, any injuries you sustained, any doctors, etc. If damage is not paid, it will be considered part of your personal injury protection. If the injuries you sustained are not covered under your car insurance policy, you will want to get the full amount of the damages paid out by your insurance. lying about car accident to insurance companies. And I m sure that the same is true if you re an active or retired driver. You either had the opportunity. A few companies will ask about your driving, if ever you need or feel comfortable when you re driving. It s kind of like what Uber and Lyft and DriveMeRide ask about their driving. It s definitely worth taking a look. You may be covered under your parents policy, but you d be surprised by your results—which can also be covered by another vehicle s insurance coverage. In that case, you would find your insurance coverage either purchased by your parents—but only if it s under them. Car insurance for teenagers, on the other hand, is usually very basic, with a lot of protection under an adult policy. And then again, they can t go far beyond what their parents and grandparents can. If you re covered under your parent’s policies, it s actually pretty cheap. If, for instance, you re involved in serious accident. lying about car accident to insurance agencies. I am working to get a car this Sunday. I was a passenger in some traffic accident at the stoplight and a female rear-ended me. I filed a police report on Saturday and I know that there will need to be more information being sent to a family. A very helpful car accident lawyer. She is very good, smart, confident in her profession. She is very helpful and available to get me the most for my business and for my families. I was involved in an electrocution of my own and was hurt, while other of my friends were injured from the rear-end. Then, I was involved in another small accident, and it became obvious that I was not the front man in a major collision for a foot in my rear end. After we got our license back, I was on another car then in the blink of an eye, hit my motorcycle rear end in front of my motor truck without a collision. This involved me at several points, while at fault.

Lying about your address on your car insurance

Lying about your address on your car insurance policy is bad. However, there are a few ways to minimize your car insurance costs, including: Car insurance companies look at a wide range of factors, including your age, gender, type of vehicle, driving record and a wide range of credit scores. Although you may not be able to buy car insurance on your own, there are steps you can take to lower your car insurance costs. The first step is to use a car insurance comparison site like Insurify to compare quotes for car insurance that fits your needs. Insurify provides the standard information for the types of car insurance policies you can choose from, as well as quotes. Other types of insurance include: Insurify’s rate analysis and comparison feature allows consumers to obtain car insurance rates from multiple big insurance companies in one place. You can enter your ZIP code to start, and view estimated rates for car insurance throughout the United States. Yes. You can cancel your car insurance policy at any time, as long as you.

Lying on an insurance application about winter tires

Lying on an insurance application about winter tires makes us think about how we don’t have something here if we can’t get it there, but we’re willing to go the extra mile for you to buy new tires. Your insurance policy can tell you what to expect of something. We’ll get you an insurance card or a letter from you. You’ll probably have one. You only use your own policy for a certain number of days before you let the insurance company know that you have a new tire or tire that’s damaged. You don’t make that decision lightly, either. In fact, there’s a whole lot of insurance for tires that’s new in the market. One problem we hear a lot about is tire compatibility. In addition to the standard ones, manufacturers sometimes have to issue tire replacements when the tire has been replaced with a different tire. The same tire can’t just be replaced with another. That’s because you�.

Lying to your insurance company about driving for Uber or Lyft

Lying to your insurance company about driving for Uber or Lyft may result in fines and higher insurance rates. You may also need to get insurance on your own. In addition, some insurance companies will cover your new car as a backup car or personal car when the situation presents itself in your favor. In this case, you may want to add it to your existing policy. If you’re a member of any of the popular drivers’ association, you can get insurance on a new car up front. A number of factors impact your car insurance costs. Many of these factors are independent of your driving profile. The insurance companies take into account your credit history and your driving record. If the company thinks you won’t drive for Uber or Lyft to save money, you’ll need to consider other options. If you’re a good driver, the chances of qualifying for car insurance are low. The says that drivers who switch to Uber and Lyft typically save 30% on car insurance. Even though it might seem like a dumb move.

Honesty is the best (insurance) policy

Honesty is the best (insurance) policy on the market for you! This agent is very helpful and honest. He will find the best policies on next to nothing! This agency is the best! They provide great prices for our policy. My husband passed recently, and the agent who works for the agent works as a representative to take care of our final expense. We know what our families should be with, and they are extremely competitive. I had a good experience with Joe and I have always been working with their customer service. My agent helped me to purchase a home. It cost less than what the agent would have me to carry. I highly recommend this agency to everyone. You didn t deserve this opportunity - THANK GOD! To have a son in pain and to have him grow up at a time when his health was a little easier to grasp. - Margo, Texas In addition to a few of the policy discounts available with many national insurers.

Making an exaggerated claim on your home insurance

Making an exaggerated claim on your home insurance policy, the policy may take several years but could increase in price over time. If you’re in search for a better deal on your homeowners insurance, consider a home-based policy. With a home base of somewhere between 6,000 and 9,000 square feet, you can likely enjoy a superior homeowners insurance coverage. With this type of policy, you’ll get some of the best available prices in an easily accessible way. This type of policy only takes a few minutes to complete. One of the reasons for purchasing home insurance is to protect the savings you’re already earning. You won’t get a premium you can’t afford to pay twice in one claim; and once you pay, the premium you’re willing to pay will be replaced with what you saved in the previous policy. The cost to replace or restore both your home and your valuable belongings is small, but you can save a considerable sum; which is the main reason why buying.

Putting your car insurance under your parents’ name

Putting your car insurance under your parents’ name is not the smartest move. It will be the best decision for your good self-policies. Here are a few tips to help you make the best possible decision on whether to ask your parents for car insurance: When your parents are away and you are the owner of your car, you’re the one having to pay for damages that are not being properly covered under your parent’s policy. If your parent’s car insurance limits have already been exceeded by the amount of insurance they held in their own policy, you likely already have enough money to pay for any damages. By paying for car insurance your parents will be required to carry their policies in full. This means they will have to fully protect themselves in case of an accident. Your child who is uninsured may be required to pay for damages under your policy and also pay for legal fees, damages and court fees if they are found guilty of driving without insurance, or even a violation of no insurance. If this happens,.

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bizfundingpro · 4 years

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Business Finance Cape Town - I Got a Business Grant! (How to Get Grant Funding for Your Business)

{{{{ What're your opinions on order funding?

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https://docs.google.com/document/d/19THjQCTlrN4Y5ijz8TjorpIf-nE1NXe9WPA9NlpXFd4/edit?usp=sharing

| What're your opinions on order funding?

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Many people are involved in or becoming involved with investing. There are great fortunes made every day. There are also great losses to be wary of. The real key to sound and profitable investing is knowledge. This article has been created to give you great information that you can use in your investment strategy.

Create an LLC if you're positive that you're getting into real estate. This creates a layer of protection for both yourself and your investments going into the future. On top of that, the business dealings can quality for tax credits.

Become aware of local regulations and laws for any locale that you're planning on investing in. These laws will have an effect on your purchase, so you should know them ahead of time. Before laying down your funds, touch base with local officials who can help you understand the regulations you will need to be in compliance with.

Get an understanding of tax laws and recent changes. Tax laws are updated and amended regularly which means it is up to you to keep up with them. Sometimes the tax situation on a property can really up the hassle. When it seems to be getting to thick to manage, consider a tax advisor.

While there is nothing wrong with diversifying your portfolio by purchasing real estate in different areas, states, and possibly even countries, make sure you tap into local sources. There is an excellent possibility that great real estate deals can be had close to home, and since you know the area well it might be easier to find. It's at least a good place to begin.

Identify whether the purchase you are considering is long or short term. How much money you need will be influenced by this. If you plan on buying a property that needs a lot of work, think about the costs of those repairs when factoring in how much potential profit there is when the renovation is complete. If you plan on holding onto the property for some time, you can choose to put more money into it.

You must invest in properties when prices are low. Most real estate investors enjoy great success because they have done the research and have the experience to back up their business decisions. When you get great information like what you read here, you can become a smart investor too.

When trying to fix your credit, it is very easy to feel lost and get discouraged. There are actually many useful steps that you can take and some are not that hard, but will help you out tremendously. Read these tips about what to do, so keep your head up and you'll get through it.

Refrain from applying for too many credit cards. When you own too many cards, you may find it difficult to keep track of them. You also run the risk of overspending. Small charges on every card can add up to a big liability by the end of the month. You really only need a couple of credit cards, from major issuers, for most purchases.

Research the fine points of disputing items on your credit report. It can be done, but the process is not easy. Make sure to track and follow up regularly with all reported disputes. If you stop checking on them, they will stop working on them as well. It's your credit, so make sure it's correct!

When trying to repair your credit, do not fall for the scams that tell you they will help you to create a new credit file. Creating a new credit file is actually fraud if you decide to follow through. Since it is fraud, you can face legal repercussions if you create a new credit file.

If a credit collection agency balks at removing incorrect items, consider taking them to small claims court. The law gives you the right to sue for damage to your report, the expense of removal, and the emotional stress involved in dealing with it. In many cases, you can win by default as they fail to show up.

Keep using cards that you've had for a while for small amounts here and there to keep it active and on your credit report. The longer that you have had a card the better the effect it has on your FICO score. If you have cards with better rates or limits, keep the older ones open by using them for small incidental purchases.

Having a good credit score will give you access to things you have always wanted, but didn't have the means to get. If you follow the tips and suggestions here, you can start the process of repairing your credit to the point of making your financial dreams come true.|

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What're your opinions on order funding? {

Debt that causes problems can overwhelm you and may make your life harder. To get out of it using debt consolidation, you must research your options. Read the article below for the information you need to make better financial decisions.

If your creditors are applying high interest rates to your accounts, a personal loan could be a good option. Try finding a personal loan with a good interest rate. A loan is a good debt consolidation strategy as long as the interest rate offered is lower than what creditors are charging you.

Be careful not to take out additional high interest loans after you've consolidated your debt. You aren't doing this simply to free up more opportunity to worsen your financial outlook! Take debt consolidation very seriously. That means that you need to make a plan for what happens after you've taken all these efforts.

Focus on consolidation services that look at long term goals. Consolidators that offer a quick fix for your debt and credit woes may not get you the best results. Those that focus on creditors one at a time, improving your credit score with each successful negotiation, will wind up saving you money in the long run.

When choosing a company to work with, think about the long term. Obviously, it is important to get your immediate financial situation in order, but you must also look to the future and understand how this company will continue to work alongside you. This includes offering courses on budgeting or debt counselors.

If you are struggling with seemingly insurmountable debt, you are not alone. But, you should also realize that there really are debt consolidation opportunities that can help a great deal. With any luck, the advice above has shown you what to guard against and what to look for when making these types of financial decisions.

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anogete · 7 years

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My PSA on the Equifax Hacking and What You Can Do

Holy crapolla. Equifax put all your shit on blast. Because I work in the financial services field, I have spoken to a shit-ton of clients recently who didn’t know what to do to protect themselves. Here’s my response if you want to lock your shit back down. For those who haven’t been watching the news: about half of all Americans had their names, social security numbers, birthdates, and credit card numbers stolen from Equifax by hackers a couple months ago. We’re just now finding out.

What would a criminal use your stolen info for? They could use it to apply for credit in your name and run up a credit card bill or take out a fat loan and never make payments. This messes up your credit history and score and could make getting credit in the future a pain in the ass. They could also file a tax return in your name, make up bogus info to get a nice refund, and leave you trying to clean up the mess. If you were due a refund, then your refund is likely going to be delayed while you jump through a bunch of IRS hoops to get what they owe you.

Shitty, right? Here’s what you can do…

Everyone should go to AnnualCreditReport.com and request ONE of their credit reports from ONE of the three bureaus. Why just one? Well, you can do one now and then one in four months and another in four months. This way you can keep an eye on your credit history throughout the year. You’re only guaranteed one free credit report from each bureau each twelve months. Spread those babies out. The reports will tell you all accounts you have under year name, how much you owe, and if you have any late payments or negative items on your credit. If something looks like it doesn’t belong, you should research and dispute it, if necessary. The website will tell you how.

Check out TrueIdentity from TransUnion, one of the credit bureaus. It’s free and will give you your TransUnion credit report. You can also ask it to text you if someone requests your credit report (i.e. criminals who are trying to have a spending spree on you). Be careful with TrueIdentity because they like to up-sell you with bells and whistles you don’t need. Looking at your credit report, asking for texts if your credit report is requested by a lender, and locking your report (see a section below on that) are all FREE right now.

Equifaxsecurity2017.com is the site where you can apply for a year of free credit monitoring courtesy of Equifax. You have to request it and come back at the date they give you to actually enroll.

Do you have credit cards? If so, you need to keep an eye on those statements. Maybe you don’t use it very often and you just make the same payment or the minimum payment each month. Don’t skim over that statement when it comes. Look at the activity to make sure nobody is charging weird shit. Unless you’re charging the weird shit. That’s okay.

Are you applying for jobs, submitting an application for an apartment, trying to get credit (card, loan, house, car, school), or trying to refinance? If so, then the above three things are the extent of what you can do. The next step will lock your credit down and if you’re doing any of the above then it will throw a wrench in your plans. If you’re not doing any of the above, then read on…

You can lock your credit report up, but you’ve got to do it with all three credit bureaus. It’s called a credit freeze or security freeze. This won’t hurt any current loans or credit cards you already have; it just stops anyone else from giving you (or a criminal) more credit. It tells the bureaus not to release your credit history to lenders. Lenders don’t like to give credit if they don’t know you have your shit together by looking at your credit report.

Equifax - That’s the link to their page that gives you details. Since they messed up, they’re letting you freeze your report for free. Once you’ve frozen it, they’ll give you a PIN number. Keep that PIN number safe! You’ll need it if/when you want to remove the freeze.

TransUnion - They let you lock your credit report with their TrueIdentity program I mentioned above. You can also do a complete freeze, but that will cost you some cash (a few bucks, less than ten) and you’ll need to get and remember the PIN number to unlock.

Experian - They’re going to charge you a fee as well (again, around or less than ten bucks). And they’ll give you a PIN number that you need to remember so you can lift that freeze later.

If things change in the future and you need credit or to refinance or whatever, you can ask the lender what bureau they use and unfreeze your report with that bureau. Then when your loan is set up, you can freeze it again. Freezing and unfreezing will cost you a few bucks each time you do it, so you don’t want to be all willy-nilly about it.

That’s my protect-yo-self finance class for the day, ya’ll. May none of you ever get your identity stolen and may your credit reports be super awesome.

#equifax #security breach #psa #keep your credit safe

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toldnews-blog · 5 years

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New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/world/anna-delvey-the-trial-of-new-yorks-fake-heiress/

Anna Delvey: The trial of New York's fake heiress

Image copyright BFA

Just how far can you get in the New York City socialite scene without a real fortune of your own?

Incredibly far, in the case of Anna Delvey – real name Anna Sorokin – who allegedly tricked the city’s elite into thinking she was a billionaire heiress. She reportedly hired a private jet, went to all the best parties, and threw cash at everyone she saw – a $100 (£78) tip if you carried her bag or were her Uber driver.

Yet, ultimately, her time at the top was short-lived. And it unravelled spectacularly.

In real life, Ms Sorokin had no multi-million-dollar trust fund. According to New York Magazine, her father is a former trucker, who runs a heating-and-cooling business.

After her credit cards began to fail – repeatedly – and she was kicked out of the luxury hotels she lived in, other people were left to pick up the extortionate bills, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.

Following a month-long trial, Ms Sorokin has now been found guilty of multiple offences, including stealing more than $200,000 – after racking up debts and fraudulently trying to secure major bank loans.

“As proven at trial, Anna Sorokin committed real white-collar felonies over the course of her lengthy masquerade,” District Attorney Cyrus Vance said in a statement announcing the conviction.

Ms Sorokin, who chose not to testify and pleaded not guilty, now faces up to 15 years in prison and will be sentenced on 9 May.

So how did this woman in her mid-20s allegedly cause financial chaos across a city, leaving people picking up her tabs in the US and beyond?

‘Faking it’

Anna Delvey came to New York City on a mission. At least that is what she told people.

She wanted to start an arts centre, with a chic Soho House ethos. She was considering calling it the Anna Delvey Foundation, according to New York Magazine, and she claimed to have lined up renowned artist Christo for the inauguration. For the venue, she had her eye on a six-floor space – 45,000 sq ft (4,200 sq m) – in Church Missions House, a prestigious, late 19th Century building, on the corner of Park Avenue and 22nd Street.

There is a certain lifestyle that goes with such bold claims – and she was living it.

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Speaking at the trial’s opening, defence lawyer Todd Spodek said: “Anna had to fake it until she could make it.”

He told jurors that Ms Sorokin was “easily seduced by glamour and glitz” when she saw how wealth – or the illusion of wealth – opened doors.

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Anna Sorokin (right), then known as Anna Delvey, at a fashion event at a New York hotel in 2014

According to court documents, Ms Sorokin represented herself as a German heiress with $60m in assets to try to get a loan of $20m for her foundation. She allegedly presented forged bank statements and would also deposit bad cheques, then withdraw the money before they bounced.

Prosecutors said that, while she never managed to secure millions, she did get a temporary $100,000 overdraft with City National Bank – based on forged proof of foreign assets – but she failed to repay it with a wire transfer, as promised.

Instead, they say, she went on a one-month shopping spree, spending $55,000 on “her upkeep at 11 Howard (a luxury hotel), high-end fashion purchases from Net-a-Porter and Forward by Elyse Walker, sessions with a personal trainer, Apple, and other personal expenses”.

Her lawyer said she never intended to commit a crime.

“In her world, this is what her social circle did,” he told the jury. “Everyone’s life was perfectly curated for social media. People were fake. People were phoney. And money was made on hype alone.”

How it unfolded

“Wannabe socialite busted for skipping out on pricey hotel bills”, read a July 2017 headline in the New York Post.

This was followed, in April 2018, by a confessional first-person piece in Vanity Fair by one of the magazine’s photojournalists, saying she had been hoodwinked by Ms Sorokin.

Rachel DeLoache Williams became a key witness in the trial. “I wish I had never met Anna,” she said in the courtroom during a tear-soaked testimony.

She said she had met her at Manhattan nightclub Happy Ending. She said Ms Sorokin held court with tales of her proposed arts foundation and then picked up the tab for a bottle of vodka.

They became friends. Ms Williams wrote in her article about being seduced by the apparent “glamorous, frictionless” lifestyle. She enjoyed going out for espresso martinis and fancy dinners. Anna usually paid, referring to her trust fund, and this culminated in her inviting Ms Williams on a trip to Morocco.

Ms Williams wrote: “Anna also invited her personal trainer, along with a friend of mine – a photographer – whom, at a dinner the week before our trip, Anna had asked to come as a documentarian, someone to capture video.”

Getty Images

Anna’s was a beautiful dream of New York, like one of those nights that never seems to end. And then the bill arrives.

The photo editor was a key witness in the trial. One of the counts of larceny was directly linked to her experiences.

She told how Ms Sorokin asked her to reserve a luxury, $7,000-per-night riad in Marrakesh, complete with three bedrooms, a private swimming pool and a dedicated butler.

She said it was always intended that Ms Sorokin would pay the bill, but when they came to check out, her credit cards did not work.

Put on the spot, Ms Williams ended up footing the bill for the entire trip, which, including extras, came to approximately $62,000 for a six-night stay. Sorokin was acquitted of the charge related to that bill.

The photojournalist said she was left in tears and suffering regular panic attacks, consumed by the stress of trying to retrieve the money.

“It was a magic trick,” she wrote at the conclusion of her story. “I’m embarrassed to say that I was one of the props, and the audience, too. Anna’s was a beautiful dream of New York, like one of those nights that never seems to end. And then the bill arrives.”

Though Ms Williams’ magazine article had had people talking, it was an an article in New York Magazine in May 2018, by journalist Jessica Pressler, that really blew the lid on the scandal. She interviewed various people who had come across Ms Sorokin, including a concierge, Neffatari “Neff” Davis, also in her mid-20s, who worked at the 11 Howard hotel.

Ms Davis said Ms Sorokin arrived at the newly opened Soho hotel like a whirlwind in April 2017, block-booking a deluxe room (around $400 a night). Gestures, such as allegedly paying a personal trainer $4,500 in a cash advance, gave the impression she was wallowing in money. She also spent an inordinate amount of time at the concierge desk, said Ms Davis.

“Usually tourists just come in and ask how to get to the Statue of Liberty,” Ms Davis later told New York art and fashion magazine Paper. “But then, you have this girl who’s draped in Rick Owens, huge Céline glasses, messy hair, European accent, hundreds of dollars of bills on her and she’s literally just giving it to me, for my time?” She said she was used to being a makeshift therapist for guests travelling on their own. “It’s really none of my business where the money comes from,” she said.

But somewhere along the line, 11 Howard had made an apparent error of judgement. Staff had not got a credit card on file for Ms Sorokin. A major dispute broke out, according to Ms Davis.

However – perhaps surprisingly – Ms Sorokin did eventually settle that debt. She used the money from the City Bank overdraft.

In court, her lawyer said that his client “believed that she would have the funds to pay every single person back”. This was the crux of her case.

But jurors were not convinced.

An age-old ruse in a modern world

Many people have said this whole story is so specific to New York’s young socialites; how some people move in circles where they don’t know their friends’ surnames or background; how what matters most is the night out, the connections, the name-drops, the moment.

Ms Sorokin’s lawyer was keen to play into this. “Any millennial will tell you, it is not uncommon to have delusions of grandeur,” he said in court.

But writer and psychologist Maria Konnikova, the author of The Confidence Game – a book about con artistry – believes the case is full of elements that are both timeless and universal. “People love to think they are idiosyncratic, but this has happened over and over and over again, everywhere. Anna Delvey fit the New York scene, but this could have happened in London and even in a small town, if certain things were adapted.”

“Claiming to have an aristocratic edge is something that has been done for hundreds of years,” she says. “In the past, people would take out newspaper adverts, or befriend gossip columnists, or get photographed with the right people to bolster their credibility.”

But social media has made it easier, she concedes. “The barrier of entry is so much lower. We accept so much at face value, and we put so much out there.” Theoretically you should be able to vet people better, she says, but people are not being savvy.

Ms Sorokin was an active Instagram user, building a profile that made her look like a mover on the arts scene.

An arts story

Eileen Kinsella has been covering the story from the courtroom for New York-based art market website, Artnet.

She says it has made the art world sit up because there are always concerns about being duped. “You often don’t know who is on the other side of a transaction, and people do buy things they can’t afford,” she says.

She also says the city has been on a particularly high alert since a 2012 exposé of one of its most-established galleries – Knoedler – was exposed for selling fake works, supposedly by the likes of Jason Pollock and Mark Rothko. “People went to incredible lengths to make things seem authentic. It had huge implications.”

One of her Artnet colleagues, critic Ben Davis, also wrote a piece analysing the art content of Ms Sorokin’s Instagram account, noting her use of familiar hashtags, and posting works from major events: Frieze, Art Basel, the Venice Biennale and the openings at Pace Gallery.

It was, he concluded, a “thin tissue of celebrity and scene-y artists”. However, he added that the envy generated by social media has become a kind of currency of its own, and she had managed to create “crisply curated fabulousness”.

The ongoing season of scammers

The New York Magazine story about Ms Sorokin’s ruse was almost instantly optioned by Netflix, and linked with producer Shonda Rimes (Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal).

Ms Williams’ story is being adapted for HBO, with writer Lena Dunham working on the screenplay. Ms Williams has also signed a book deal with Simon and Schuster.

People have been captivated by the idea of Ms Sorokin’s apparent audacity, and yet also left with so many questions: Why? What was the end game? Where did she come from? How come no-one guessed sooner? (Some have said that her unkempt hair should have been a giveaway. People who live in hotels have time on their hands for daily blow-dries. In court, Ms Williams said there were, in hindsight, plenty of “red flags”.)

There were rumours that Jennifer Lawrence might take the title role in the adaptation, however, the Oscar winner was then signed up to play up another so-called “millennial scammer” – Elizabeth Holmes, the deep-voiced entrepreneur who fraudulently built up the Silicon Valley company, Theranos.

Ms Holmes’ story has become the subject of various documentaries and podcasts. As has that of Billy McFarland, who created the infamous and completely hollow Fyre Festival. Both characters have been the subject of hit documentaries.

Image copyright Patrick McMullan

Image caption Billy McFarland (R) with former Fyre Festival employee Andy King, who became a memorable character in the Netflix documentary

TV critic Scott Bryan, who co-hosts BBC Must Watch, says such documentaries have become huge hits because they explore social media stories in such depth.

“The documentary that followed then provided a great amount of context and insight into how it all spiralled out of control and viewers learnt so much more than what they did from the original news story, when they initially thought that they weren’t going to do so. When these documentaries are done well, they can be equally, if not more compelling, than when we heard the story first time round,” he says.

Theranos founder in $700m fraud charge

Celebrity parents and the bizarre ‘cheating’ scandal

In the case of Ms Sorokin, some already view her as a sort of antihero. They admire her for gaming a system that few people will ever have access to.

Last summer, T-shirts saying Free Anna Delvey became the ironic must-have for Brooklynites. New York Magazine – via its website The Cut – also also saw an opportunity to profit off the story it had made viral and added a range of slogan tees to its online shop: “Fake German Heiress”; “My other shirt will wire you $30,000”.

Marie Claire magazine also explored the outpouring of enthusiasm for the story. “No-one died as a result of her actions, she just made rich people look like idiots,” it said. However, it also recognised the story’s alleged victims, notably Ms Williams.

A trial as a fashion show

Anna Sorokin was held in New York’s notoriously tough Rikers Island jail ahead of her trial.

Image copyright AFP

Since her detention, she has not been Instagramming from the inside, according to jail officials. After her detention, one of her posts was tagged with a Rikers location (“Throwback Thursday to @LeCouCou_NYC”), but the authorities say someone else must be managing the account.

She appears, however, to still be curating her image. She reportedly told Ms Davis – who remains a friend – that she would prefer if Margot Robbie played her in the Netflix production.

And she also worked with a stylist, Anastasia Walker, to get her courtroom look during the trial.

She arrived in the court room on the first day dressed in stylish black glasses and a matching choker, and went on to parade a number of other designer outfits: Saint Laurent, Michael Kors, Victoria Beckham.

Ms Walker told Elle magazine the look was “mysterious chic“. It won plenty of headlines.

One day, the proceedings were delayed because of wardrobe troubles and Justice Diane Kiesel gave her a verbal dressing down. “This is unacceptable and inappropriate,” she said. “This is not a fashion show.”

Yet multiple media outlets pulled together galleries of her in-court fashion, and an Instagram account (@annadelveycourtlooks) has picked up a few thousand followers.

Ultimately her lawyer, Todd Spodek, was keen to paint this as New York story, referencing the Frank Sinatra song in his opening and closing statements.

“In a city that favours money and the appearance of money… they both created their own opportunities,” he said.

“She was creating a business that she believed would work and she was buying time,” he argued.

Anna Sorokin was a part of it. But not for long.

Guilty of multiple crimes

She was found guilty on Thursday of four counts of theft of services, three counts of grand larceny and one count of attempted grand larceny, and acquitted of one count of grand larceny and one count of attempted grand larceny.

She also declined a plea deal, which could have resulted in a more lenient sentence if she agreed to return to Germany, where she lived after the age of 16, having been born in Russia.

She now faces deportation to Germany because she has overstayed her visa.

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sheminecrafts · 4 years

Text

This subscription social network is happy to be an Albatross in a pandemic

In discussions of ethically dubious social networks, Facebook is the usual reference choice. But spare a thought for subscribers of InterNations, a Munich-based social networking community for expats, who have found themselves unable to obtain refunds for full-year payments charged in the middle of the coronavirus crisis.

InterNations has operated an expat networking experience since 2007, offering a free “Basic” tier of membership that gives users some access to site content and community-organized events (if they pay an entry fee); or a premium tier which requires shelling out for a year’s subscription up front to get free/reduced price entry to networking events, plus access to some additional site features.

The German company appears to be a fan of nominative determinism — having named the subscription tier of membership “Albatross,” given how difficult it is for users to exit once they upgrade from Basic to paying, perpetually renewing contract.

Several former members told us their memberships were auto-renewed for a full year without any warning in the middle of the pandemic. When they contacted InterNations to request a refund they were point-blank refused — with the company saying they were bound by the terms of the contract they’d entered into when they paid to upgrade the year before.

In emails we’ve reviewed between users and InterNations’ staff, the company repeatedly ignores requests for refunds.

One U.K.-based user, who told us she had signed up to use the service to attend networking events in London and Paris, where she traveled regularly for work, found herself put on furlough in March when the U.K. went into lockdown. She only noticed the InterNations subscription had auto-renewed when she saw a charge as she was checking her bank statement.

She contacted InterNations to request a refund — pointing out there were now no physical events near her, nor would she be able to attend in-person networking events for the foreseeable future due to shielding as a result of personal vulnerability to the health risk posed by COVID-19. But InterNations still refused to refund her subscription.

Instead it offered to put the year’s Albatross membership on hold until 2022 — suggesting she might be able to make use of the services she’d just been billed for in two years’ time.

“Many of the people complaining feel aggrieved by InterNation because the entire event offering is very much voluntary and community based. It relies on people stepping forward to organise groups of people to attend events, walks, screening etc. Most of them do not make financial gain out of it,” she told us.

“So for this organisation not to be looking after its very own community feels like a slap on our faces.”

“My local gym froze my membership from April 2020 without any of its members having to request it. They informed us by email they would do this. I was able to cancel in July without any question asked,” she added. “If my small gym is able to do this, how come InterNations is not stopping the auto-renewal of the membership at such a time?

“When everyone almost worldwide is worrying about their health, their livelihood, their relatives, we are not remembering to cancel or to stop memberships.”

Another user, who signed up to the service after moving from the U.S. to Singapore, told us he was sent repeated payment demands in the middle of the coronavirus crisis after his on-file credit card had expired — which meant InterNations couldn’t auto-collect his payment.

He told it he wanted to cancel the subscription but it told him he would only able to delete his account if he paid up for a full second year. Eventually he said he felt he had no choice but to pay the demand for around $100 in order that he could downgrade from Albatross to Basic and have his account deleted.

“I was (and still am) a paid subscriber and during the height of the pandemic I never received an offer of ‘free months’ of membership,” he said. “Instead, all I got was a deluge of threatening emails about how they couldn’t process my credit card information. Nothing even remotely about whether I was sick or even still alive. They just wanted my credit card details.”

A third user, who signed up for the service after moving to Hanoi, summed up her experience as “not the best.” She pointed us to a blog post in which she recounts a similar story — finding herself charged for a renewal in the middle of the coronavirus without any advance warning and having forgotten to cancel the subscription herself.

“I didn’t realise I’d been charged until a notification from PayPal arrived in my inbox,” she writes. “Say, what? Where was the email reminder? Where was the ‘now due’ invoice that is the hallmark of good business? Turns out InterNations don’t send them.”

This user was finally able to obtain a refund — but only via disputing the charge through PayPal. She got no joy asking for her money back from InterNations itself.

A deluge of similar complaints about the company can be seen on Trustpilot — where InterNations has an 81% “bad” rating at the time of writing.

“An annual membership was taken from my account, and refund was refused. A year on and I am being threatened with non payment of a new invoice,” writes one reviewer.

“I cancelled my membership the past two years and every year it shows that I didn’t and their records conveniently show no record of my cancellation. Then they will refuse refunds,” recounts another.

“InterNations contacted me via automated email about my membership payment being due. When I responded, asking to cancel membership since I haven’t logged in in months and can’t afford membership during these times, they refused to help,” says another irate reviewer. “They make it impossible to do this simple task. They’re greedily unable to help with anything other than take your money. No empathy. All they have to do is cancel the membership.”

“They don’t even send a reminder for end of membership. Some people have seen their credit card debited, without any reminder. And if your credit card you registered has expired, they keep harassing you and threaten you,” runs another despairing former user.

In emails to users who are requesting a refund which we’ve seen, InterNations simply points them to German law — which does appear to be the legal sticking point here. As a number of expat blogs warn, service contracts in Germany can be a lot harder to get out of than into.

Though, of course, it’s unlikely to have been immediately clear to people signing up to a global social network in cities like Hanoi and Singapore that they needed to understand German contract law before hitting “subscribe.”

BEUC, the European consumer rights group, told us there’s no pan-EU requirement for a notification to be actively sent to users ahead of an auto-renewal of a services contract — and the lack of such a notification ahead of the InterNations subscription renewal is one of the key recurring complaints.

“EU law only requires the consumer to be informed of the final price and the contractual conditions,” a spokesperson said, noting that consumer rights can vary substantially from member state to member state as the area isn’t harmonised at EU level.

So, while BEUC noted that, for example, Belgium law does have a specific provision which allows the consumer to terminate a contract at no cost after its tacit renewal — Germany, self evidently, does not. Although domestic pressure appears to be growing for reform of its one-sided contract rules.

When we put the various complaints we’d heard about refunds and cancellations (and indeed dark patterns) to InterNations, its founder and co-CEO, Malte Zeeck, said the company does not breach consumer law — and further claimed it “clearly communicates” subscription renewals to users.

“InterNations is operating on a standard subscription model like many other businesses, which is at no point in breach of consumer protection laws,” he said. “Subscriptions are renewed automatically, which is clearly communicated at the beginning of each subscription period, in each invoice, and in every user’s membership and account settings. This is also where a subscription can be canceled at any time, without a notice period that has to be observed.

“Our members have a continual visual reminder of their membership status through the Albatross symbol found on their profile picture. They can also always see their current membership status by visiting their membership page.”

And while he conceded that InterNations had had to cancel in-person events “during the height of the pandemic” he said it substituted this reduction in service by offering “additional free months of membership” and “working very hard to respond to the situation and find ways for our members to still meet and spend time together online.”

“After only a few weeks, we already offered over 500 online activities worldwide to help expats and global minds connect and share experiences — more online events were being added every day,” he added. “In addition, our users continued to benefit from other online networking and information features our premium membership offers. Since restrictions on in-person events are being lifted around the world, we have started to offer many opportunities for our members again to meet in person.”

EU consumer protection rules do bake in requirements that contract terms be fair — with provisions intended to protect against things like one-sided changes to a service without a valid reason. But it’s pretty clear that InterNations could argue a pandemic is a valid reason for canceling in person events and replacing them with online networking. So angry users are unlikely to find much solace there.

Still, maintaining such an inflexible and user hostile attitude during a pandemic does look risky for InterNations and its reputation, given new users are likely to be far less easy for it to net now that the coronavirus has settled like a dead calm on so much foreign travel.

So while it might be legally entitled to sit and claw in revenue from people who — living through a pandemic and worried about things like their jobs, health and loved ones — forgot to cancel a subscription that only comes round once a year, it’s hardly a recipe for long-term customer loyalty.

Indeed, we’ve seen these kind of auto-renewing subscription gigs crop up in the e-commerce space in years past. And none of those dubious tactics went the distance.

Tricking consumers into recurring payments is never a good long-term business strategy, and it certainly isn’t now that reputational damage can scale all over social media in seconds. (To wit: Irate InterNations users have been organizing via Twitter and have set up a website to amplify negative reviews where they urge people to boycott the service.)

None of the people who’ve been stung by InterNations’ auto-renewing subscription are likely to forget to cancel a second time so won’t be a source of recurring revenue in future. And treating users like so much chum when the company also relies upon their community spirit to power its service looks like a rotten business model long past its sell-by-date. (However many members InterNations claims have contacted it “to say how much our online events have helped them to stay in touch with people and also stay positive during a period of self-isolation,” a minority of satisfied customers are being drowned out by all the angry online views.)

In the meanwhile, it’s certainly curious to encounter a niche social network that’s happy operating with as little regard for users’ wishes as some of the far more maligned giants of the category. To the point where its website displays information regarding the European Commission’s “online dispute resolution” platform in small print right on the contacts page. Er, perhaps Facebook should take note.

On unhappy users, Zeeck only had this to say: “We are sorry that some of our former members perceive this differently and were not happy with the benefits our membership offered them. We are always taking our users’ feedback seriously and are working hard to provide a great experience for them. At the same time, we are aware that it is hard to have the perfect solution for everybody, and there will always be detractors.”

But perhaps he’s been taking cues from Mark Zuckerberg’s neverending apology tours.

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endenogatai · 4 years