MURPHY
Watching out for fire scam
The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office reports that scam calls have started up again with a new ploy.
A man and woman have been calling around soliciting monetary support for the Murphy Fire Department. However, fire officials said these calls are not on their behalf, and they appear to be scammers trying to gain financial information for their own use.
As a reminder, sheriff’s officials said to never give out personal or financial information to anyone over the phone. If you believe you may have fallen victim to these scammers or have concerns about any calls you may have received, call the sheriff’s office at 828-837-2589 or Cherokee County Dispatch at 828-835-3144.
RALEIGH
States settle with Goggle
N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein led a bipartisan group of 52 other attorneys general that last week announced a $700 million agreement with Google in their lawsuit about Google’s anticompetitive conduct with the Google Play Store.
“No company is too big to play by the rules,” Stein said. “As a result of this agreement, people who were harmed by these practices will be reimbursed, and Google will stop its anticompetitive practices. I will always fight to protect competition to keep prices lower and foster innovation.”
Google will pay $630 million in restitution, minus costs and fees to consumers who made purchases on the Google Play Store between August 2016 and September 2023 and were harmed by Google’s anticompetitive practices. Google will pay the states an additional $70 million for their sovereign claims.
People eligible for restitution do not have to submit a claim – they will receive automatic payments through PayPal or Venmo, or they can elect to receive a check or ACH transfer. More details about that process will be forthcoming.
From staff reports.