Markets Wired

The Federal Trade Commission and 89 partners including nonprofit groups, businesses, and federal, state and local government agencies across the country will spotlight their efforts to protect consumers by educating people about fraud during the 17th annual National Consumer Protection Week March 1-7, 2015.

To highlight the week, the FTC will host a Twitter chat and answer consumers’ questions regarding common imposter scams. These types of scams vary, but often include someone pretending to be a government official, and are consistently an annual top 10 consumer complaint to the FTC. While scammers use a variety of tactics, they share the same goal — to trick consumers out of their money. Follow @FTC and tweet #NCPW2015 to join the conversation on Tues., March 3, 2015 at 2:00 pm ET.

“Organizations committed to consumer protection are energized for National Consumer Protection Week, and the FTC is proud to work with our partners to fight scams in every community,” said Jessica Rich, Director, FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “We can all help stop scams by checking out the advice at NCPW.gov, sharing it, and reporting fraud.”

The NCPW website has resources for consumers on topics ranging from managing credit and debt, avoiding identity theft, staying safe online, and more. These resources, including a consumer blog, help people learn about their consumer rights and how to spot and avoid scams and identity theft. The site also has information on where to file complaints with federal, state and other partners, including the FTC.

In addition to hosting NCPW annually, the FTC’s ongoing Every Community initiative fights scams in the marketplace for many underserved groups. Just yesterday, the FTC, Department of Justice and Postal Inspection Service participated in a roundtable with consumer advocacy groups to discuss how the agencies can better work with each community to protect consumers and learn more about current scam-related issues.

As part of the broader Every Community effort, the FTC has brought cases against scams that targeted Latinos and older adults. The Commission hosted a workshop last year on fraud in different communities, and it has distributed a variety of education materials and outreach to groups including Latinos, older adults, and veterans, servicemembers, and their families.

To help coordinate and publicize events throughout the week, partners of NCPW created a toolkit full of ideas and resources for all to use and share. The toolkit includes tips on hosting events, drafting consumer education and other outreach materials, buttons, banners, social media posts, and more.

For NCPW resources in Spanish, see La Semana Nacional de Protección del Consumidor.