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National Consumer Protection Week kicks off Sunday and runs through March 11. The week is designed to help people learn how to spot, report, and avoid scams. Given the increase in fraud we’ve seen in Maine recently, now is the perfect time to educate your members and encourage them to make better informed decisions.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has sponsored National Consumer Protection Week since 1998 and created a number of resources on its website that organizations can utilize and share. In addition, the FTC and its partners will hold webinars, Twitter chats, and livestreams—with sessions happening each day during the week.
While there are no shortage of scams out there, some seem to be more common than others. Here are a few examples:
- Romance Scams: You meet someone online through a dating website or on social media. You start a digital relationship with them and next thing you know, they are asking you to send them money or gift cards, even cryptocurrency! It’s not love, it’s money that they are after.
- “You’ve Won!” Scams: You receive a letter, email, or text saying that you won a vacation package, lottery, or a sweepstakes. In order to receive your winnings, you are required to pay fees, taxes, or customs duties. Or you’ve been offered your dream work from home job, but before you can start, you need to pay for training or equipment. In both of these scenarios, it all seems too good to be true. That’s because it is!
- Older Adults Scams: Cheap home repair deals, Medicare card scams, and schemes that would lead an older adult into believing their grandchild is in harm’s way are designed to invoke fear and prey on an older person’s vulnerabilities. Sharing information about these scams with the older adults in our lives is an important way to help shield them from fraud.
There also are new trends, like the scam we reported on last week involving a member who was led to believe fraud was happening at their credit union because of a credit union employee. The fraudster convinced the member that they were also being investigated for having a role in the fraud scheme.
As a network, Maine Credit Unions and the League will continue sharing information on fraud we are seeing and how to avoid it, next week and beyond. Awareness about trends and actions consumers can take to prevent fraud must happen more often than one week a year. People need consistent reminders.
Lastly, if you know someone who is a victim of fraud, it is important to encourage them to report it. To report a scam, visit the FTC’s website, ReportFraud.ftc.gov.