Today’s Scam of the day is a bit late because I had emergency surgery yesterday, but after not missing a single day in 3,012 days, I was not going to start now.  Being in debt is a difficult situation faced by many people. Unfortunately, it can be made much worse when debtors are targeted by unscrupulous scammers posing as debt relief specialists steal from the people in debt.  Recently the FTC and the Florida Attorney General settled its lawsuit against an organization called the Helping America Group that got people to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars a month by falsely promising to pay, settle, or obtain dismissal of their debts and improve their credit scores. Over time, victims found their debts unpaid, their accounts in default, and their credit scores severely damaged—some were sued by their creditors, and some were forced into bankruptcy.  Now the FTC is sending more than 16 million dollars to victims of the scam.

If you were a victim of this scam and need information about getting your payment from the FTC go to the FTC Refund tab in the middle of the first page of Scamicide.com

TIPS

There are many debt relief companies that may be able to help people with debt problems, however, credit counseling services may be a better and more economical choice for many people.  While there are legitimate debt relief companies, there also are many scammers who will take your money and provide little, if anything, for your payment.  Again, it is important to remember that it is illegal for a debt relief company to charge you a fee prior to settling your debts.  If you are considering using a debt relief company, you should check with your state’s Attorney General and your state’s consumer protection agency to see if there are any consumer complaints against them.  Finally, for detailed information about alternatives to consider if you are having debt problems, go to the FTC’s website at https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0153-choosing-credit-counselor

For those of you receiving the Scam of the day through an email, I just want to remind you that if you want to see the ever increasing list of Coronavirus scams go to the first page of the http://www.scamicide.com website and click on the tab at the top of the page that indicates “Coronavirus Scams.”  Scamicide was recently cited by the New York Times as one of three top sources for information about Coronavirus related scams.

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