McCollum advises Floridians to be wary of top scams facing consumers
With National Consumer Protection Week beginning next week, Attorney General Bill McCollum today released a list of top consumer issues facing Floridians. The Attorney General urged Florida citizens to become better informed about the scams and fraud currently threatening consumers.
“Well-informed consumers can better protect themselves, their families,
and their wallets,” said Attorney General McCollum.
The Attorney General also offered the following tips to help consumers
protect themselves from the following scams:
– Timeshare Resales – Timeshare resale scams can occur both at the time
of the original purchase and at the time of resale and often promise sales
for a listing fee, but fail to deliver. To protect themselves, sellers
should consider reselling their timeshare “by owner,” by placing an
advertisement in a newsletter or magazine read by potential timeshare
buyers, or by listing the timeshare with a licensed real estate broker in
the area where the resort is located.
– Foreclosure Rescue Scams – Today, homeowners are being bombarded with advertising from companies claiming they can save homes, reduce mortgage payments, and many other offers. Florida homeowners need to be very cautious and should know that Florida law prohibits any company or individual from charging up-front fees for foreclosure rescue or loan modification services related to foreclosures.
– Debt Settlement – Businesses that are running debt settlement scams
promise consumers they can pay off consumers’ debts for a fraction of the
amount owed, but instead collected large up-front fees and left customers
with little or no money to pay creditors. Consumers should be very wary of
companies that make outrageous promises and collect up-front fees.
– Credit Repair – Credit repair schemes involve claims to improve
credit or eliminate bad credit and are sometimes part of other operations
claiming to negotiate or eliminate debt. Consumers need to be cautious of
firms offering debt relief, including debt management, credit counseling
and credit card rate reduction services. Consumers should be aware that
credit repair companies are not permitted to charge up-front fees.
– Debt Collection – Debt collectors are legally prohibited from lying
to consumers or threatening them to collect payments. They are also
prohibited from calling after 9:00 p.m. and may not contact consumers at
work if they know the consumer’s employer disapproves.
– Identity Theft – Identity theft can frequently occur through stolen
mail or over the internet using a technique often referred to as
“phishing.” Phishers attempt to convince consumers to provide their
personal identification information through emails disguised as a
reputable web service or even the consumer’s bank. Once the consumer
enters his or her account numbers, the scammer has all the information
necessary to engage in costly and devastating identity theft. Consumers
should never respond to emails asking for personal identification
information.
– Magazine Subscriptions – Consumers complained to the Attorney
General’s Office that they often received magazines they did not order or
subscribe to and were billed for these undesired items. Consumers should
be cautious if they receive magazines or other products for free and
should carefully review the terms of subscription and billing to ensure
that after a free trial expires, they will not continue to be billed for
the product.
– Travel Services – Complaints against travel agencies involved
supposed “all-inclusive” vacation packages with hidden consumer fees.
Consumers should beware of a hard sales pitch or an offer that sounds too
good to be true.
– Health Supplements – Consumers reported that companies were offering
“free” trials of products without allowing consumers to cancel their
subscriptions before being billed. Consumers were unable to contact the
companies by telephone, e-mail or through the company websites to cancel
their subscriptions before the trial period ended, and as a result were
billed for the supplements.
– Wireless Telephone Issues – Customers reported they were charged for
mobile content downloads that they neither knowingly authorized nor
desired such as ringtones, music, wallpaper, horoscopes and other
material. Online marketers also promoted these downloads as “free”, but
ultimately billed customers recurring monthly fees.
The Attorney General’s Office can provide practical tips for consumers on
how to make well-informed purchase decisions, avoid scams, protect their
personal information and file a complaint if they feel they are the
victims of fraud. Consumers who wish to file a complaint may do so by
calling the Attorney General’s fraud hotline at 1-866-9-NO-SCAM
(1-866-966-7226) or by filing a complaint online at
myfloridalegal.com. Additional information about National Consumer
Protection Week is available at http://www.consumer.gov/ncpw.
Source: The office of Attorney General McCollum