Columnist
Randy Hutchinson is the President and CEO of the BBB of the Mid-South, serving 28 counties in Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas. He graduated from Western Maryland College and has an MBA from Wilmington College. He can be reached at rhutchinson@bbbmidsouth.org
There are 88 articles by Randy Hutchinson :
The red flags of a vehicle and equipment seller scam include the price being significantly below market value, the owner citing an overly personal reason for getting rid of the vehicle, and not being able to see the vehicle before sending money.
The Ophthalmic Practice Rules were created to let consumers comparison-shop by insisting prescribers put prescriptions in patients’ hands before they buy corrective eyewear.
“Poisoning from edible cannabis products doesn’t typically result in serious problems for adults, but can cause more severe reactions requiring medical attention in children.”
“The Federal Trade Commission says consumers reported losing $110 million to Bitcoin ATM fraud in 2023, a tenfold increase over 2020.”
Reports from the Council on Foreign Relations and the United States Institute of Peace say some overseas call centers are staffed by people who have been trafficked or lured in by fake job ads.
“About 30% of online reviews are fake and cost U.S. businesses nearly $152 billion per year in damaged reputations and lost revenue.”
Consumers pull more Better Business Bureau reports on roofers than other kinds of businesses. Some who don’t later wish they had.
Anyone can be a victim of this crime, but teenagers are the most vulnerable. And the results can be deadly.
A Florida woman claimed to have more than 10 years of experience in grant writing. In reality, her last known employment was at a Krystal, and she was on probation for stealing cash deposits from it.
The Better Business Bureau warns businesses and nonprofits to be wary of emails with anything other than .gov in the address.
Before enrolling in a for-profit school, make sure it is legitimate.
A recent study found 81% of the public say the potential risks they face because of data collection by companies outweigh the benefits.
Experts agree that the best advice is to not consume cannabis edibles in front of children, which can make them seem OK, and to not have them in the home.
Personal information collected in an app could be misused despite data broker’s promises and privacy policies, so businesses must be sure the benefit of using it is worth the risk.
Personal finance apps like Brigit may be new, but established consumer protection principles apply.
Study after study show that 123456 is one of the most common passwords. Others in the top 10 include 12345678, qwerty (the first five letters on a keyboard), ********, 1q2w3e (check your keyboard to see why) and the word “password” itself.
Even if you’ve determined a business opportunity is legitimate, be sure it’s right for you. Ask what you’d be selling or doing, how shoppers would find you, what your expenses would be and when you could expect to turn a profit.
Charles Ponzi gave his name to a type of investment scheme, but they were around before him and are with us still. Here are some red flags from the SEC and BBB.
“Check washing” is a crime the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network says is surging despite the fact that the use of checks is declining.
“Doctors peddling phony promises should know that the FTC will use its strengthened authority from Congress to stop them from exploiting Americans struggling with addiction.”
The Federal Trade Commission is concerned that consumers will be mesmerized by such terms as “machine learning” and “neural networks” and fall prey to crooks who misrepresent or outright lie about how AI is used in their products.
With 43 million Americans resuming payments as the COVID-related moratorium ends and President Biden forgiving as many student loans as he can under various relief programs, the situation is ripe for student loan debt relief fraud.
If there’s an error in your credit report, you can do anything a credit repair company can do to fix it yourself at little to no cost. If you’re asked to pay an upfront fee for help, it’s likely a scam.
The FTC recommends that users of health apps look for a privacy notice that explains in simple terms what information the app collects, how it’s used, and if it’s shared with third parties and how they use it.
Synthetic identity fraud is harder to prevent or detect than other forms of identity theft. Children’s SSNs are particularly vulnerable because they often aren’t monitored and the theft may not be detected for years.