Credit card users need to be cautious when using the web, a new report has warned.

According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Australians have lost around $70 million to online scams in the past year, with almost 20,000 people becoming targets of fraud due to “emotional decision making”.

However, the real cost of fraud could be much higher as people are often reluctant to come forward if they have fallen victim to a scam.

The majority of the schemes involved a “mass-marketed advance fee,” where consumers pay costs up front for a product that is never supplied, while other popular scams revolve around donation sites.

“Regardless of age, gender, education or income level, any consumer can be scammed,” the report warned.

“Everyone is vulnerable.”

Earlier this year, the taxi industry launched a crackdown on drivers who scam passengers that use credit cards as payment, reported the Herald Sun.

CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — Panera Bread Co. is asking customers at a new restaurant to pay what they want.

The national bakery and restaurant chain’s charitable foundation has opened the nonprofit store in suburban St. Louis. It doesn’t have prices for its menu items, just suggested donations.

The new store is the first of what will Panera hopes will be many around the country.

The store will be operated by Panera’s nonprofit charitable foundation.

The idea has been tried on a smaller scale by community kitchens that let people pay what they wish to subsidize meals of lower-income customers. But Panera’s experiment could be the biggest of its kind of if the new venture works as planned, with nonprofit locations around the country.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A southern Indiana auto plant is the fourth Toyota site in four states to be targeted with bomb hoaxes since Friday.

Spokeswoman Kelly Dillon of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana in Princeton, Ind., says the package found Tuesday at a local post office was similar to another fake bomb found Friday in Erlanger, Ky., where the Japanese automaker’s U.S. headquarters is located. Similar devices were found Monday in Buffalo, W.V., and San Antonio, where Toyota also has production plants.

Princeton police Detective Mike Hurt said the fake bombs are being investigated by the FBI, Indiana State Police and the postal inspector in Evansville, about 20 miles south of Princeton.

Dillon says the company doesn’t know the motive for the hoaxes.

DETROIT (AP) — AM General LLC, best known as the maker of hulking Humvees and gas-guzzling Hummers, is going greener with a new foray into the electric vehicle business.

The Mishawaka company will handle final assembly of Ford Motor Co.’s electric Transit Connect commercial vans, which will go on sale next spring. Azure Dynamics, which will make the electric driving system, made the announcement Tuesday.

The work will not be done in Mishawaka.

Ford plans to ship engine-less Transit Connects from its factory in Turkey to an AM General facility in Michigan, where workers will install Azure’s electric system. A

Read full article…

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Nissan Motor Co. is planning to recall 48,700 trucks and SUVs for problems with a suspension part that could lead to a rough ride.

Spokesman Colin Price says the company is working on details with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and expects the recall to begin this week.

It will cover some, but not all, 2010 Nissan Armadas, Frontiers, Titans, Pathfinders and Xterras and Infiniti QX56 models.

The Armada, Titan and Infiniti QX56 are produced at the company’s Canton plant. The Frontier, Pathfinder and Xterra are produced at its Smyrna, Tenn., plant.

The problem centers on a lower suspension control link, which may not have been welded properly. It could cause the bushing collar to crack, leading to a rough and noisy ride. N

Read full article…