Latest news with #TimMcNicholas
CBS News
25-07-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Days of housing discrimination complaints sent to the "Twilight Zone" are over, new NYS Human Rights commissioner says
Have you ever complained to a government agency and wondered what it did with your complaint? A CBS News New York investigation last year revealed that one New York state agency left complaints languishing in a filing cabinet called the "Twilight Zone." Reporter Tim McNicholas recently followed up with the state to ask what improvements have been made. "The Twilight Zone ended March 18 when I arrived here," Human Right Commissioner Denise Miranda said. Miranda wasn't talking about the hit 1960s science fiction television series. She was actually referring to last year's government audit that found the Human Rights Division failed to properly investigate housing-related discrimination complaints, and instead left them languishing in a filing cabinet labeled with the show's name. State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli revealed that name in an exclusive interview with CBS News New York. "With that kind of a label, it kind of reinforces what some people's worst opinion of what government bureaucracy is about," DiNapoli said. The comptroller's report also offered a series of recommendations, from training improvements to identifying reasons for delays. Miranda said her team has implemented all of those recommendations. "It is a new day for the Division of Human Rights," Miranda said. The audit, which was conducted before Miranda became commissioner, also found the agency often failed to complete investigations within 100 days, as required by law. Miranda says after she took over, she made major personnel changes, added 50 new investigators, and will soon launch a call center that lets New Yorkers talk to a live agent. The complaints are often from tenants accusing a landlord or broker of discriminating against them. "Clearly, there were issues and we wanted to make sure New Yorkers were going to have the opportunity to file those complaints, and so we have completely revamped our intake process for complaint filing, that includes a brand new intake unit, that also includes updating our online form," Miranda said. Miranda said she is already seeing improvements, including a 70% increase in closed cases, from 222 at this time last year to 379 so far this year. George Haddad of the Hudson Valley Justice Center represents people in housing-related discrimination complaints. "I am optimistic," Haddad said. "It just seems like they're getting a response quicker, at least about initial documents that the intake unit needs. and it looks like the complaints are being organized in a way where it doesn't get lost in the Twilight Zone." "We're going to continue to prioritize this. This is not a one-day fix. But I'm very proud of the improvement we've made over time," Miranda said. New Yorkers say they hope the improvements continue, and the days of the Twilight Zone stay far away, lost in another dimension.
CBS News
27-06-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Medicare recipients say Queens-based business is filing bogus claims for unwanted medical supplies
People from across the country say a Queens-based business is charging their Medicare accounts for medical supplies they never ordered or received, yet records show Medicare is coughing up tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars for the bogus claims. CBS News New York investigative reporter Tim McNicholas first uncovered this pattern back in February 2024. Medicare paid NYC store thousands, records show Linda Christensen, Katherine Hensley and Jennye Keefer all say they've never needed anything from Almaz Med Supply on 69th Street and Queens Boulevard. In fact, Keefer and Hensley say they've never even been to Queens, Christensen has never heard of the store, and they all live in different states – Pennsylvania, Florida and Maryland. So imagine their surprise when they discovered Medicare claims in their names for thousands of dollars worth of orders from the store. The women shared account records showing Medicare paid the store $13,000 between March and June, $6,300 between December and April, and a separate $6,300 payment in January. The payments were all for wound dressings, glucose monitors for diabetes and catheters that they say they never received or needed. "If there was a way to notify me and say, 'Hey Mrs. Keefer, sorry to hear about your diabetes,' I would have said, 'What are you talking about?'" Keefer said. "The question that comes into my mind is how did they get my Medicare number and how did this get through?" Hensley said. Claire Rosenzweig, of the Better Business Bureau, says her team has fielded eight other similar complaints about the company since last fall. "All of our personal information unfortunately is out there. And sometimes it's hacked. There's the dark web. There's so many ways that fraudsters can get ahold of personal information," she said. Neighbor says no one ever enters, leaves store State records show Almaz Med Supply is registered to a Zurab Tsotskhalashvili. Someone with that name listed a Brooklyn apartment building as their address last year in an unrelated lawsuit, so McNicholas visited that building. Over the callbox, an individual identified himself as Zurab Tsotskhashvili and let McNicholas into the building, but no one answered the door to the apartment inside. When McNicholas tried the callbox again, the man repeatedly stated "I'm not Rob" and said he knew nothing about Almaz. No one answered the door or the phone at the store. Mohammad Sarder, who lives two doors down, said that doesn't surprise him. "They open probably like three, four years, five years. I'm not sure exactly," he said. Sarder said in that time, he's never seen anyone going in or out of the store. McNicholas also tracked down a man who said he sold Almaz Med Supply to Tsoskhalashvili last year. The man says he started learning about fraud allegations soon after. He would not agree to an on-camera interview and directed us to his attorney, who never returned our calls. Medicare fraud, abuse costs $60 billion per year, feds say Last year, a CBS News New York investigation revealed another New York City business billed Medicare for millions of dollars worth of catheters that patients never requested. That story involved the same pattern: multiple companies that changed management or owners and then had complaints about fraud. The federal government says Medicare fraud, errors and abuse cost the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services $60 billion per year. The Trump administration has repeatedly said it's working to eliminate various types of fraud, but HHS and its secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., didn't respond to CBS News New York's interview request for this story. Neither did Kennedy's predecessor, Xavier Becerra. HHS told us in email last year that they have ways of clawing payments back and, even if a claim publicly shows up as paid, it doesn't necessarily mean the money went out the door — but sometimes it does, hence the annual losses.
CBS News
09-06-2025
- Science
- CBS News
NYU researchers developing technology to detect hidden GPS trackers
Many people use GPS every day, but in the wrong hands, it's a terrifying tool that can help stalkers track their victims. It's been difficult for victims to detect hidden trackers – until now. CBS News New York investigative reporter Tim McNicholas got a look at a promising development from New York University researchers. How to know if there's a GPS tracker on you Mo Satt, a researcher at NYU's Tandon School of Engineering, says there are already ways to detect Bluetooth trackers like Apple AirTags, but solutions are few for GPS trackers. "If a cyber stalker is looking to track someone, they're not gonna use an AirTag because Apple and Samsung and Android have figured out a way to alert people," he said. So, Satt started using a device already on the market called a spectrum analyzer to track signals from nearby electronics. He realized, unlike phones and other devices, GPS trackers send out signals like clockwork to save battery, typically every minute on the dot while moving. That allows him to distinguish a GPS tracker from other devices. Now, he and a team of researchers are working to develop a way for stalking victims to detect those same unique signals. "They won't have to be looking at spikes [on a spectrum analyzer], right? They're just gonna have an app or something that will Bluetooth to their phone, that will talk to a device like this [spectrum analyzer] and say you, with a high degree of probability, you have a tracker with you," Satt said. Satt and his team are now trying to secure additional investors and support to turn their plans into reality. They're presenting their findings this summer at a major cybersecurity conference, and victim advocates say their work, so far, sounds very promising. Man fatally shot in Queens after gunman stuck GPS tracker on car Their research was inspired by tragedies like the death of Tyrone Jones, who was fatally shot inside his car in St. Albans, Queens. The vehicle was riddled with 11 bullets. "There were so many spectators," said Donaya McMillan, Jones' cousin. "It was something that, to this day, I still have nightmares about. As much as I try to remember the beautiful, big smile he has, sometimes I also think about how he looked in that moment." Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said the shooter, Isaiah Stokes, was hellbent on revenge after Jones asked him to leave a party. According to prosecutors, Stokes – a well-known actor who appeared on shows including "Law and Order," "The Americans" and "Blue Bloods" – stuck a GPS tracker on the bottom of Jones' car a week before the shooting. A judge sentenced Stokes to 25 years to life in prison for the murder in March. McMillan thinks if the technology Satt and his team are developing had been available at the time, her cousin might still be alive. "I think that he would've been able to identify that he was being tracked," she said. "This could've been prevented." While an external GPS tracker was used in this case, many newer cars have tracking software built into the car. Unfortunately, people can be stalked even without someone sneaking a tracker into the car. CBS News New York has reported on stalking victims whose abusive exes still have access to the car's system.
CBS News
22-05-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Misleading ads repeatedly dupe Google users, CBS News New York Investigation finds
It's the most popular search engine, and one of the most profitable companies in the world. So why does Google sell advertisements to people purporting to be companies it is not? CBS News New York's Tim McNicholas, a regular Amtrak rider, recently Googled "Amtrak customer service," and the first three results showed websites and phone numbers that don't belong to Amtrak, even though the links stated "Amtrak" or "Amtrak Phone Number." Two of the sites, and even have self-described Amtrak booking pages, boasting of a "user-friendly platform" that "allows you to reserve your seats ... hassle-free." "I think that's pretty terrible," Laura Black said. Black said she called the number on another site, and paid $356 to upgrade her Amtrak trip from New Orleans to Charlottesville back in March. "It was a fraudulent ticket," Black said. "I was actually really shocked that you can Google something and the top hit, it's a scammer? Like, how does that happen? So I guess I felt betrayed by the process a bit." Amtrak and Google both describe the listings as "scams," so how do they rise to the top of the search results? Turns out, they are sponsored listings, or ads, and Google says it has now suspended the accounts of those advertisers. The listings linked to a phone number so you didn't even have to visit the website before calling. In 2020, McNicholas shared the warnings of a mom from the Chicago suburbs who sent $5,000 to a Google advertiser pretending to be Apple customer support. "My guard was completely down," Abbey Coffey said at the time. "I get those phishing emails, you don't click on the link it's a scam, but I called them. So me calling them, my guard was completely down." Google would not agree to an interview for this story, but said in an email it removed 146 million ads last year for misrepresentation. A spokesperson said that figure includes ads that were blocked before posting, and also ads that were already live on Google. "That makes me wonder what's going on in the process that they got to put those ads up in the first place? Is there not any sort of background check?" Black said. Google says all ads go through either automated or human reviews, but alleged fraudsters are constantly adapting and sometimes find ways to show Google different content than they later show users. McNicholas called the numbers he found during his Google search, and the people who answered claimed to offer tickets cheaper than what Amtrak was offering. When asked, a self-described employee with said that the company is not Amtrak but is authorized to sell Amtrak tickets. He denied any knowledge of the company's Google ad, which included a link titled "Amtrack [cq] Phone Number" above a phone number that does not belong to Amtrak. "Is there maybe a manager or owner who can give us a call?" McNicholas asked. He never heard back, so he moved on to the number Black called and whoever answered said they don't sell train tickets and know nothing about McNicholas discovered shortly after he reached out that the website had been taken down. "Now I have to fight with my credit card. It's gonna be two months 'til I see that money back, if I see it back. There's no guarantees, and it's unfortunate," Black said. Amtrak says customers should stick to booking through the Amtrak app, 1-800 USA RAIL, or in-person at a train station. The company also says it has an internal team dedicated to working with search engines to scrub what Amtrak considers scams.
CBS News
27-03-2025
- CBS News
Long Island man ticketed for truck he no longer owns. DMV says it's part of a larger issue in NYC
A New York state agency is calling out the city for not using up-to-date information when writing tickets after CBS News New York brought one man's case to their attention. The Long Island man says the process of fighting a ticket turned into a nightmare, and CBS News New York's Tim McNicholas found the chances of winning are already slim. Hector Colon told McNicholas he lives in Ronkonkoma and doesn't often venture into New York City. He's a maintenance supervisor for a gated community on Long Island, about 40 miles from the city limits. So imagine his surprise when he got a New York City parking ticket in the mail last spring -- and then, another and another. He ended up with a total of eight tickets and notices from the city saying he owes nearly $1,000. "I can't afford $1,000 that I could be using for my bills for something that I didn't even do," he said, adding he needs the money for his diabetes medicine. The tickets list the same make, model and VIN as a truck that Colon says he sold. The New York State Department of Motor Vehicles confirmed to CBS News New York he transferred the title months before the violations. He says he tried to fight the tickets with records showing he had canceled his insurance and surrendered his license plate, but an administrative judge for the city's finance department still found him guilty. "They, basically, said that it was insufficient evidence," Colon explained. The state DMV says the city's finance department has access to real-time DMV registration data, but the DMV says it has repeatedly brought ticket complaints to the city's attention that show the finance department is not always using that information. "We would defer to them as to why they are not using up-to-date records to issue citations to New Yorkers," a DMV spokesperson said. The city says it regularly uses DMV data but what it called "timing issues" can impact the quality of information, and it encourages motorists to promptly report any transfers to the state - which Colon says he did, but was still found guilty. "My wife paid about, I would say, about $600 worth of it," he said. "She was like, 'You know what, let me just pay some of them, so they don't garnish his check.' She was just scared it was going to be more of a hindrance for me." Data obtained by CBS News New York shows the finance department issued more than 16 million tickets last fiscal year for illegal parking and traffic camera violations. Most people don't fight the tickets, but of those who did, 457,000 got dismissed because of a not guilty decision. That's 3% of all tickets, and 30% of all tickets that had hearings. Larry Berezin is a retired attorney who helped New Yorkers fight tickets by attending City Council meetings and running an advice blog. "What is the mission of the Department of Finance? The mission is to raise money," Berezin said. He says the city should rethink its dispute process. "To have the Parking Violation Bureau under the Department of Finance creates a conflict," he said. "If you were charged with a crime, and you're looking up at the judge and the judge is a police officer, how would you feel?" The finance department insists the process is fair and says hearing officers and judges paid by the department are per diem employees, not staff. The city would not agree to an interview for this story, but it has been using videos and social media posts to spread the word about its Parking Summons Advocate, Anthony Tse. The city says Tse's office can "independently assist" with "...violation issues that cannot be resolved through normal Department of Finance channels." When McNicholas reached out to the department on Colon's behalf, they connected him with Tse. "He says he's going to submit all the tickets, even the ones that I paid, and they should, once it's dismissed, I should receive a refund," said Colon, adding, "I can't thank you enough, because I was actually, you know, losing it." It's still not exactly clear to Colon why his initial dispute didn't work, and the city won't comment on his case. He initially argued he likely got the tickets because one of his plates had been stolen when he still had the truck. Colon says the parking summons advocate said it may have actually been because he didn't remove his registration sticker. But, again, the DMV says he'd already transferred the title before the alleged violation dates.
