MilConsumer Blog Feed

Welcome to National Consumer Protection Week 2017! March signals the start of Spring – a time of reassessment, growth and renewal that brings positive change. It’s also a good time to renew our commitment to helping people in our communities be savvy consumers. Thanks to a vast network of agencies and organizations, both state and local, involved in NCPW, more people than ever have the tools they need to understand their consumer rights and...

The FTC released its Consumer Sentinel Data Book for last year and the numbers help flesh out what we know about fraud and identity theft. Consumers who submit a complaint to the FTC have the option of identifying themselves as a servicemember, military retiree, veteran, or spouse – and to name their branch of service. In 2016, nearly 116,000 consumers did just that – up from 109,934 in 2015. The majority of military consumer complaints came from...

New for National Consumer Protection Week 2017, the FTC will take part in a Facebook Live chat with USA.gov on Tuesday, March 7th at 2:30pm Eastern. The Facebook Live chat will cover the ten things you can do to avoid fraud, and show you some of the free consumer education materials you can order for yourself, friends and family, and your community. Tune in next Tuesday and ask questions, if you have some. FTC staff will also host a Twitter chat...

Military Saves Week (February 27 – March 4, 2017) is an annual opportunity for individuals to assess their savings and take financial action. Each year, we encourage servicemembers and military families just like yours to set a goal, make a plan, and save automatically. This Military Saves Week, try these five simple steps to help yourself save automatically – and successfully: Assess Your Savings Like your health, you should assess your savings...

Military Saves Week is February 27 through March 4. Join @MilConsumer for a Twitter chat with @MilitarySaves as we talk about how servicemembers and military families can boost their savings. We’ll cover questions like how the Military Saves pledge and reminders can help you come up with your plan to save and how to build an emergency fund. Check out #milconsumer and #MSW2017 -- and be part of the conversation on Wednesday, February 22, 11:00am...

Military Consumer and @StopFraudCo will host a Twitter chat about how to avoid online romance scams. Find out how these scams work and how to spot the red flags. Follow @MilConsumer and join the conversation at #MilConsumer or #MilChat on Thursday February 9 at 1pm MT/3pm ET.

For decades, only you knew the television programs you watched from your living room. That’s starting to change. The FTC recently explored this at its Smart TV workshop. The data generated when you watch television can reveal a lot about you and your household. So, before a company pulls up a chair next to you and starts taking careful notes on everything you watch (and then shares it with its partners), it should ask if that’s O.K. with you...

Today, the FTC announced a settlement with Volkswagen over 3.0 liter diesel cars the company claimed had low levels of harmful emissions, but did not. The settlement affects more than 77,000 cars made by VW, Audi or Porsche. These cars were not covered by the settlement announced last year, which covered similar false advertising for VW and Audi 2.0 liter diesel cars. Cars covered by the 3.0 liter settlement have been divided into two different...

It’s that time of year — tax time. It’s also a great time to get up to speed on tax-related scams. Here are two ways tax scammers might target you and what you can do about it: Tax identity theft This kind of identity theft happens when someone files a fake tax return using your personal information — like your Social Security number — to get a tax refund. Tax identity theft also happens when someone uses your Social Security number to get a job...

Renting an apartment online? First, let me tell you about the FTC’s case against Credit Bureau Center, LLC – a company that posted fake online rentals to lure people to their credit monitoring sites. How does this scam work? You’re looking at photos of rentals, on a site like Craigslist. You email the owner who says the apartment is still available but you need a credit check before seeing it. They direct you to their own websites, which say you...