Ever get a chain letter in the mail or online? Then you know the drill — you send money to a person at the top of the list, then take their name off and add yours to the bottom before sending the letter to more people. If the letters keep going, you’re supposed to make money as your name moves up the list. In fact, most people are guaranteed to lose money.

Chain letters have been around for decades. Today’s twist: online chain referral schemes involving cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and Litecoin.

They’re at it again... tax scammers scheming new ways to steal personal information and money.

Last week, we gave you an overview of the latest Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book. Today, let’s look a bit more closely at the data from military consumers. We got more than 113,000 reports from military consumers in 2017. Although not all of them gave details about their military status,more than 28,000 are servicemembers, their family members, and inactive Reserve or National Guard, and more than 78,000 are military retirees or veterans. Here are a few interesting take-aways.

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 20^th 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.