Greg's Blurty

Repeat After Me: HELL NO, WE WON'T GO!
I don't know about you, but this has ruined my upcoming trip to China:

Athletes, families hit by Olympic ticket scam
Posted: Tuesday, August 5 at 12:09 pm CT by Bob Sullivan

Ramon Mena Owens/The Press-Enterprise

The heartbreaking impact of a worldwide Internet ticket scam is only now becoming clear, as victims arrive in Beijing without the Olympics tickets they thought they had purchased months ago. Among the victims is a California man who may now be unable to watch his 16-year-old daughter compete in swimming events. The father of a U.S. softball team player also says he was scammed after he paid $3,500 for tickets to the opening ceremony.

The victims thought they had purchased their tickets from a Web site named BeijingTicketing.com. The authentic-looking site has been selling Olympics tickets for months before it was shut down this week. The site was named in a trademark infringement lawsuit filed by the International Olympic committee and the U.S. Olympic Committee on July 22.

http://redtape.msnbc.com/

Is nothing sacred anymore? Why do they have to do this to the Olympics? What's next? Mom, baseball and apple pie? Why is nearly everything a scam here and why is everything that isn't a scam impossible to tell from a scam? I'm fed up with the whole thing. I'm serious, I don't even want to go anymore.

As soon as I'm done here, I'm sending an email to Trippi, my Chief Executive Vice President In Charge Of Travel, to cancel all my reservations in Beijing! And it's with a heavy heart that I do that. I don't want to boycott the Olympics but someone has to take a stand and make the difficult decisions.

And I want all you doubters to know that this has nothing to do with my decision:

11 charged in connection with credit card fraud
Case believed to be largest of its kind ever prosecuted by Justice Dept.

updated 2 hours, 35 minutes ago

NEW YORK - The Department of Justice announced Tuesday that it had charged 11 people in connection with the hacking of nine major U.S. retailers and the theft and sale of more than 40 million credit and debit card numbers.

It is believed to be the largest hacking and identity theft case ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice. The charges include conspiracy, computer intrusion, fraud and identity theft.

The indictment returned Tuesday by a federal grand jury in Boston alleges that the people charged hacked into the wireless computer networks of retailers including TJX Cos, BJ's Wholesale Club, OfficeMax, Boston Market, Barnes & Noble, Sports Authority, Forever 21 and DSW.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26041151/

This isn't about money! Even if I don't have any left now! This is all about principle!

Current Mood: depressed
Current Music: Coast To Coast AM----Monday August 4th, 2008