The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "trick" ...
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Kirby Investigation
The Kirby Vacuum has been around for decades and the selling tactics and tricks have been the same since the beginning. The salespeople go door-to-door, where they normally sell to elderly consumers and involve high pressure pitches. The investigation reveals that the salespeople normally won’t leave until they sign a contract and many stay for hours upon hours till the contract is signed. Further, many people have filed complaints with various agencies, complaining of the selling tactics used by these salespeople and yet nothing has been resolved.
Tags: households; homeowners; machine; salesmen; company; business; distributors; carpet; cleaning; nationwide; unethical
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Dateline NBC: Tricks of the Trade
In this investigation, Dateline exposed what experts call deceptive sales practices in the marketing of equity indexed annuities - especially to senior citizens. Hidden cameras captured the claims agents made and the critical disclosures they glossed over when they thought they were alone with retirees.
Tags: fraud; abusive sales tactics; equity indexed annuities; marketing; sales methods; retirement planning seminars; scare tactics; insurance licenses;
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The Killing Fields
An investigation on murders of women with records of prostitution reviewed hundreds of homicide records and unclassified deaths, showing that more than eighty percent of the murders remain unsolved.
Tags: sex trade; strangling; hooker; trick; DNA; cold case; slaying; brothel; adult entertainment; red light district;
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Smoke and Mirrors
"This four-part series documents the slow but complete transformation of the EPA from an agency legally bound to protect and improve the environment to an agency that used an array of political tricks to avoid its Congressional mandate. The series major findings are that the Bush administration appointed an administrator who would do its bidding on behalf of the corporate community; allowed important decisions to languish in the courts, thereby delaying the implementation of various regulations for years; developed a 'voluntary' anti-pollution program that actually rewards polluters; and ignored the science that underpins sound environmental policy."
Tags: EPA; pollution; Bush administration; environment; regulations; corporate control;
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Dirty Deeds
Mark Bosworth was a self-proclaimed guru of Pheonix real estate, a rags-to-riches entrepreneur who once claimed his companies owned $1 billion in property. When the housing market turned, Bosworth's trickes were exposed and his clients lost more than their fair share. The Phoenix New Times detailed how Bosworth forged deeds, misled clients, abused customers of his companies and lost his empire.
Tags: real estate; scam; housing market collapse; Arizona; forgery
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Which Price is Right?
A massive mortgage scheme that dramatically increased the price of rental homes at the closing table was uncovered by the Journal-Gazette. Novice investors were tricked into paying an inflated price for dilapidated homes with only the highest sale price recorded in official documents.
Tags: real estate; realtor; John Kintz; Jeff Radabaugh;
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Whose Children Are They?
"Focus on Children, a Utah-based adoption agency, is accused by the U.S. government of tricking Samoan parents into giving up their children for adoption and falsely telling American parents they are orphans." The reporter traveled to Samoa to track down families that were affected; she found adoption agency recruiters exploited the families' religious faith, as well as bribed them with cars.
Tags: foreign relations; adoption; kidnapping; Latter Day Saints
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Mayor's Aide Accused of Dirty Tricks
"Over the past four years, we've reported so many stories of ineffective government, mismanagement; and corruption that San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom refuses to speak with us for any report. In January, we learned that his Press Officer was taking it a step further- going on-line under fake names and blasting us on local blogs, including our own website. This story gave viewers an insight into the resistance all investigative reporters sometimes face, and the difficulty of pursuing hard-hitting stories."
Tags: city government; mayor; web site; blogs; identity; Gavin Newsom; San Francisco
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Modern Day Slavery
This series of investigations revealed that in the last four years, officials have prosecuted five cases of slavery in Southwest Florida and that an estimated 20 to 50 thousand people a year are smuggled into the U.S. as indentured servants. These "slaves" are abused or mistreated and many women are forced into prostitution. Some women are tricked into coming into America under the illusion that they are being recruited as models.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; slavery; migrant farm; indentured servants; human traffickers; U.S. Attorney's office; Cuba; Brazil; labor
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The Secret History of the Credit Card
Frontline/New York Times Television looks into how the credit card industry manages to increase their profits while average Americans increase their debts. The investigation reveals "tricks of the trade" which increase profits and hit consumers with late fees and penalties. The biggest "trick" of them all is universal default where, after monitoring the customer's financial activity, the companies raise that person's interest rate, based on whether or not they think the customer has become risky.
Tags: credit card industry; universal default; MBNA; OCC; interest rates