Scams

Nearly 11,000 seniors from across Washington state were on the phone today with Attorney General Rob McKenna as part of a TeleTown Hall sponsored by AARP Washington!

According to the Consumer Federation of America, 1 in 3 American adults has received a counterfeit check, and of those, 2 percent actually deposit the checks and send money to the scammers. KOMO reporter Connie Thompson reports on 10 ways that phony check scammers track you down ...

Cons in Canada are still preying on grandparents. Since All Consuming first alerted readers about the "grandparent scam" (also called the "grandchild scam") in summer 2008, people continue to tell us how they or their loved ones fell victim to the ploy. Attorney General Rob McKenna joined Consumerman Herb Weisbaum at the KOMO TV newsroom yesterday to issue another warning ...

John Stark, consumer blogger for the Bellingham Herald, passed along this news release from a Lynden business. It's a good reminder that businesses are targets of wire transfer scams too.

In most Latin American countries, a “notario” is a licensed attorney. But the similar-sounding English word “notary public,” which translates to “notario publico,” means something entirely different ...

Window sellers need to be transparent in their marketing. Roofers need to stay on top of the law. And home siding installers shouldn’t sidle up to consumers with inappropriately high-pressure sales pitches. That’s the gist of a letter sent Tuesday by the Washington Attorney General’s Office to more than 30 home remodelers around the state.

Thousands of personal e-mail passwords belonging to Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL, Earthlink and Comcast users were posted online after a phishing sceme targeted users of Gmail, Hotmail and others, according to news reports. You can check if your account was on the list.

If you receive a letter in the mail saying you've won $150,000 in REI's "Consumer Promotion Drawing," don't quit your job. It's a scam.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is warning veterans not to give credit card numbers over the phone to callers claiming to update prescription information.

Do the Puyallup Fair with Attorney General Rob McKenna on Senior Tuesday to get the lowdown on senior scams and identity theft.