SEATTLE -- The Washington State Attorney General's Office announced today that $450,000 is available for consumer education projects in Washington.

The money, which is held in trust for Washington residents, is the result of court ordered restitution in some of the cases settled by the Consumer Protection Division. The purpose of the grant program is to educate consumers so that fewer people will become victims or potential targets of consumer fraud or deception.

SEATTLE - May 22, 1998 - The State of Washington today settled three lawsuits against two credit insurance sales consulting companies for allegedly encouraging auto dealers to hide the costs of extra products in the payment quotes they made to customers.

OLYMPIA - February 24, 2000- For the second straight year, problems with the communications industry, including telecommunications and on-line services, topped the state Attorney General’s 1999 list of consumer complaints.

"The increasing popularity of the Internet, cellular phones and pagers, and the intense competition among long distance telephone service providers, have brought new opportunities and new problems for consumers," said Attorney General Christine Gregoire.

SEATTLE - Attorney General Christine Gregoire today announced a settlement with Qwest that will give the company's Washington customers a one-time credit of about $30 on their phone bills, as well as provisions designed to limit future rate hikes. The settlement was made in conjunction with Qwest's plans to sell its lucrative Yellow Pages business.

In the agreement filed today with the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC), Qwest agreed to provide an immediate $67 million bill credit to its business and residential customers in Washington once the sale closes.

Seattle - April 27, 2000 - State, federal and local law enforcement officials today announced plans to combat crime and fraud on the Internet.

The initiative will expand law enforcement's ability to prevent or quickly investigate and prosecute on-line crime, said Washington Attorney General Christine Gregoire.

SEATTLE - August 24, 2000 - Washington State Attorney General Christine Gregoire today announced the last of a series of four settlements with the nation’s leading sweepstakes firms.

"With these four settlements we have achieved our goal of changing industry-wide practices to ensure they are fair and truthful to our consumers, especially our senior citizens," said Washington Attorney General Christine Gregoire.

OLYMPIA - February 19, 1997 - The Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division helped Washington consumers receive a record $5.4 million in restitution for unfair and deceptive business practices in 1996.

The savings were generated from consumers who made more than 270,000 telephone inquiries and over 21,000 written complaints to the AG's seven Consumer Resource Centers in Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane, Olympia, Bellingham, Kennewick and Vancouver. All inquiries are handled by trained volunteers and work-study students.

SEATTLE- April 20, 1999 -- Attorney General Christine Gregoire today announced lawsuits have been filed against three of the nation's sweepstakes promoters who allegedly use deceptive marketing tactics to convince people, especially the elderly, they are about to become millionaires.

"These companies have become masters at creating a web of deception," said Gregoire. "The headlines, the words, everything about these mailers are calculated to get people to buy products they wouldn't otherwise buy."

Olympia - October 26, 2000 - We are satisfied that the Supreme Court’s ruling today in the I-695 case was based on a complete airing of the constitutional issues. We believe the decision was based on thorough and well-presented arguments for and against I-695.

OLYMPIA -- The Attorney General's Office, AARP and the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) today said they are seeking new Fraud Fighters in Olympia to combat fraud against senior citizens.

Nearly 200 local seniors determined not to become victims of fraud joined a statewide effort today designed to fight back against consumer fraud.

The volunteers' mission will be to educate hundreds of other senior citizens in the Olympia area on how to avoid becoming victims of fraud.