Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

BlueHippo Scam Collected $15M, Only Shipped One PC

Posted by Soulskill on from the was-it-alienware dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Turns out that those BlueHippo commercials advertising financing for computers and other electronics for anybody, regardless of credit, were way more sleazy than you thought. The FTC is bringing this fraud down, but not too soon. 'According to the FTC, the company's brazen business model continued without interruption after the 2008 settlement. "In fact, in the year following entry of this Court's Stipulated Final Judgment and Order for a Permanent Injunction, BlueHippo financed — at most — a single computer to the over 35,000 consumers who placed orders for computers that could be financed during the period,' the FTC told a court (PDF) yesterday. In the meantime, the company took in a cool $15 million in payments from consumers, who don't appear to have received anything in return.'"

7 of 216 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Instead of referring to just "Blue Hippo" by TSHTF · · Score: 5, Informative

    From the court documents linked in the article: Joseph K. Rensin is the sole owner and shareholder of BlueHippo Funding, LLC. FTC 26. Mr. Rensin acted as Chief Executive Officer of BlueHippo from its inception in 2003 until July 20, 2009. See FTC 28 at 7-8; FTC 22G at 3. As CEO, BlueHippo's corporate officers, including the Chief Marketing Officer, reported directly to Mr. Rensin. FTC 28 at 20-22. In addition, Mr. Rensin was involved in BlueHippo's day-to-day operations, "manag[ing] the overall structure and direction of the business" and "overseeing the senior management team in formulating strategy." Id. at 22; FTC 22G at 3.

  2. Re:Winning gold at the scam olympics by mkiwi · · Score: 5, Informative

    So they have your SSN for the user name. Just think of what they could do if they knew your mother's maiden name! Oh never mind, that's the password!
    https://www.bluehippo.com/csv2/Login.aspx

  3. Re:Instead of referring to just "Blue Hippo" by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 5, Informative

    Previously, Rensin operated a collection agency at the same address. He was sued for that one as well. And lost.

  4. Go Try to log in... by jesseck · · Score: 5, Informative

    I went to their website (Google for bluehippo), and when I clicked "Purchase" I was taken to a login screen.. where my username is my SSN, and password is my mother's maiden name. Yeah, I'll give them some more personal info after I enter that...

    1. Re:Go Try to log in... by CaroKann · · Score: 5, Informative

      If you have trouble logging in with that, their helpful "Trouble Logging In" screen gives you plenty of other ways to log in. You just have to select and enter one of the following combinations:

      Social Security Number/Home Phone
      BlueHippo Account Number/Home Phone
      Social Security Number/House Number
      Bank Account Number/Zip Code (!)
      Social Security Number/Password (Mothers Maiden Name?)

  5. Re:Is this the free market? by mc6809e · · Score: 5, Informative

    So I see that Gates and Buffet said recently that the economy is picking back up and all is well and there is no reason for anyone to be worried and the free market is perfect.

    But how can it be perfect if the we cannot protect those who need protection most from those who would steal their money.

    The elderly are doing the same thing to workers right now through Social Security and Medicare.

    We're promised future product (retirement money and health care) if we make payments up front. And it's unlikely the state will be able to deliver since they've already spent the money.

    Sound familiar?

  6. Re:Shocking! by file+terminator · · Score: 5, Informative

    Er, is this a serious post? You do realize that the link leads to a thumbnail, don't you?

    Remove the -thumb part of the URL, and you get something more readable. Still a pretty lousy scan, but perfectly legible.