Onerep's founder was secretly operating people-search websites, reports say

• Mozilla announced this week it's ending its partnership with Onerep, a data removal service whose founder was secretly operating people-search websites

• The Monitor Plus service will shut down December 17, 2025, with subscribers receiving prorated refunds

• This highlights the need for consumers to be extremely cautious about data removal services that may have conflicts of interest

If you've been paying for a service to remove your personal information from the internet, you need to know about this major red flag that just surfaced in the data privacy industry.

What's happening with Mozilla and Onerep

Mozilla announced Tuesday that it's finally ending its partnership with Onerep, the company behind its Monitor Plus data removal service. This comes after a damning investigation revealed that Onerep's founder was playing both sides of the game.

Back in March 2024, security journalist Brian Krebs exposed that Dimitiri Shelest, Onerep's CEO, had created dozens of people-search websites since 2010. Even worse, he was still operating Nuwber, a data broker that sells background reports on people.

Think about that for a moment: you were potentially paying a company to remove your data from websites that the same company's founder had created and was profiting from.

The timeline reveals Mozilla's slow response

Mozilla first said it was "winding down" the partnership in March 2024 after the investigation broke. But here's what's concerning for consumers: the company kept promoting and selling the service for another 16 months.

The Monitor Plus service won't officially end until December 17, 2025. Current subscribers will get prorated refunds for unused portions of their subscriptions.

Mozilla cited "high standards for vendors" and challenges in the "data broker ecosystem" as reasons for ending the service, but many consumers are questioning why it took so long.

Your action plan for data removal services

1. Research any data removal service thoroughly before paying - look up the company's founders and leadership team

2. Check if the service provider has any connections to data broker companies or people-search sites

3. Read recent reviews and complaints, not just testimonials on the company's website

4. Consider the DIY approach - many data brokers are required by law to honor removal requests directly from consumers

5. If you're currently using Monitor Plus, expect your refund to process automatically after December 17

6. Be skeptical of services that promise to remove your data from "hundreds" of sites - experts say these often only cover a tiny fraction of actual data sources

The bigger picture for your privacy

This situation reveals a fundamental problem in the data removal industry. Some companies may be creating the very problem they claim to solve.

Mozilla's struggle to find a replacement service that meets their standards suggests that ethical options in this space may be limited. The company plans to focus on integrating more privacy features directly into Firefox instead.

The bottom line: The Onerep scandal shows that data removal services can have serious conflicts of interest. Before paying anyone to protect your privacy, do your homework on who's really behind the company. Sometimes the fox is guarding the henhouse, and your money might be better spent on direct removal requests or other privacy protection methods you control yourself.

Technical issues delayed certain community care copayments, creating a massive debt pile

• The Department of Veterans Affairs is forgiving over $272 million in backlogged medical copayments that veterans unknowingly accumulated

• Technical issues starting in February 2023 caused the VA to stop processing certain community care copayments, creating a massive debt pile

• Veterans can now access their benefits without fear of surprise bills from the processing pause period

If you're a veteran who received community care services since early 2023, you just got some major financial relief. The Department of Veterans Affairs announced this week it's wiping out more than $272 million in potential medical bills that piled up due to government processing failures.

What happened with veteran medical bills

Starting in February 2023, the VA stopped processing copayments for community care services due to technical problems with their Program Integrity Tool (PIT). This system is supposed to manage claims data and ensure accurate billing.

For nearly two years, veterans continued receiving care without knowing they were accumulating potential debt. The bills just kept piling up in the background while the government's payment system remained broken.

The VA resumed normal billing on November 11, 2025, but decided to forgive the entire backlog rather than hit veterans with surprise bills.

How this affects you as a veteran

If you received community care services between February 2023 and November 2025, you may have been impacted by this billing pause. The good news is you won't be responsible for any copayments that should have been collected during this period.

Veterans who were worried about potential medical debt can now breathe easier knowing these bills have been permanently forgiven.

Your action plan

1. Check your VA account online to confirm you're not being billed for community care services from the affected period

2. Contact the VA through Ask VA online if you have questions about your specific situation or received any confusing billing statements

3. Keep records of all community care services you received during this timeframe in case any billing issues arise

4. Stay informed about your current copayment responsibilities now that normal billing has resumed

5. Use the VA's chatbot or call 1-800-698-2411 if you need clarification about your benefits

The bottom line: This debt forgiveness removes a major financial burden from hundreds of thousands of veterans who were caught in a government processing failure through no fault of their own. While it's good news for those affected, make sure you understand your current copayment responsibilities going forward to avoid future billing surprises.

Smaller sandwiches, bigger bill: Paneras math problem

• Paneras quiet shrinkflation (smaller portions, cheaper salads, less service) drove customers away and hurt sales

• The new Panera RISE plan promises bigger, better portions, improved ingredients, and more staff in cafes

• If Panera delivers on their promises, you should see fuller salads and sandwiches, less DIY prep, and clearer cheap vs. splurge options

For years, Panera Bread sold itself as the feel-good fast-casual option: warm bread, big salads, clean ingredients and a place you could camp with a laptop. But quietly, something else was happening. Portions got smaller. Salads got cheaper to make. Labor was cut. And customers noticed.

Now Panera is in full damage-control mode, rolling out a new turnaround plan called Panera RISE to reverse years of traffic declines and a 5% sales drop in 2024 that pushed it from the No. 1 fast-casual chain down to No. 3, behind Chipotle and Panda Express.

How Panera shrinkflated its menu

Shrinkflation is when you quietly give customers less while charging the same (or more).

Panera checked several of these boxes:

Smaller sandwiches at higher prices. In some cases, Panera raised prices and shrunk portions while downgrading ingredients. This was seen as a triple whammy for guests who walked in expecting a premium sandwich and got a lighter, less satisfying version instead.

Salads built to save money, not impress. In the summer of 2024, Panera swapped its all-romaine salad base for a cheaper half-romaine, half-iceberg mix. When all of the sudden you see white iceberg lettuce in your salad, it sticks out like a sore thumb.

And guess what? Customers noticed and told the chain exactly what they thought: iceberg looks pale and unappetizing, and the salads felt very skimpy for the price. Panera listened has now reversed course and gone back to romaine-only salads.

Labor-saving shortcuts that felt like DIY. To save prep time, Panera stopped slicing cherry tomatoes and avocados. Guests had to chase whole cherry tomatoes around their bowl and saw a halved avocado plopped in the salad that they had to cut themselves. Panera now says it will start slicing both again in 2026.

Service shrinkflation, too. Like many chains, Panera cut back on front-of-house staff and leaned hard on self-order kiosks. That might look efficient on a spreadsheet, but it meant guests often walked into a caf and couldnt find a single employee to ask for help.

On top of that, Panera is in the middle of a controversial shift away from its longtime fresh dough model. The company is closing all of its fresh-dough facilities and moving to a par-baked bread system, where dough is prepared and partially baked by third-party bakeries, then frozen and shipped to stores to be finished.

Panera insists the bread will be just as good, but the perception is simple for many:theyre charging more while the product feels less special.

What Panera RISE is trying to fix

The new Panera RISE strategy is basically an admission that the shrinkflation era went too far. The plan rests on threepillars:

• Refreshing the menu higher-quality ingredients; salads rebuilt with better greens and more goodies; new drinks to compete with Starbucks-style beverages.
• Igniting value a barbell menu with cheaper options for budget-conscious appetites alongside higher-end items, instead of everything hovering at a painful mid-teens price point.
• Serving guests with excellence reinvesting in front-of-house labor, updating decade-old kiosks, and making sure there are actual humans visible in the caf again.

In plain English, Panera is promising bigger, better portions, better service, and more value overall.

What this means for you, the customer

If Panera follows through, regulars should start to notice the following:

• Salads that look and feel more substantial (and less pale).
• Sandwiches that stop feeling like they were put on a diet.
• Fewer do it yourself prep moments. Your tomatoes and avocados should arrive ready to eat.
• More visible staff and less hunting for a human behind a row of kiosks.
• A clearer split between budget-friendly options and splurge items so you can decide if Panera fits your wallet that day.

But the bigger lesson here is about shrinkflation in general. Panera tried to protect margins by shaving off a little here, a little there. On paper, that seemed smart and efficient. In real life, customers felt the smaller portions and downgraded ingredients. So many stopped trusting the value, and quietly took their money elsewhere.

Why FAA staffing cuts and AI travel agents are changing how you planand protectyour next trip

• FAA staffing cuts and government disruptions may lead to delaysand open the door to more travel targeting stressed flyers.

• AI is being used by both legitimate travel services and scammers, making it critical for travelers to verify messages, calls, and customer service contacts before acting.

• Travelers should adopt a zero-trust mindset, use credit cards for stronger protection, avoid unfamiliar payment methods, and go directly to airline or hotel sites to confirm alerts.

Holiday travel has always come with a little stress, but this year, many travelers are facing a new set of challenges before they even get to the airport.

With news of significant layoffs at the FAA and the rapid rise of AI-powered travel agent tools, the landscape of booking, confirming, and navigating trips looks different than ever. And while the season is still expected to be busy, experts say being informed and prepared can make the difference between a smooth holiday journey and an unexpected headache.

ConsumerAffairs interviewed Clayton LiaBraaten, Senior Executive Industry Expert at Truecaller, to learn more about the importance of going into holiday travel with a little extra awareness and preparation.

The impact of the government shutdown

While the government shutdown has technically ended, travelers are likely to feel the effects throughout the holiday season.

Beyond the expected logistical delays, we are facing a reduced capacity for enforcing consumer protection, which emboldens scammers, LiaBraaten explained. Bad actors know that regulatory bodies are stretched thin, and they will exploit the chaos of delayed flights and staffing shortages.

You can expect a surge in texts and calls claiming that your flight is canceled or your booking has failed, designed to panic you and prompt you to click on malicious links. Scammers thrive on this confusion, using the noise of travel disruption to slip past your defenses.

Know how to ID a scam

For those planning travel this holiday season, LiaBraaten says its crucial to be able to separate critical travel updates from fraud.

Because scammers are now using AI to mimic legitimate companies, you need a platform that uses AI to fight back one that can distinguish a legitimate call from a scam. This ensures that the traveler takes the calls that matter, such as a legitimate update from an airline or hotel concierge, while the software blocks AI-driven fraud attempts that try to steal your credit card number.

Additionally, never rely on a Google search for customer support numbers, as scammers often purchase high-ranking ads with fake numbers to spoof unsuspecting consumers.

Travel insurance?

With busy, crowded airports, is travel insurance worth it this holiday season? LiaBraaten says yes.

Financial travel insurance is vital, but your payment method is your first layer of protection; credit cards offer far superior fraud protection than debit cards and often include insurance that makes you eligible for fraud-related refunds.

Adopting a zero-trust mindset

To have the safest trip possible, LiaBraaten encourages travelers to adopt a "zero trust" mindset regarding unsolicited communication.

Scammers are leveraging AI-powered phishing emails and fake listings that look indistinguishable from the real thing, he explained. We need to fight AI with AI. Fraudsters have weaponized AI to create convincing deepfakes and scripts.

With payment methods, fraudsters will deploy pressure tactics. Never wire money or use gift cards, Zelle, Venmo, or crypto for a travel booking if it wasn't the initial method used; these are favorite tools of scammers because the funds are hard to recover.

Lastly, if you encounter a too-good-to-be-true deal or receive an urgent alert, do not click the link. Type the airline or hotel URL directly into your browser to verify the status.