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The newly-released Serving Communities of Color Report summarizes the past five years of the FTC’s efforts to address, understand, and educate people about consumer issues that have a disproportionately
negative impact on communities of color. And, it confirms the FTC’s commitment to continue this important work. 

Here are some highlights of the report
 
Law enforcement: The FTC filed more than 25 actions involving alleged conduct that either targeted or disproportionately impacted communities of color. Cases challenged unlawful practices by auto sellers, for-profit schools, money-making opportunities, student debt relief schemes, and more.
 
Research: FTC research shows that people in communities of color experience fraud and consumer problems in unique ways. For example:
  • Top fraud and consumer issues reported. The FTC’s reporting data showed that the top percentage of the reports by people living in majority White and majority Latino communities were about impersonator scams. But in majority Black communities, the top percentage of the reports related to problems with credit bureaus.
  • Latino community experiences. The FTC’s reporting data also showed that people living in majority Latino communities filed higher percentages of reports than majority White communities about credit bureaus, banks and lenders, debt collection, auto issues, and business opportunities.
  • Black community experiences. An analysis of 23 FTC cases showed that the cases affecting the largest number of people in predominantly Black communities involved payday loan applications, student debt relief programs, and money-making schemes.
  • How scammers make people pay. Reports from majority Black and Latino communities show that people are more likely to pay scammers in ways that have few, if any, fraud protections ― so: cash, cryptocurrency, money orders, and debit cards. In contrast, reports from majority White communities show that people are more likely to paying scammers with credit cards.
 
Outreach: Sharing relevant, clear, and in-language consumer protection information through people and groups trusted in communities of color is essential to reaching those communities.
 
The FTC is committed to serving communities of color, and there’s more to do – more research, building trust, and seeking reports – to inform greater law enforcement and enhance education. You can help: share FTC resources in your community. And, if you spot a scam or consumer problem, tell the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

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.

Pat
October 15, 2021
This is a great idea. Don't forget seniors.