Every year during the first week of March the Federal Trade Commission observes National Consumer Protection Week. The Kansas Attorney General’s office with our In Your Corner Kansas campaign focuses year-round on protecting consumers from scams and rip-offs, but during this week in particular we remind Kansans to be diligent and to keep yourself and your personal information safe.
One of the ways we do that is to share some of the most common scams reported to our office over the past year. This year’s list is punctuated by the prominence of two classic scams that unfortunately have appeared on our lists all-too frequently over the past decade. These, of course, are those scams where crooks and fraudsters attempt to steal the finances and or identities of Kansans by offering unsolicited help in securing a government benefit or navigating bureaucratic red tape.
Here are the top five scams ranked in order for 2021 based on the number of complaints filed with our Consumer Protection Division, with the most-frequent listed first:
Medical Health Insurance Scams
Consumers have reported receiving calls from insurance companies and government agencies offering to help them navigate the process to receive health care coverage. The callers say they need certain pieces of personal data, such as bank account information or Social Security numbers, to…
