friday, november 17, 1978
daily nebraskan
page 3
Better Business Bureau warns of work-at-home ploys
By Kim Wilt
"EXTRA HOURS earn you $500 per
1000 stuffing envelopes with our circul
ars." "Addressers Wanted Immediately!
Work at home-no experience necessary
excellent pay." "$200 WEEKLY MAIL
ING CIRCULARSMaterials Sup
pliedStart immediately, Free Details."
The above three ads were printed in the
Daily Nebraskan a few weeks ago.
This prompted a letter from the Lincoln
Better Business Bureau, to the paper which
said, in part, "There are hundreds of work-at-home
schemes which take in over half a
billion dollars per year out of the pockets
of millions of pe ple. . . The Bureau urges
caution in answering any ad that offers you
great profits for some at-home-work that
requires no experience on your part and is
in great demand."
No work offered
A pamphlet put out by the educational
division of the bureau states "none of these
companies ... has been found to actually
offere real employment as implied or to
guarantee a market at a fixed price for the
finished product."
Lois Tefft, manager of the Lincoln BBB,
said when people answer such an ad, they
receive a letter asking them to send money
for a kit. The kit instructs them to choose
a name that sounds like a legitimate
company and then place an ad in the
paper, similar to the ad that they answered.
consumer byline
"There is no actual work involved, no
addressing of envelopes," Tefft said.
She said a person would have to pay the
costs of printing and oostage involved in
placing an ad in a newspaper or magazine.
The companies will sometimes send a list
of magazines and newspapers that accept
such ads, she said.
Schemes similar
Although there are variations on the
"work -at-home schemes," Tefft said invest
igations show "they all operate the same
way."
Because of the number of these ads, and
the similarity between them, the BBB does
not keep separate files on each company.
Instead when consumers call to inquire
about a specific ad, they are told that all
similar ads are considered "work-at-home
schemes," and the BBB considers them
highly questionable.
Attempts to contact the three com
panies placing the above ads were unsuc
cessful as the companies were not located
at the addresses listed nor were they listed
by the Better Business Bureaus in the three
cities.
Operate in Lincoln
Tefft said "work -at -home schemes are
such a common practice any more, that it
would use all our time and postage to
track them down."
"We can usually identify them," she
said. The BBB averages 200 calls a month
regarding such companies, and has received
50 complaints this year about specific
schemes.
"We had two or three (schemes) opera
ting in Lincoln last summer," she said,
but there are none now.
An aide in the postal inspector's office
said the postal service is aware of the prob
lem, but said "We don't have it here in
Lincoln. It's more on the eastern seaboard,
and around L.A."
It is a federal offense and considered
mail fraud to offer these schemes, he said.
If such a scheme was found, he said "We
would take it through the U.S. Attorney
in Lincoln, and then to a grand jury."
HEW claims Eppley
Cancer Institute
misused $1 million
By Lucy Bighia
The Eppley Cancer Institute should refund about $1.1
million it inappropriately charged the National Cancer
Institute for cancer research; a spokesman for the Depart
ment of Health, Education and Welfare said Thursday.
HEW regional audit director John Stanford said an
audit done by HEW found that the Eppley Institute had
inappropriately used some of the federal funds and equip
ment provided under a four-year contract with the
National Cancer Institute.
The audit grew out of a report from the General
Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress,
Stanford said.
However, Dr. Neal Vanselow, chancellor of the Univer
sity of Nebraska Medical Center where the Eppley Instit
ute is located, said, "it is our position that we don't owe
the federal government any money."
Authorization questioned
Vanselow said the institute has 30 days to submit a
written statement to HEW. After that, the charges will be
discussed with the HEW auditors and hopefully resolved,
he said .
If an agreement isn't reached, the NU Board of Regents
will take the matter to the HEW Committee for Appeals
and possibly to court, Vanselow said.
Part of the proposed refund is $394,000 for all
research projects which the audit said were done without
written authorization, Stanford said.
Vanselow said the projects were orally approved, and
progress reports were submitted regularly to the National
Cancer Institute.
The audit, according to Stanford, also said the institute
should return about $717,000 charged for support ser
vices, such as photography and animal care.
Stanford added that $418,178 of this should have been
charged to industrial research.
Contest repayment
The regents contest repayment for support services
for several reasons, Vanselow said.
Vanselow said they questioned the method used to
arrive at such allocations of costs, and added the audit
overstates the extent to which support service funds were
used for non -contract services.
He said an alternative auditing method was proposed
by the university last spring, in response to a draft of the
audit.
Stanford said the auditors returned to the institute in
June and July, but were unable to implement the univer
sity's method because there was not enough data
available.
Records incomplete
Vanselow said the institute could not furnish all the
information the auditors requested because in the past it
had not been required to keep detailed records of individ
ual projects.
Stanford acknowledged this, but said the federal con
tract did require a general accounting of research projects.
The fact that only a general accounting was required
"doesn't justify charging costs of unrelated projects or
industrial research work to the contract," Stanford said.
Vanselow pointed out that, for the first two years of
the contract, the institute had reached a "full and final
settlement" with HEW. Yet those two years were included
in the HEW audit, he said.
Band trip funded this year
The UNL marching band will attend the Orange Bowl
game Jan. 1 , according to Richard Fleming of the Office
of University Information.
Fleming said funding for the bands' trip to Miami
will come from the bowl funds.
In the past, band members have had to raise funds in
order to attend Husker's bowl games.
Rsd Cross
is counting
on you.
Go Big Red!
Xoutmizzou!
tjrAinlftiJii?' iTmi 'iTin''TrTT-'TT
and many more, too! We have the right ring for
von, in the right style at the right price. .
c .
-A
tciMMO .iut wtaican of tocT
Downtown Gateway Conastoga
11 29 "0" St. Enclosed Mall Enclosed Mall
Lincoln Lincoln Grand laland
ft
V
Kcsierfield
LQJottomsIcu
FRDAY
AFTERNOON
CLUB
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oits
Happy Hour 3:30-6:30
Join in the Pre and Post
Game Festivities starting at
10 AM on Football Saturdays.
Grab a Sandwich for the Game.
This weekend,
Disco at
C 8, S P's
Yacht Club.
Gunny's 13th &Q 475-8007
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