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 80 articles by Randy Hutchinson :
In today’s coronavirus crisis, crooks impersonating the government promise seniors government grants and stimulus payments in exchange for an upfront fee or confidential information they’ll use to commit identity theft.
The FBI issued an alert warning that with schools closed and other activities curtailed, children spending more time at home and online are at greater risk.
Famous, or infamous, people have peddled products they claimed could prevent or treat coronavirus.
Consumers who were exposed to a cryptocurrency scam were far more likely to fall for it and lost far more money than the average for all scams. The median loss in a cryptocurrency scam was $3,000 compared to $160 for all scams.
Millions have advanced their careers attending for-profit schools that operate virtually as well as through physical campuses. But the industry has a checkered history.
According to Black Knight, a mortgage technology and data provider, mortgage delinquencies almost doubled in April. That’s fodder for mortgage relief scammers.
Some of the biggest breaches include one at Marriott that affected over 5 million customers and one at Nintendo that compromised 300,000 user accounts. At least five state unemployment databases have been hacked.
You’re entrusting a tax preparer with sensitive information, so it’s important to do your due diligence in choosing one.
The variety of COVID-19 scams we’ve seen since the beginning of the pandemic are overwhelming.
The FDA has found hundreds of dietary supplements containing ingredients that weren’t listed on the label.
Nigerian letter scams now reap only $700,000 annually, but the same crooks get billions of dollars from more sophisticated scams: ‘That Nigerian prince has grown up, has gone to college, and has found a new, lucrative career,’ says an expert.
RoboKiller predicts that scammers will design even smarter, more believable phone scams in the future. Spam calls could reach 70 billion and texts 90 billion by the end of 2021.
The FTC and BBB recommend discussing with experts plans to invest in any real estate development outside the U.S.
You want to be sure that your credit information is accurate and current before you apply for a loan, buy insurance, apply for a job, or try to rent an apartment or other housing.
Some companies may have a short-term cash flow crunch that makes them vulnerable to deceptive lending practices.
Even if an MLM opportunity is legitimate, AARP and the FTC say most participants still make little or no money.
More than 6,900 people filed a complaint about home security companies in 2020, ranking them No. 32 among the thousands of types of businesses receiving complaints.
‘I can’t say that every offer to buy an extended auto warranty that comes via a robocall is deceptive, but separating out the good ones would be a challenge. Postcard or letter solicitations are almost as problematic.’
Opinion: Even Tom Selleck would agree it’s important to carefully consider all the pros and cons of a reverse mortgage.
The fundraising companies kept as much as 90 cents of every dollar raised and, according to the FTC, very little of the money they actually delivered to the charities was used for the purposes they claimed.
In an initiative called Operation CBDeceit, the FTC reached settlements with seven more companies it alleged were making unsubstantiated claims about their CBD products.
“Be cautious dealing with someone who knocks on your door offering to help repair damage after a storm, including removing trees or limbs.”
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act governs collection agencies and other third-party collectors.
From July 2020 to June 2021, 96,000 people reported an Amazon scam to the FTC. Only a small percentage of people report scams, so the actual numbers are much higher.
A recent survey found that 77% of consumers “always” or “regularly” read reviews from other consumers. That was up from 60% in the prior survey.