Is it fraud?

In dealing with words I am often struck by the specifics of certain terms and defining just how the world views one term over another. Today the term "defrauded" has caught my attention. When a business is identified as having defrauded customers do any actual customers need to come forward to specify they felt defrauded, or is the basic actions of a business fraudulent with or without customers officially complaining?

I would like to think that a business can be held accountable for fraudulent activities when those actions are discovered, not when multiple persons have already been defrauded by the company.

According to www.consumerfraudreporting.org - Someone who defrauds someone else does so though deception that is practiced "to secure an unfair or unlawful gain". This can take the form of any action whereby information is expressed, concealed, omitted or in some other way concealed to provide a beneficial advantage.

In the Journal of Accountancy, in an article aimed at expert witness CPAs, fraud is defined in the legal sense of the word as:

Definition of Fraud

All multifarious means which human ingenuity can devise, and which are resorted to by one individual to get an advantage over another by false suggestions or suppression of the truth. It includes all surprises, tricks, cunning or dissembling, and any unfair way which another is cheated.

Source: Black’s Law Dictionary, 5th ed., by Henry Campbell Black, West Publishing Co., St. Paul, Minnesota, 1979.

For the CPA common law fraud is made up of three distinct elements.

1. A material false statement that was made with intent to decieve
2. The reliance of a person (the victim) on the statement
3. Damaged incurred by the victim as a result of the false statement

The Federal Trade Commission defines deceptive advertising as any form of advertising that might contain or omit information that would lead consumers acting reasonably to be mislead and would be important to the consumers decision to purchase or use a product.

The FTC also answers the question of rather or not a company is liable for fraud simply because no one has complained:

Are letters from satisfied customers sufficient to substantiate a claim?

No. Statements from satisfied customers usually are not sufficient to support a health or safety claim or any other claim that requires objective evaluation.

My company offers a money-back guarantee. Very few people have ever asked for their money back. Must we still have proof to support our advertising claims?

Yes. Offering a money-back guarantee is not a substitute for substantiation. Advertisers still must have proof to support their claims.

So, by having misleading information or providing products or services that are misrepresented in advertising claims, a company can be guilty of fraudulent activity even without any customers having complained, and with customers which have reported satisfactory experience with the company.

The Pendant

A character that I created using Daz Studio. A lady holding up a glowing pendant.

Article writing practice

I have started working on my article writing skills, and done the insane thing by putting them out there for anyone and everyone to critique.

Check out my first "critique this" article at Freelancer's Office, where I address the question, Who Controls Creative Work? The Creator or the Fans? Feel free to leave any constructive criticism on the article, I am trying to improve my article writing skills, and the best way I can think to sharpen them is to write a few articles that can be openly reviewed by others.

Thank you!

Tax Preparer Certification

As a freelance writer I have come to be very familiar with the process of preparing not only personal taxes, but business taxes as well. Then enter my brother, and his now owning his own business. He has a fairly heavy reliance on me for all of his business tax preparation needs, on top of my already doing his personal taxes for him. It all adds up to me starting to feel more and more like a tax accountant every month.

If you are in the same kind of situation as I am, where a good portion of your family looks to you for tax help, then Fast Forward Academy would like to invite you to take a look at their tax preparer certification bundle to help you possibly make a career out of the skills you have in sorting out tax forms.

Their Tax Course plus RTRP Exam Study Guide and practice exams will help you move from preparing taxes for friends and family, into an actual career as a tax preparer with tax preparer certification. And the convenience of online testing makes it easy to study at home and in your own time for learning tax preparation.

Located in Maitland, Florida, Fast Forward Academy, LLC is a small company in education management that was founded in 2010. Their website and Facebook page define the materials they provide as being streamlined learning materials that have been trimmed down to remove unneeded clutter and provide their students with the core essential material needed to pass the exams and get tax preparer certification that can help them find a career as a tax preparer.

Be sure that you carefully consider everything before you commit to taking any tax preparation course or purchasing any books, tests, or other materials. Not everyone that finds tax preparation for friends and family easy will find enjoyment in a career preparing taxes, and any investments in education for tax preparation should be carefully considered before a purchase is made.

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This has been a paid post. This blog does not necessarily endorse the products or services offered by this company.

New life for old stories

I am working on teaching myself how to use Blender 3D, which is a 3D program that can do some fairly amazing stuff. So far I am still in the baby steps stage, but I am hoping that I can get myself, and my computer system, up to the level where I will be able to create short films of some of my short stories that I have wrote over the years but never felt were quite suitable for sending out for publication, or the ones that were sent out and were returned to me unpublished.

Hopefully before too much longer I will have some 3D short films to share, but like I said, I am still in the baby steps stage, so it will take a bit of time.

Online courses via MIT

In an effort to expand on my writing skills, I am going to take an online course through MIT. I'm going to take the Writing and Reading Short Stories course, which was offered by MIT in the Fall of 2006. The course is now a part of MIT's Open Courseware that they offer as part of their online classes. The class is an undergraduate course that focuses on short stories, and while I am sure I will miss a lot that would have been a part of the original class, I am hoping that I can still pick up enough from the class online to make it worth my while.

Torchwood tension back again

Guest post written by Emmy Woodson

I think that one of the greatest things about Torchwood was closer to the beginning when there was obvious tension between Gwen Cooper and Captain Jack Harkness. I guess that the series had to start out like that because in Doctor Who there was always that bit of tension between the Doctor and his companion. Well, except with Donna. They could have never been romantically involved but they were hilarious together! But I guess that in Torchwood the tension was a little racier because the series was racier.

I guess now that the series is back on though, Torchwood doesn't have to rely so much on the tension. Besides Gwen has a family of her own now anyway. I was looking up some spoilers about other parts of the season and while I was doing that I ran across the website http://CLEARTVBUNDLE.com. Once I looked through it some, I talked my husband into switching over our home internet service to it.

I guess there are more pressing things at hand than romantic tension during this season of Torchwood, like reversing the miracle and saving the planet from over population.

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This has been a paid guest post. Work at Home Newsletter does not necessarily endorse the products or services offered by this guest poster.

Shoulder starting to feel better

Well, my shoulder is starting to feel a bit better from the pinched nerve I suffered from last week. It brought my writing to a standstill for a while, but I am working slowly on getting back into writing again.

I am still getting by through the use of ibuprofen pain medication, but I can at least move my arm pretty well and relatively pain free even without taking them. Limiting how much I sit at the computer and type has helped a lot, now if I can just figure out how to stop it from getting hurt while I am sleeping so I don't wake up to a sore shoulder I would be delighted.