Blog

Our new fotonovela, Talking about Scams, tells the story of Eva and her husband, Pablo, who learn how talking about a scam can help someone avoid falling for a scam. As the story illustrates, if you think you spotted a scam, it’s a good idea to tell somebody. Even if you’re not sure it is a scam, talking to someone—a friend, a neighbor, a loved one—could help them avoid it. Sometimes, hearing yourself describe the scam to someone else could help...

Identity theft can happen to anyone. I’m a fraud investigator, and I’d like to tell you about my identity theft. Knowing how to respond will help you if you ever have to recover your identity. My purse was stolen recently. Charges appeared on my credit cards before I even knew it was gone. I knew I had to act quickly to protect my identity, so I went to IdentityTheft.gov. It’s the site where you can file a report and get a personalized recovery...

Score one for people on the Do Not Call list. It’s been eight years of tenacious litigation by the Department of Justice, the FTC, and the Attorneys General of California, Illinois, North Carolina, and Ohio against satellite TV provider Dish Network. But, earlier this week, the Court imposed a record-setting $280 million civil penalty against Dish for calls to people on the Do Not Call list, abandoned calls, calls to people who had told Dish they...

Over the years, lots of rip-offs have been built around exotic “investment” strategies that were pitched as simple. Recently, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued warnings about investment scams using “binary options” as a hook. Not familiar with binary options? Then you’re probably better off keeping your money in your pocket. In fact, you can stop reading now, unless you’re fascinated by...

On June 8 , @MilConsumer and @StopFraudCo (the Stop Fraud campaign of the Colorado Attorney General’s Office) will host a chat to discuss how to avoid travel and vacation scams. The chat starts at 3:00 pm ET/1:00 pm MT. Join in at #Milchat.

When shopping for a big-ticket item, you probably do some research. Whether talking to friends, perusing a store, or checking online reviews, you want to get the most for your money. You might even look for reviews or certifications from independent review organizations to help make your decision. What if you found out that some of those “independent” review organizations were actually owned by the company whose products they were promoting? That...

Amazon will make up to $70 million in refunds available to customers who were charged for unauthorized in-app purchases made by a child. You may be eligible for a refund from Amazon if you were billed for unauthorized charges made by a child, and the charges were for in-app purchases made between November 2011 and May 2016. If you’re eligible for a refund, you should have received an email from Amazon on May 26, 2017 with instructions on how to...

The FTC will mail more than $1.9 million in refund checks to people who bought Pure Health and Genesis Today green coffee bean extract supplements from stores including Walmart. More than 38,500 people will get back 100% of the money they paid for the products. The checks are going to people who filed a claim with the FTC in 2016. The claims process is closed. In 2015, the FTC charged Pure Health LLC, Genesis Today, Inc., and their principal...

Whether stationed stateside or deployed to another part of the world, our military personnel make sacrifices during their service. Some have made the ultimate sacrifice. In fact, since the country’s founding, more than one million servicemembers have lost their lives during a conflict. As we approach Memorial Day, we honor those fallen troops who died in service of the nation.

If you’ve been affected by a data breach, or otherwise had your information hacked or stolen, you’ve probably asked yourself, “What happens when my stolen information is made public?” At the FTC’s Identity Theft workshop this morning, our Office of Technology staff reported on research they did to find out. First, they created a database of information about 100 fake consumers. To make the information realistic, they used popular names based on...