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Worried about high prices? Find tools to help manage your money at Consumer.gov.

With the cost of groceries, housing, and many other things rising, you might be looking for ways to cut costs. You aren’t alone. Across the country, people are worried about high prices impacting their budgets. And scammers are taking notice.  

Scammers may zero in on your anxiety over money in several ways. They might say they’re from the government and giving away grant money for home repairs or unpaid bills. Or they have an investment that’s guaranteed to deliver quick and high returns. Or they know of a high-paying job that’s yours as soon as you pay a fee or give them your personal information.

To spot and avoid these types of scams, here are some things to remember:

  • The government won’t get in touch out of the blue about grants. It won’t call, text, reach out through social media, or email you. In fact, real government grants require an application, are completely free to apply for, and are always for a specific purpose.
  • All investments have risks. No one can guarantee a specific amount of return on an investment, or that an investment will be successful.
  • Honest employers won’t ask you to pay to get a job. If someone claims you can make a lot of money in a short time with little effort — you just need to pay for starter kits, “training,” or certifications — that’s a scam.

If you come across any of these, or other scams, report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Find resources to help you manage your money at Consumer.gov.

It is your choice whether to submit a comment. If you do, you must create a user name, or we will not post your comment. The Federal Trade Commission Act authorizes this information collection for purposes of managing online comments. Comments and user names are part of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) public records system, and user names also are part of the FTC’s computer user records system. We may routinely use these records as described in the FTC’s Privacy Act system notices. For more information on how the FTC handles information that we collect, please read our privacy policy.

The purpose of this blog and its comments section is to inform readers about Federal Trade Commission activity, and share information to help them avoid, report, and recover from fraud, scams, and bad business practices. Your thoughts, ideas, and concerns are welcome, and we encourage comments. But keep in mind, this is a moderated blog. We review all comments before they are posted, and we won’t post comments that don’t comply with our commenting policy. We expect commenters to treat each other and the blog writers with respect.

  • We won’t post off-topic comments, repeated identical comments, or comments that include sales pitches or promotions.
  • We won’t post comments that include vulgar messages, personal attacks by name, or offensive terms that target specific people or groups.
  • We won’t post threats, defamatory statements, or suggestions or encouragement of illegal activity.
  • We won’t post comments that include personal information, like Social Security numbers, account numbers, home addresses, and email addresses. To file a detailed report about a scam, go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

We don't edit comments to remove objectionable content, so please ensure that your comment contains none of the above. The comments posted on this blog become part of the public domain. To protect your privacy and the privacy of other people, please do not include personal information. Opinions in comments that appear in this blog belong to the individuals who expressed them. They do not belong to or represent views of the Federal Trade Commission.

Margarita mollinedo
August 19, 2022

I'm glad that you are keeping us inform. We r retired and is awful for us to fall in to these scammers. There should be some kind of protection for us. How about sweepstakes that are send to to people homes

Ingrid Pope
August 19, 2022

This is not related to this e-mail: A note related to SSA benefits for retirees.
Make retires aware about Plan B for SSA, you have to pay a very high fee every month plus pay for the Federal Medical program to. It can add up to a lot of money to pay every month.

Make people aware phone call related right now to school and soliciting on the phone for school programs.

Nafisa Rangwala
August 19, 2022

Scammers should not be given any gift cards. the credit card which is used to buy those gift cards should go after the scammers who have used those cards not after who has bought those cards.

Shahin Babu
August 19, 2022

This was a good topic.

Janis Warner
August 19, 2022

All this information is good to know. Thanks!

Kim Gonzales
August 23, 2022

I have a text from edd Bank of America how can I find out if this is real?

Maralyn Tuckness
August 23, 2022

A good resource
Thank you for the information

beverly antoin…
August 23, 2022

Thank You for allowing us to get these email alerts. I appreciate the hard work and education we need to make sure hard-earned money will not be stolen.

Alanna Mozzer
August 23, 2022

People need to understand that no one gets a grant unless they have a project they want to fund.

Tom Watson
August 23, 2022

Thankyou very much for the information.

Veronica
August 23, 2022

Reading the above, ''Honest employers won’t ask you to pay to get a job'', does this mean that MLM is a scam?

Vallabai Isaac
August 31, 2022

Few days ago, I was shopping at a National known store, one product was priced differently in two locations, few feet apart. After I came home, I checked the receipt. I was over charged than the listed price. I called the store, the customer service phone was useless. I called the national head quarters and complained. After one day the local store manager called saying " if you want a price adjustment come to the store". I explained to him that I am a senior citizen I have to drive ten miles to get the store refund. That is more than the money charged, can do the online adjustment or send me the check. The manager was so firm that I should come to the store only and dropped the call.

Like me may be hundred customers may exploited by these stores like this. State or county authorities should do surprise spot check and take an action to make them adhere fair trade practice. The store is gaining unaccounted profit from customer like me.