Blog

One thing we’ve learned at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is that scams often follow the news – especially when there’s a natural disaster, like Hurricane Harvey, in the headlines. Case in point: Colleagues at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) tell us homeowners and renters are getting robocalls telling them their flood premiums are past due. In order to have coverage for Hurricane Harvey, consumers are told they need to submit a...

Have you ever filed your taxes using an online tax prep account? If so, you’ll want to know about the FTC’s recent settlement with TaxSlayer, LLC. What happened? From October until December 2015, hackers used user names and passwords stolen from other websites to try to log in to TaxSlayer Online. Because consumers sometimes reuse passwords, hackers were able to gain full access to more than 8,800 TaxSlayer Online accounts. Thieves could have...

Getting a call from a debt collector can be stressful. But it can be downright frightening when the caller uses lies, profanity and threats to try to get you to pay. In a case announced today, the FTC says a debt collection operation in Charlotte, NC pretended to be lawyers. Really, they were not lawyers and had no authority to collect debts. The FTC says the “collectors” used a variety of names to make people think they were dealing with a law...

It’s heartbreaking to see people lose their lives, homes, and businesses to the ongoing flooding in Texas. But it’s despicable when scammers exploit such tragedies to appeal to your sense of generosity. If you’re looking for a way to give, the FTC urges you to be cautious of potential charity scams . Do some research to ensure that your donation will go to a reputable organization that will use the money as promised. Consider these tips when...

Hurricane Harvey has devastated much of Southeastern Texas. Once the rain and floodwaters recede, it’ll be time to take stock and develop a recovery plan. The process may seem overwhelming. Here are a few tips and links to resources to help make the task less burdensome. Contact your insurance company. Ask what the next steps are in assessing any damage to your home or business. Your home and its contents may look beyond hope, but it’s possible...

People who lost money to a telemarketing tech support scam will soon get an email with instructions to claim a partial refund. The refunds are the result of an FTC case against Advanced Tech Support, which also used the name Inbound Call Experts. At the end of a lawsuit brought by the FTC and the State of Florida, a federal court in Florida ordered the company to pay $10 million for customer refunds. The company deceived hundreds of thousands of...

To promote Contact Lens Health Week 2017, the FTC will be a guest on a live Twitter chat hosted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This year’s theme is Healthy habits mean healthy eyes, with an emphasis on encouraging youth to start healthy habits early, for healthy eyes later. The CDC is a federal agency that works to protect public health and safety through the control and prevention of disease, injury, and disability. The CDC...

It’s hard to pass up a job opportunity that promises a large income and the flexibility of working entirely from home. Especially when the opportunity appears at the top of your online search results and includes video testimonials of success stories, making it seem legitimate. The problem is, most of these job opportunities are scams and won’t deliver on their promises. Today, the FTC announced that a federal court put a temporary stop to a work...

Another day, another scam. Case in point: the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reports that scammers are telling people they can pay their bills using so-called “secret accounts” or “Social Security trust accounts” and routing numbers at Federal Reserve Banks. In exchange for personal information, like Social Security numbers, people get what they think is a bank account number at a Federal Reserve Bank. But this really is just a way to get your...

Usually, when I pay with a check, I write it out and sign it, or I direct my bank to send it on my behalf. But what if a check is drawn on my account but I didn’t write it, sign it, or tell my bank to send it? It can happen if someone has your bank account number: they can use your number to create a check that takes money out of your account. Now, if you’d already agreed to the charges, there’s no problem. But what if you didn’t? That means this...