Yahoo Disputes FRAUD, DECEPTIVE BUSINESS PRACTICES Internet

This is a complaint alleging deceptive and coercive business practices regarding access to email by Yahoo Inc! The facts are as follows.

I have had 12 different Yahoo email accounts since 1998). Each account has a security question to log in as well as a verified alternate email to receive Yahoo Inc. verification codes to confirm identity. All accounts are active, in good health, and fully compliant with Yahoo’s Terms of Service (TOS). I only access Yahoo email from ONE device and use the SAME browser Google Chrome  that is regularly updated. Up until a few months ago, I never had problems accessing any Yahoo email. If Yahoo wanted to “quickly verify [my] identity,” it would ask to send a code to my verified alternate email), I would enter the code, and then freely access any of my accounts.

Within the last few months, Yahoo Inc. has now ignored this standard security procedure and created a NEW ERROR asking me to “help confirm it’s you, [and] sign in on a browser or device you’ve used before”. As I only have ONE DEVICE and ONE BROWSER, the error is nonsensical. The button on the error invites a user to CLICK to learn more, but there is nothing to learn as the link never mentions the specific error at all. The so-called chat assistant is useless, as it applies mainly to lost passwords, which is not the issue at all.

There is no option to talk with a human being for free, and Yahoo’s alleged customer care advocate (cc-advoc@yahoo-inc.com) no longer exists. Instead, Yahoo Inc! advises blocked users to subscribe to friendly PREMIUM PAID support for $4.99 per month by calling 1-800-320-9335; this is offered both on the link page to “learn more” AND in the chat feature. Other users freely call this Yahoo error a corporate manufactured ransomware fraud.

That this new Yahoo error is a corporate manufactured ransomware fraud was easily proven by using the option to reset passwords on 4 of my 12 accounts on January 22, 2025. All 4 accounts opened with a new password; after signing out and trying to log into the same 4 accounts 1 hour later, none of the accounts would open. Accounts that could open by verification code to my alternate email address now get the same fraudulent DEVICE/BROWSER error. The error is random and no warning appears as to which email will be affected: screenshots and videos have been taken to demonstrate how nonsensical this error is, other than a dishonest attempt to coerce a user into paying YAHOO, INC. money to resolve a phony error it created, as YAHOO, INC. freely admitted on January 27, 2025 (“Unfortunately, Yahoo Tech Email support is directed toward users with a premium subscription. If you wish to receive support . . .  there are still options available to you.”)

"Whenever a business or an individual engages in activity that is likely to mislead the public, [that] may be considered a 'deceptive trade practice'.” Yahoo has been engaging in ‘deceptive trade practices’ because the company is creating imaginary login problems, sidestepping its own login procedures, and offering nonexistent help by links

Yahoo is engaging in ‘coercion’ because the only solution offered to find out why these problems occur is to pay Yahoo $59.88 annually ($4.99/month). I find this conduct in violation of the Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act (UDTPA), which regulates deceptive trade practices.

The BBB  has declared that Yahoo “is not a BBB Accredited Business and already has a BBB Rating of F for non-responsiveness to complaints and failing to resolve complaints.”

According to Yahoo’s TOS, any user dispute must be resolved through arbitration via the AAA after waiting 30 days. When no answer was received to a properly filed Notice of Dispute on January 24, 2025, an arbitration request was submitted on February 28, 2025. On March 16, however, the AAA declined to administer the arbitration because Yahoo had dishonestly removed its consumer arbitration clause from the AAA website: “Prior to the filing of this arbitration, Yahoo, Inc. failed to comply with the AAA’s policies regarding consumer claims, set forth in the Consumer Due Process Protocol (“Protocol”) and the Consumer Arbitration Rules (“Consumer Rules”), including the Costs of Arbitration, and/or removed themselves from the Consumer Clause Registry, which can be found on our web site, www.adr.org/clauseregistry. Accordingly, we must decline to administer this claim and any other claims between this business and its consumers at this time.”

This premeditated action by Yahoo is consistent with its fraudulent consumer history as on or about March 7 (with no notice sent until March 13), Yahoo improperly issued a NEW TOS, backdating it to May 25, 2018, extending the terms of arbitration filing to 60 days from 30 days, and changing from AAA to NAM as the operating body. The NAM website, however, also has no consumer registry clause for Yahoo. Thus, no Yahoo user is bound by the new TOS or NAM arbitration and may sue Yahoo directly until it returns to good standing.