Skip to main content

As the nation’s consumer protection agency, the FTC stands up for consumer rights. Every day, we work to shut down scammers and protect consumers everywhere. But we care just as much about empowering you. That’s why National Consumer Protection Week (NCPW), now in its 20th year, is so important. We hope you’ll join us to spread the word about consumer protection in your community. Read on to find out what you can do – and how we can help.

NCPW.gov is your gateway to free consumer education tools and resources that can help you spot, stop and report scams. The site hosts a network of more than 200 federal, state and local partners that, like the FTC, are devoted to protecting consumers. The site’s free tools and resources can help you understand your consumer rights, and make better-informed decisions about money.

The FTC also has timely information about staying on top of the latest scam trends. According to our just-released 2018 Consumer Sentinel Data Book, imposter scams, debt collection, and identity theft are the top issues we hear from people about. To help you spot and avoid those and other consumer protection issues, we have the latest tips and tools at Consumer.FTC.gov, IdentityTheft.gov, and Consumer.gov.

I invite you to join the Facebook Live chats we have planned this week with USA.gov, GobiernoUSA.gov, the Social Security Administration, and the National Credit Union Administration. You’ll learn about consumer issues and how to avoid scams, and get answers to your questions. You can find the full details of each Facebook Live chat, including dates and times, here.

I hope you’ll keep consumer protection in mind all year long. Keep in touch with us by subscribing to our blog, where you can stay on top of the latest scams. Order free consumer education materials in English or Spanish to distribute to your family, friends and community. And, as always, if you spot a scam, please tell us. Every report makes a difference.

It is your choice whether to submit a comment. If you do, you must create a user name, or we will not post your comment. The Federal Trade Commission Act authorizes this information collection for purposes of managing online comments. Comments and user names are part of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) public records system, and user names also are part of the FTC’s computer user records system. We may routinely use these records as described in the FTC’s Privacy Act system notices. For more information on how the FTC handles information that we collect, please read our privacy policy.

The purpose of this blog and its comments section is to inform readers about Federal Trade Commission activity, and share information to help them avoid, report, and recover from fraud, scams, and bad business practices. Your thoughts, ideas, and concerns are welcome, and we encourage comments. But keep in mind, this is a moderated blog. We review all comments before they are posted, and we won’t post comments that don’t comply with our commenting policy. We expect commenters to treat each other and the blog writers with respect.

  • We won’t post off-topic comments, repeated identical comments, or comments that include sales pitches or promotions.
  • We won’t post comments that include vulgar messages, personal attacks by name, or offensive terms that target specific people or groups.
  • We won’t post threats, defamatory statements, or suggestions or encouragement of illegal activity.
  • We won’t post comments that include personal information, like Social Security numbers, account numbers, home addresses, and email addresses. To file a detailed report about a scam, go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

We don't edit comments to remove objectionable content, so please ensure that your comment contains none of the above. The comments posted on this blog become part of the public domain. To protect your privacy and the privacy of other people, please do not include personal information. Opinions in comments that appear in this blog belong to the individuals who expressed them. They do not belong to or represent views of the Federal Trade Commission.

FTC Staff
December 18, 2018

In reply to by imustreallybes…

You can report identity theft at www.IdentityTheft.gov. You can create a report to law enforcement and get a personal plan to help you fix problems caused by theft. You can print letters and forms to send to credit reporting agencies to remove fraudulent information from your credit report.

10000 k per month
November 17, 2018
I have read this article its very helpful. don't waste your time browsing on facebook
ami5005n210
December 18, 2018
e continued to ring even after I unplugged it; the phone call would stop and continue again. I placed it on the block list. So another tactic was to call again and not show a number...caller id showed