Consumer Alerts

Did you get a bill for a Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan or COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) you never applied for? If the answer is yes, an identity

You may have heard about food delivery services like DoorDash or Uber Eats: you order through a restaurant’s website or a delivery service’s mobile app and drivers deliver your food. We’re hearing

It’s almost Valentine’s Day. Maybe you’ve already sent a card to your grandmother, grandfather, or the older adult in your life. But if you haven’t told them lately that you love them, pick up the

IRS impersonators have been around for a while. But as more people get to know their tricks, they’re switching it up. So instead of contacting you about a tax debt and making threats to get you to pay

Scammers have been targeting Medicare recipients with a fake offer to get “free COVID tests.” They’re calling and running websites, online and television ads to try to convince people to give their

It’s never a good time to have your utilities shut off. But during the hot summer months, the threat of having no power can be especially miserable: no AC, no refrigerator, not even a fan. Scammers

Sorry to burst your bubble. That unexpected text from the Postal Service (USPS), Costco, or The Home Depot telling you about an unclaimed package or a survey you can complete to claim a freebie is NOT

Scammers are using the names of well-known employers to post job openings that don’t exist. The purpose? Tricking you into sending them personal information or money upfront to get the job. The phony

Last year, the FTC got almost a million reports about impersonation scammers — fake government agents , pretend grandkids , bogus sweethearts , and others who took almost $2.3 billion from people

Has the U.S. Border Patrol called you? No, they haven’t. But a scammer might have. In fact, scammers often pretend to be from government agencies to trick you into sending them money or sharing

Scammers are always thinking up ways to put a new spin on their criminal tricks. This time, they’re sending spam texts to you — from your own phone number. They’ve changed (spoofed) the caller ID to

National Consumer Protection Week (NCPW) 2022 is coming up next week, and we hope you’ll join some of the virtual events. NCPW is a time when the FTC joins with local, state, and national partners to

Every year, people report fraud, identity theft, and bad business practices to the FTC and its law enforcement partners. In 2021, 5.7 million people filed reports and described losing more than $5.8

Reports to the FTC, analysis of data from FTC enforcement actions, and research have shown that people living in majority Black communities are disproportionately harmed by fraud and other consumer

When identity theft happens, it’s hard to know where to begin. That’s why the FTC created IdentityTheft.gov , a one-stop resource for people to report identity theft to law enforcement and to get step

In 2021, more than 95,000 people told the FTC that they’d been scammed with a con that started on social media. In fact, more than one in four people who reported to the FTC that they lost money to

If you’ve been looking for a COVID-19 test, you probably know that they are in short supply. Unfortunately, scammers love to “help” with shortages. They’ve created fake and unauthorized at-home

Kwanzaa, which is based on traditional African harvest festivals, is celebrated every year from December 26 to January 1. The first principle of Kwanzaa is Umoja (unity) and the importance of finding

In the past 18 years of the National Do Not Call Registry , those of you signed up for the registry (244 million phone numbers right now) have reported millions upon millions of unwanted sales calls

Calls from scammers are annoying and can cause a lot of trouble when you realize, too late, that they’re scams. What’s even worse? When they target a client or loved one you’re caring for. So today