Tax Time = Scam Time – National Consumers League

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April 15 is a date that is on many of our minds this time of year, and the clock is ticking.

It’s no news that scammers work year-round. But now, more than ever, NCL’s Fraud Center is finding that con artists are going after consumers through tax refund and rebate scams. So, this year, not only do consumers need to rush to get their taxes filed on time, but they need to watch out for scams as well.

NCL’s Fraud Center has been tracking the scam since April 2005, and we’ve found that most of the set-ups consumers report are variations of phishing scams. It’s happening via both phone and email, and there are several pitches, ranging from claims of “tax relief” services to help speeding up refunds.

There are a bunch of different variations of the scam, but one victim’s story stands out in particular:

Stephen was worried about the money he owed the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and he was contacted by a company that assured him they would settle his debt. He sent his personal information and tax returns from previous years to the “tax attorneys.” He used his credit card to pay the $9,500 the company told him he owed. One week later the company said that they could not help Stephen. When he asked for his money back, they wished him “luck” and hung up on him!

Stephen is not alone, but there is some good news: many of the complaints we’re getting are from consumers who were savvy enough to recognize the pitch as a scam, and many aren’t falling for it!

Now that millions of consumers are expecting to receive their *Economic Stimulus check in the coming months, our fraud counselors are concerned that more consumers will be duped by scammers, so we’re reminding consumers that the IRS does NOT use email to initiate contact with taxpayers about issues related to their accounts.

 

*Links are no longer active as the original sources have removed the content, sometimes due to federal website changes or restructurings.

Bad Economy Blurring Your Judgment? – National Consumers League

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Budget cuts. *Credit crunch. Foreclosures galore.

The cost of daily necessities such as food and gas continue to rise, and the status of our economy is bleak. In a panic, a slightly questionable opportunity to make some quick cash may seem even more appealing.

But NCL is reminding consumers this month to carefully evaluate offers to work from the comfort of home. Be cautious about emails offering work-at-home opportunities.

Just because the company places an ad for a job in a reputable paper, Web site or magazine does not make the offer legitimate. Don’t get involved in work that requires depositing a check in your bank account and them wiring them money — that’s a fake check scam!

Report suspected work-at-home scams or any other telemarketing and Internet scams to NCL’s Fraud Center.

*Links are no longer active as the original sources have removed the content, sometimes due to federal website changes or restructurings.

Sunshine in Litigation Act Gets Boost in Senate – National Consumers League

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Three cheers for the Senate Judiciary Committee, which approved what the New York Times called in a March 12 editorial “a modest but potentially life-saving bill” known as the Sunshine in Litigation Act, a piece of legislation that would require judges in federal courts to take into account public interest before granting a request for secrecy. In a letter NCL sent, along with Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, Government Accountability Project, and U.S. PIRG, to the Honorable Senator Herb Kohl, Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, we argued our support for the act and encouraged senators to see to it that it’s passed quickly.

The issue is this: when companies are in the middle of a product liability case, they often demand, as a stipulation of their settlement, that individuals involved must agree to terms that will prevent them from disclosing any public safety hazards that may have been uncovered during litigation. This is a totally anti-consumer practice: allowing the sealing of all litigation records, especially when they involve matters that affect public health and safety, endangers consumers and encourages corporate wrongdoing.

The new act preserves a company’s rights to protect important “trade secrets,” so this should be a new rule all parties can live with. We’ll continue to follow this bill as it makes its way through the legislative process. You go, Judiciary Committee! Next up: Senate Floor.

Remembering Howard Metzenbaum (1917-2008) – National Consumers League

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By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

The National Consumers League and its allies in the consumer advocacy world lost a friend and icon last week: U.S. Senator Howard Metzenbaum (D-OH), who supported the work of the Child Labor Coalition as a Senate Advisor. Metzenbaum championed the rights of consumers and workers in Congress and was beloved by consumer and labor leaders alike. For example, to protect workers from the disruption of plant closings and loss of jobs, Metzenbaum authored a law requiring 60 days’ notice before a company could shut down a plant.

Metz, as he was called, never shied away from a fight – often infuriating the conservatives in Congress. And when he retired from the Senate, he agreed to serve as Chairman of the Consumer Federation of America. Lucky CFA! I would be hard-pressed to name another Senator whose name is so synonymous with consumer rights and protections. For Metzenbaum, there were no sacred cows – he went after big oil, the insurance and pharmaceutical industry, banks, in his nearly twenty years of service. He also championed the campaign for universal health insurance, an issue with as much (perhaps more) urgency today as it had back in the 1980s.

During my decade with Consumers Union, I worked with many former Metzenbaum staffers and the Senator himself. He reviewed the resumes of applicants for CU’s Esther Peterson Public Interest Fellowship, and I worked on vetting aspiring consumer advocates for that program. They share common traits that I see in many consumer colleagues: indefatigable advocacy for consumer issues in Congress and in the federal agencies and an unwillingness to take “no” for an answer when consumer rights and protections are at stake, even when the deck is stacked against them.

Senator Howard Metzenbaum, vocal and fearless consumer advocates in Congress are a rare breed and we will miss you.

Great Youth Educational Resource: Thinkfinity.org – National Consumers League

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By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

I had the opportunity to travel up to New York City last Friday with NCL Board member Sam Simon to attend the unveiling of the Verizon Foundation’s new educational *Thinkfinity.org Web site. The event was part of the New York’s public television station’s (WNET) *Celebration of Teaching and Learning conference. And what better way to spend the last day of National Consumer Protection Week than celebrating our friend and avid LifeSmarts’ partners’ own initiative aimed at K-12 graders.

Here I am (in the photo on the right), between our hosts: Kathy Brown, Senior Vice President, Public Policy Development and Corporate Social Responsibility and Patrick Gaston, President of the Verizon Foundation. The conference featured luminaries such as ocean explorer Jean-Michel Cousteau, renowned primatologist Jane Goodall, and NBC News anchor and correspondent, Ann Curry. The press conference highlighted an enhanced Thinkfinity.org – the Verizon Foundation’s free, comprehensive program and online portal to 55,000 educational and literacy resources for teachers, parents and students. The site features lesson plans and interactive activities, and the ability for users to search for resources tailored to individual state standards. Sam and I were impressed by the many resources offered to students and teachers by the site. The National Consumers League shares Verizon Foundation’s commitment to educating young consumers through groundbreaking new technologies and looks forward to our continued work with the Foundation. The site offers valuable content for students and teachers alike, and we encourage everyone to check it out.

*Links are no longer active as the original sources have removed the content, sometimes due to federal website changes or restructurings.

Purple: The New Green? – National Consumers League

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Today we learned that the 5 dollar bill is the first to get a makeover by the Federal Reserve in attempts to thwart counterfeiters. Honest Abe is still the bill’s main attraction, but he’s surrounded by some new security features that will make faking it more difficult, including new watermarks and changes to that little security “thread” that’s woven into the bill.

More obvious than these differences, perhaps, are the numerous splashes of purple across the bill. But the color changes aren’t for security reasons – they’re meant to help people with visual impairments have an easier time using the money.

According to an LA Times article, we should start seeing these new bills pretty quickly, as more than 200 million of them will be released in the next three weeks!

Game On! – National Consumers League

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NCL’s staff is working away to prepare for our annual LifeSmarts National Championship this year from April 12-15. This year, we’re heading to Minneapolis, MN, LifeSmarts Program Director, Lisa Hertzberg’s hometown! The League runs the LifeSmarts program, which tests thousands of middle school and high school students nationwide on real-life consumer issues through online quizzes and live contests.

High school state champs from across the nation will show off their consumer smarts on personal finance, health and safety, environment, technology and consumer rights and responsibilities April 12-15 as they compete for the national title.

Here’s a peek into the fun:

Saturday, April 12
Teams from across the nation check-in at the hotel, go through orientation, where they get their first glimpse of the competition, and are briefed on the rules. Later that evening, the teams get to let loose at the mixer.

Sunday, April 13
Competition begins. Months of studying and honing their skills through online and in-person come in handy.

Monday, April 14
The competition heats up! Teams compete until only four teams are standing. Later in the day, the teams take a break from competing and take in the local scene on a fun outing.

Tuesday, April 15
The competition comes down to the quarterfinals and semifinals, until the only team standing is named the 2008 LifeSmarts National Champion! The champion team receives its prizes at the Awards Banquet.

We wanted to send a huge thank you to our sponsors, state coordinators, coaches and volunteers who make the LifeSmarts program all that it is! Check out the news coverage the teams have received so far, and be sure to visit *www.lifesmarts.org to cheer on the teams during Nationals!

*Links are no longer active as the original sources have removed the content, sometimes due to federal website changes or restructurings.

Strapped for cash? Join the club! – National Consumers League

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Times are tight. Seems like you can’t turn on the TV, open a newspaper, or connect to the Internet without seeing news reports about consumer bankruptcies and concerns about a recession.

Lately, we’ve been hearing about consumers being so strapped for cash that they’re tapping into their 401(k) or other retirement accounts. Our friends at the *Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the largest non-governmental regulator for all securities firms doing business in the United States, are noticing this trend too. They’re reminding consumers to research the terms of any 401 (k) loan agreement you’re considering, including the interest rate, any fees, and other applicable terms before drawing on these accounts.

As a last resort, you may want to look into whether you qualify for a hardship withdrawal from your 401(k). This is not a quick fix; you have to apply to prove your hardship, you probably won’t have access to contributions by your employer, and there are other fine-print-type details. Read more to find out more about how this works.

Yikes! You know the economy’s getting rough when people are using their retirement cash to pay for gas and other bills. We’ll keep our ear out for more information on this trend and continue to provide you with as many money-saving tips as we can.

*Links are no longer active as the original sources have removed the content, sometimes due to federal website changes or restructurings.

NCPW 2008 – National Consumers League

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Happy National Consumer Protection Week, everyone!

As a member of NCPW’s steering committee, NCL joined other consumer advocacy organizations and government agencies in planning this year’s events focused on financial literacy. This is a timely topic, just look at the news reports on the credit crunch. Consumers need greater access to the resources and educational tools to help them make savvy financial decisions.

NCL offers tips to help consumers make well-informed financial decisions, avoid being defrauded, and report scams. Check back here later this week for the tips and resources that NCL offers to help consumers of all ages manage their finances wisely.

Merging Consumer and Worker Interests – National Consumers League

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By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

The Communication Workers of America (CWA) have long held a seat on our board of directors at the National Consumers League. Today I went over to CWA’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. to sit down with *Larry Cohen, the union’s president, and discuss some of the issues that face consumers and workers alike. High on NCL’s and CWA’s list is comprehensive healthcare reform. According to data from the most recent U.S. Census, 47 million Americans – or 16 percent of the population – have no health insurance, and that number has grown even in the last few years.

Universal health coverage has long been a priority for the League. During the 1930s, Josephine Roche, who was to become president of the League later that decade, headed President Franklin Roosevelt’s Interdepartmental Committee to Coordinate Health and Welfare Activities. One of the Committee’s mandates was the development of a national health plan. The proposal came out in 1938, and Senator Robert Wagner (D-NY) introduced the Committee’s bill in Congress the following year. (Wagner’s name is also attached to the famous Wagner Act of 1935, a law that involved the federal government for the first time in protecting the right of workers to organize and form unions. The Wagner Act also established the National Labor Relations Board.)

Today there are several comprehensive healthcare reform proposals on the table. Neither CWA nor NCL has endorsed specific plans, but I believe we share support for basic principles for reform:

  • Comprehensive Benefits
  • Affordable Coverage
  • Access for Rural, Low Income and Underserved Communities
  • Fair Financing of Plans
  • High Quality Health Care

Cohen and I also discussed National Consumers League’s supports for the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a priority measure for the labor union movement. This bill, HR 800 in the House, is currently awaiting action in both the House and the Senate. EFCA provides for the certification of a union as the bargaining representative if the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) finds that a majority of employees in an appropriate bargaining unit have signed written forms designating the union as its collective bargaining agent

EFCA also speeds along the process of bargaining between employer and employees for their first contract by obligating both parties to reach an agreement, through escalating procedures of mediation and arbitration, if necessary.

Finally, EFCA requires stronger penalties against employers for engaging in unfair labor practices while employees are attempting to organize or obtain a first contract. The bill mandates that the NLRB must seek a federal court injunction against an employer whenever there is reasonable cause to believe that the employer has discharged employees or discriminated against them or engaged in conduct that interferes significantly with employee rights during an organizing campaign or bargaining for a first contract.

Going back to the League’s roots, the presence of labor unions like CWA on our board and our agreement on so many issues energizes our work at the NCL for a fair marketplace for all consumers and workers alike.

*Links are no longer active as the original sources have removed the content, sometimes due to federal website changes or restructurings.