BATON ROUGE, LA – From cars to houses and work to leisure, consumers spend big bucks each year for necessities and luxuries. Unfortunately, many fraudsters ply their trade wreaking havoc on these shoppers.
In fact, Americans lost $174 million to scams in 2020
alone, according to the Federal Trade Commission. And Attorney General
Landry wants to use this week, National Consumer Protection Week, as a time to
help Louisiana consumers from falling victim to scammers.
“Education is the most critical component to fighting
fraud,” said Attorney General Landry. “This annual awareness week is a great
time to learn more about common scams and the ways to guard against them.”
Attorney General Landry listed the following as red
flags for scams:
- The solicitor says you must act immediately. Legitimate
businesses do not pressure you to act until you have thoroughly reviewed
the offer
- The solicitor refuses to give or send you written
information. Legitimate businesses are more than willing to send you
information about their products and services.
- The solicitor is asking for a donation but will not
answer how your gift will be used. Legitimate charitable organizations
will send you information about their organization before you donate.
- The solicitor asks for your social security number.
Legitimate businesses do not ask for this type of information unless you
are applying for credit.
- The
solicitor asks for your financial information. Never give out your credit
card number or bank account number unless you have an established
relationship with the business.
To combat these unscrupulous actors, Attorney General Landry encouraged Louisiana to follow some simple tips:
- Be wary of anything that sounds too good to be true.
- Avoid high-pressure sales tactics.
- Ask questions and get agreements in writing.
- Ignore “once in a lifetime” offers.
- Do
not give cash, wire money, or send prepaid money cards to strangers.
“My office and I will continue to provide tools and resources to protect our State’s consumers,” added Attorney General Landry. “As we do so, I encourage the public to help us by reporting suspected consumer fraud to my Consumer Protection Hotline at 800-351-4889 and the FTC’s Consumer Response Center at 877-382-4357.”