Consumer Alerts

Sharing a scam experience with someone you know takes courage. If someone trusts you enough to share their scam story, especially if the scammer is still in touch with them, here’s some advice to help

Getting hired might feel like the ultimate high. But finding out it was just a scammer trying to steal your money will bring you — and your bank balance — right back down. Many college students look

Maybe you — or even your pet — are an influencer. But did you know that scammers might target you with phony job opportunities? You might get a message on social media, supposedly from a recruiter or

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that every year we report on the top scams people tell us about. And that we take a deeper dive into the data through our Data Spotlight reports. A

If you’re looking for a new place to live — or about to renew your lease — a landlord may run a tenant background check to decide whether to rent to you or not. The tenant background check process can

One way to spot a scam is to understand its mechanics. A new and complicated scam starts with a call or text message about a suspicious charge on your Amazon account. But it’s not really Amazon. It’s

Scammers say and do things that can tell us they’re lying — and they’re not who they pretend to be. Of course, to hear or see those clues, we have to get past the panic scammers make us feel, thanks

We expect banks and brokers to keep our money safe. We think they’ll stop or warn us about suspicious transfers out of our accounts. But do they? Scammers are exploiting that trust and getting people

When you log into your bank or credit card account, you might get a text message or email with a verification code. You then enter it at the login screen to confirm it’s really you. That’s a form of

People are losing big money to scammers running complicated scams. The scams usually involve someone supposedly spotting fraud or criminal activity on one of your accounts, offering to help “protect”

That call or text might not seem like a scam. It might look like it’s Apple or Microsoft, saying there’s a problem with your computer. (It’s not.) It might seem like it’s Amazon, saying there’s a

Did you visit a LasikPlus or Joffe MediCenter in response to ads that you could get LASIK for less than $300 only to learn that you didn’t qualify for that price? You might be eligible for a

When you have a new romance there’s so much to talk about. But if your new sweetheart only wants to talk about your money and how you should invest it, stop talking. They might be a romance scammer

Every day people report to the FTC the scams they spot. Every year, the FTC shares the information we collect in a data book which tells a story about the top scams people tell us about – so we can

February is Black History Month — a great time to help raise awareness in Black communities, and among your family and friends, by staying on top of the latest scams that might affect them. We know

Identity theft can happen in a lot of ways: a stolen wallet, a missing phone, or a hacked online account. Then there are impersonators — scammers who pretend to be almost anyone. They’ll tell you

Free means free, right? If you’re TurboTax, not always, according to a new ruling from the Federal Trade Commission. And not for everybody, or even most people— even if an ad says “100% free.” You

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) gives parents control over what information websites can collect from their kids and how they use and share that information. The FTC now proposes

The Department of Justice and the Navy will never ask you to pay to file a disability claim. Want to know who will? Scammers. Keep scammers away from your personal information — and your money — while

Have you gotten a call about a prize for a contest you never entered? It might be a scam. We’ve been hearing about scammers calling to say you’ve won a boatload of money from Publishers Clearing House