Safeguarding Consumers | Washington State

A key priority for the Attorney General’s Office is to safeguard consumers from fraud and unfair business practices by:

Enforcing consumer protection and antitrust laws, recovering refunds for consumers and imposing penalties and injunctions on offending businesses.
Educating the public on issues such as identity theft and scams that target seniors, minorities and vulnerable populations.
Informally resolving complaints between consumers and businesses at no cost to either party. On average, two out of three complaints filed with our office are satisfactorily resolved.
Administering Washington's Lemon Law for new motor vehicle warranty enforcement, including arbitration, education, and manufacturer and dealer enforcement.
Administering the Manufactured Housing Dispute Resolution Program to help manufactured/mobile home tenants and landlords resolve disputes.
Representing consumers who would not otherwise have an effective voice in cases regarding utility company rates and operations.

Consumer Protection News Releases

Oct 29 2026

GM to pay $220M for sharing drivers’ private data in case co-led by Washington

General Motors will pay $220 million to settle allegations that it illegally sold consumers’ private driver behavior data and location information to third parties, including data brokers, who then sold the data to insurance companies. For many consumers, this data was used by insurance companies in part to set insurance rates.

Oct 14 2026

AG Brown seeks consumer protections in Character.AI bankruptcy

Washington Attorney General Nick Brown and a bipartisan group of states have filed a notice in the bankruptcy proceedings of Character.AI raising concerns about harms to children who engage with the company’s AI chatbots and the handling of sensitive consumer information.

Sep 29 2026

Puget Sound Physicians to refund WA patients via $410K settlement

More than 1,300 Washington patients will receive compensation through a $410,000 settlement with Puget Sound Physicians after a Consumer Protection Act investigation by the Attorney General’s Office found the emergency medicine provider repeatedly failed to issue refunds to a subset of patients who qualified for charity care.

Sep 17 2026

WA, FTC reach $225M settlement with Amway for unfair and deceptive business practices

Amway Corp., one of the country’s largest multi-level marketing (MLM) companies, and two of its affiliates will pay $225 million to resolve allegations by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the state of Washington that the companies use unfair and deceptive tactics to recruit members to Amway’s direct selling and MLM program.

Sep 17 2026

WA consumers get financial relief through auto lender settlement

Hundreds of Washington consumers will receive restitution through a $694 million multistate settlement with the subprime auto lender Credit Acceptance Corporation (CAC). The company will provide cash and debt relief to consumers nationwide to resolve allegations the company steered them into risky loans they would have difficulty repaying.