Jobs & Making Money

Welcome to the FTC’s 12 Days of Consumer Protection, a holiday series to help you save money and avoid scams.

Each day, we’ll cover a new topic — from shopping online and bogus shipping notifications to temporary job scams and fake charities. We’ll give you practical information you can use every day and share with your family, friends, and community so they can be safe too.   

Scams come in many forms: texts, emails, letters, and lots of calls. Scammers plot schemes from tech support scams to fake check scams to try to knock us off balance just long enough to take advantage. They want to get our money and personal information, like account numbers and our Social Security number. How can we fight back? By sharing your story and reporting what happened to the FTC.

With more people seeking delivery services during the Coronavirus pandemic, many companies are looking for drivers to shuttle meals, medicine, groceries, and other items to people at home. Before you think about making some extra cash as a delivery driver using your own vehicle, you need to be aware of the insurance pitfalls.

Scammers make up all kinds of stories to get your money, from telling you that you’ve won a prize, you owe a debt, or your family member is in an emergency. But some things stay the same: scammers want your money, they want it fast, and don’t want you to be able to get it back. They’ll ask you to pay in ways that make it hard to track them down — and once you know what these are, you’ll have one more clue to tell if you’re dealing with a scammer.