The Super Bowl of Counterfeiting: Scammers Run Their Own Play Fakes for the Big Game

Super bowl phoniesAccording to Homeland Security officials, the amount of counterfeit merchandise entering the United States is increasing, and the problem is especially acute in the lead-up to an event like the Super Bowl. For instance, federal agents recently seized more than $6 million of counterfeited goods and shut down more than 300 illegal websites in an action dubbed "Operation Fake Sweep." The 42,000 confiscated items include jerseys, hats and jackets.

In addition to looking authentic, the phony gear was cleverly ticketed: "The prices are not ridiculously low," said John Morton, director of Customs and Immigration. "They are discounted just enough that a consumer might think they are the real thing."

The Super Bowl is "a huge target for counterfeiters since it's so exciting for fans to have a piece of memorabilia about an event they're so emotionally tied to and so enthusiastic about," says Frederick Felman, chief marketing officer at MarkMonitor, a firm that provides Internet brand protection services.

Super Bowl phonies

To give some idea of "how profound the counterfeiting issue is," Felman's firm ran a study looking at the suspected counterfeiting of five unnamed brands' merchandise. "We found 1,300 sites selling what we believe to be counterfeited goods," he says, "with 800,000 units sold annually. Many of them were linked to a Chinese registrant or registrar." According to the full report, "The e-commerce sites selling this suspicious apparel attract 56 million annual visits."

"Counterfeiters -- people making things that are easily reproducible, like jerseys other types of sportswear and sporting goods -- they look for any opportunity they can to promote their activity," Felman explains. "In the U.S., the Super Bowl is at the forefront now, everyone's being bombarded by messages about it. The scammer's bonanza is anytime there's anything that drives a lot of traffic. They can bury their message in this flow and draw a lot of eyeballs and profit from it."

To describe the experience of going online during Super Bowl season, Felman uses a fitting simile: "It's almost like going into this digital stadium and seeing scalpers selling fake tickets. Instead, they're hawking fake jerseys and all kinds of paraphernalia and memorabilia."

For consumers concerned to avoid fake Super Bowl jerseys and the like, Felman has the following advice: "Be extremely suspicious of prices that are too low to be true. If its price is that low, then it's likely a fake." You should also consider the digital storefront surrounding the merchandise: "Look carefully at the website itself. Is it constructed in a legitimate fashion? Does it look like the English is written well and it's been put together professionally?" And rather than following ads or promotions to find an online seller, go to a reputable retailer of branded items.

The cost of buying online from a fraudster can be greater than simply the embarrassment and anger of being duped. "Some people think, oh, maybe I get a $30 or a $49 sweatshirt, worst case it comes apart or is defective in some way," Felman explains. "But you don't know how this has been put together, what the composition of the dyes is, what risk you might be exposed to."

Even worse, a lot of the organizations selling these goods are part of larger criminal operations. "You may not be assured that your credit card is especially safe with them," either because their payment process lacks sufficient security measures or because "they intentionally adopt a strategy to abuse the responsibility you've given to them," Felman warns. "You have to be very careful with these sort of fly-by-nighters because the risk might not be just that you get a defective product; it could be that you lose your identity and find yourself having to dig out of a financial mess."


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Source: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/02/03/the-super-bowl-of-counterfeiting-scammers-run-their-own-play-fa/

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STD Rates In Seniors Have Doubled In A Decade


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Rates of sexually transmitted disease among US, Canadian and British baby boomers have doubled in 10 years as fewer are practicing safe sex, researchers say.

And of those between 50 and 90 years of age, 80 percent were sexually active, a report in the Student British Medical Journal revealed, with implications for sexually transmitted disease (STD) rates, including HIV.

Meanwhile, UPI cited figures from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as showing that while there were 706 diagnoses of infectious syphilis diagnosed among US adults aged 45-54 in 2000 and 179 in those aged 55-64, by 2010 the number had risen to 2,056 and 493, respectively.

The CDC also found that that in 2010, there were 16,106 in the 45-54 age group diagnosed with the STD Chlamydia, versus 5,601 in 2000, and 3,523 in adults aged 55-64 in 2010, compared with 1,110 in 2000.

In Canada from 1997 to 2007, UPI reported, cases of gonorrhea among adults aged 40-59 rose from 379 to 1,502, Chlamydia from 997 to 3,387 and infectious syphilis from 34 to 527.

Meanwhile, in England from 2000 to 2009, diagnoses of sexually transmitted infections in those age 45 and older doubled to almost 13,000 cases, according to the BMJ study by Rachel von Simson, a medical student at King's College London, and Ranjababu Kulasegaram, a consultant genitourinary physician at St Thomas' Hospital London.

Perhaps more worryingly in the UK, cases of HIV among the 50-90 age group now comprised 20 percent of Britain's reported HIV population, up from 11 per cent in 2001, the Daily Mail reported.

While the BMJ study authors acknowledged that prolonged health and survival were factors in the increases, experts cited the report in urging seniors to consider testing for sexually transmitted diseases — and better protection during sex.

"You never have to retire from sex," clinical psychologist Judy Kuriansky told CNN, "but you should always behave as the 20-30 year-olds do. You need to be cautious about it."

She reportedly added: "They just don’t think it can happen to them. STIs (sexually transmitted infections) really started making news in the ’80s and ’90s. The fears and the warnings didn’t hit their generation."

Older women particularly were more vulnerable to the infectious diseases, according to the BMJ authors.

"Post-menopausal changes to the vagina, such as thinning of the mucosa, narrowing and shortening of the vagina, and decreased lubrication leave women more vulnerable to minor genital injuries and micro-abrasions that facilitate the entry of pathogens," they wrote.

CNN quotes its own expert, sex therapist Ian Kerner, as pointing out that the 50+ age group was one of the fastest-growing demographics for online dating.

"They wouldn’t even necessarily classify themselves as older," Kerner said. "It’s often the second time around for them. They’ve been married, have adult children, and they don’t have the same concerns or the same stressors that other people might face."

This post originally appeared at GlobalPost.

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Leading Ladies Who Dared To Bare Their Bald Heads


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They say if you want to win an Oscar, you better dramatically alter your appearance.

Charlize Theron in "Monster" ring any bells?

And what better way for a beauty-obsessed actress to show the world she's willing to commit to a  role 100 percent than for her to shave off her beloved, well-kept locks?

"Sex and the City" actress Cynthia Nixon just shaved her head for her role in "Wit" on Broadway, Demi Moore did it in "G.I. Jane" and Natalie Portman went all the way for "V for Vendetta."

Others such as Sinéad O'Connor and Amber Rose just feel most comfortable with a no-fuss head—and then there's Britney Spears.

Cynthia Nixon

Cynthia Nixon debuted her new bald 'do on "Live! with Kelly" last month. Though Nixon did battle breast cancer in real life, the actress chose to shave her head for her new role of a cancer stricken poetry professor in the Manhattan Theatre Club production of "Wit."


"I thought it was kind of going to be no muss-no fuss, but I have to shave it every day!" Nixon revealed to Kelly Ripa on the morning talk show. "I was always kind of curious to see what it would be like...I like it, but I don't think I'm gonna keep it forever."

Demi Moore

Demi Moore shed her famous, long, brunette locks for the chance to kick butt with the guys in the 1997 film "G.I. Jane" directed by Ridley Scott. The role was a huge switch from her previous work in "Striptease" or "Ghost, " but it garnered Demi a lot of attention for still managing to look so good with no hair.

Cameron Diaz

She didn't technically shave her head, but Cameron Diaz did don a bald cap for her heart-wrenching role in 2009's "My Sister's Keeper."

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