Information is power, and it is a critical edge that scam artists have over their victims.
If you get an “official” check in the mail, is it a windfall, or an invitation to identify theft? Will the promise of a financial lifeline you hear on the radio or television help you avoid foreclosure, or will it cost you your home and future financial security?
In reality, it is nearly impossible these days for a consumer to distinguish honest options from fraudulent marketing. Because the Ohio Attorney General’s office is often the destination point for consumers who have been cheated, we decided to create a real-time way to share that information with as many people as possible before they are harmed.
An online tool called a widget is our way to share scam alerts quickly. The Attorney General’s “scam widget” looks like a Web banner advertisement, but the little orange box is actually a link to my office, and offers these features:
- A news feed which displays a very short message about the latest scam making the rounds. Click on the words to see more information and what to do next. My office will continually update the alerts as we find out about new scams
- A button to report a scam. Consumers can alert my office to questionable practices in an online form. Fill out the form to tell us about the scam, or make a formal complaint if you need assistance from my office.
- Help us thwart scammers by beating them at their own game by sharing information. Copy the scam widget to your social networking pages, or make it available through the Web site of organizations you are involved with.
I would like to thank the Better Business Bureau of Central Ohio for being the first of our partners to use the Scam Alert widget, and we hope others will as well. More information is available at OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/ScamAlertWidget.
Also, consumers who feel that they have been cheated in the marketplace can conveniently file a complaint with my office over the telephone by calling (800) 282-0515 or online at www.SpeakOutOhio.gov.
With these tools, consumers can get the information they need to protect themselves against the scam artists who try to exploit them.
Richard Cordray is Ohio Attorney General. For updates on consumer protection issues, visit OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/SignUp.
