CYTT News
[15/03/2011] The top 10 consumer complaints
According to the Federal Trade Commission list for 2010, the top consumer complaints include identity theft, debt collection, internet services, sweepstakes, prizes, and lotteries, shop and catalog sales, imposter scams, Internet auctions, foreign money scams, telephone services, and credit cards. And while identity theft and debt collection remain on the top of this list with 19% and 11% of the total complaints respectively, the imposters scams are included for a first time. These are the latest schemes, which trick unsuspected people to send money to strangers, claiming to be close relatives. While this sounds like a difficult scam to fall for, the ingenuity of the fraudsters is unparalleled – they often call older men and women and claim to be their sons, daughters, or nephews that are in trouble and ask for money for bail or solicitors.
The list, which was provided by the Better Business Bureau’s (BBB) is very similar to the one, compiled by the Federal Trade Commission and includes:
- Job Offer Scams, where prospects are asked for flat fee in order to apply for a job, or where numerous techniques are used to extract sensitive information from the job applicants
- Settlement and Debt relief scams have increased by close to 30% in 2010, compared to 2009 and the BBB advises the consumers to research carefully third-party companies that promise to help them get out of debt
- Work from Home – although they have been around for many years and most consumers are aware of the schemes, quite a few victims of these scams are not only working for free, but often find themselves involuntary accomplices to criminals that sell stolen goods
- Deceptive timeshare resellers – this scheme often targets timeshare owners and cons them out of hundreds and thousands of dollars
- “Free” trial offers, which are commonly found on the Internet are sometimes used by dishonest online operators, selling diet supplements, electronic gadgets, and other items to charge the customers’ credit cards month after month and make cancelling the offer next to impossible
- Home repairs – the complaints about companies, who took deposits from home owners, but failed to deliver the promised services has increased by close to 40% in 2010
- Sweepstakes and lottery scams have also been around for many years and often target senior citizens, conning them out of hundreds and thousands of dollars
- Advance loan fees scams – business owners and individuals are contacted and convinced that they qualify for a large loan, which they could take after paying an advance fee of a few hundred and even a few thousand dollars
- Overpayment check scams – they are typically targeting consumers, who use the large classified sites. The fraudster issues a chick, which pays larger than the agreed sum and then asks the receiver to wire the difference back. These checks are forged and the victim loses the money that he wires to the scam artist.
Other articles from this category:
[15/03/2011] More than one million complaints to the FTC
[15/03/2011] More than 1billion AUD lost in online scams
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