Consumer Alerts

Shopping for a car can be exciting. But wading through ads and promotions from car dealers, and deciding how to pay, can make it stressful. If you decide to finance the car, you have two options: get

Would you donate to a charity called Help the Vets? What about if you get a robocall that asks you to donate your car to “Veterans of America?” Unfortunately, just because the word “veterans” is in

The FTC’s Used Car Rule says that dealers have to display a Buyers Guide in every used car they have for sale, and give it to buyers after the sale. The FTC recently checked out how dealers are

Do you have student loans? Did you respond to an ad from Ameritech Financial claiming to offer you debt relief? The FTC has sued Ameritech for deceptive practices and just sent letters about the case

When a company says you can try its product for free, you might think, why not? Here’s why not: You could end up paying a lot of money for that free trial. Scammers often use free trial offers with

Have you ever gotten a call about a debt that isn’t yours? That’s known as a phantom debt, and today, the FTC and the New York Attorney General’s Office announced that they are suing two players in an

July is Military Consumer Month. This year, we’re focusing on fighting imposter scams – where a con artist pretends to be someone you trust, to convince you to send money or personal information. The

Looking for stronger ways to protect your credit? Thanks to a new federal law, soon you can get free credit freezes and year-long fraud alerts. Here’s what to look forward to when the law takes effect

A common phrase in the world of charities is that there are many ways to give. Making an online donation is one way, and using an “online giving portal” is becoming a popular option. Check out our new

Did you lose money to a scam, wiring the money via Western Union between January 1, 2004 and January 19, 2017? If so, you might know that May 31 is the deadline for filing your claim to get money back

Getting money back from the Western Union settlement is a big deal for people who lost money to a scam. And that case is a big deal to both the FTC and the Department of Justice (DOJ) and their case

The idea of a perfume-like insect repellent that safeguards against dangerous mosquito-borne illnesses may sound great. But before making a rash decision, take a moment to consider whether the claims

An estimated 35 million Americans suffer from some degree of hearing loss. If you’re one of them, it’s important to know the difference between a hearing aid and a personal sound amplification product

Identity theft is hard enough. That’s why we keep working to make recovering from it easier. It’s also why we’re happy to let you know about an innovative project by the FTC and IRS that lets people

Persistence pays off. Three years ago, I told you the FTC and New York Attorney General (NY AG) announced complaints against debt collectors that allegedly used a slew of abusive and deceptive tactics

We’ve heard that people are getting official-looking emails about the Western Union settlement. The thing to know is that you cannot apply for a refund by email. The scam emails we’ve seen ask for

The FTC is mailing partial refunds to about 37,000 people who bought unnecessary tech support products and services from Inbound Call Experts, also known as Advanced Tech Support. People are eligible

Scams affect people in every community, and the FTC offers information in several languages to help them spot and avoid fraud. For example, we have a new video for people in the Korean community and

Last week, we gave you an overview of the latest Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book. Today, let’s look a bit more closely at the data from military consumers. We got more than 113,000 reports from

Online peer-to-peer, or P2P, payment systems let you send money to people quickly. I’ve used them to collect money from the parents on my daughter’s soccer team and to send money to my brothers when