By Khalil Abdullah – Sponsored Content
A convening in Louisville is part of ongoing efforts by the FTC to track fraud impacting immigrant and minority communities.
Immigrants and refugees from across Asia, Africa, and Latin America pursuing the American dream in Louisville, Kentucky, are being blindsided by predatory schemes that strip them of financial resources and, often, their dignity.
Kentuckians lost at least $31.5 million to consumer fraud in 2021 based on reports to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)—a fraction of the nearly $6 billion predators scammed from Americans that year.
“Information is the most powerful weapon against scammers,” said Ethnic Media Services (EMS) Executive Director Sandy Close. “We want to break the silence that keeps the worst scams in the dark.”
Close’s remarks came at December 7 FTC community forum at the Muhammad Ali Community Center in Louisville. The two-hour event drew over 50 state, county, and local officials, as well as non-profit organizers, ethnic media representatives, and several Louisville clergy and religious leaders.
The FTC and EMS have cohosted over 35 such convenings across the country about fraud over the last decade.
FTC Associate Director for Marketing Practices Lois Griesman, based in Washington, D.C., observed that consumer fraud’s impact can ripple through a victim’s life in multiple ways. “It’s economic harm; it’s borrowed money at outrageous interest rates. It’s tapping into…
