(BBB)
So, you’ve just been taken advantage of by a fraudulent business or a scammer. Where can you turn?
The St. Louis Consumer Fraud Task Force (CFTF) wants consumers to be aware of what they can do if they lose money or personal information.
Task force members provide a number of avenues for consumers to use. Last year, the Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Sentinel Network collected 2.6 million fraud reports with $12.5 billion reported lost by consumers. FTC statistics showed more than one in three people who reported a scam also reported losing money.
While the FTC does not intervene in consumer disputes, its enforcement partners, which include federal, state and local levels, can use the information to spot trends, identify questionable business practices and enforce the law.
Consumers can report substandard marketplace interactions through the Better Business Bureau® (BBB®) and scam information through BBB Scam Tracker. In 2024, BBB received nearly 1.7 million complaints about businesses. BBB Scam Tracker had more than 81,000 submissions in 2024 and more than 500,000 reports since its 2015 launch.
The Task Force recommends these avenues to report bad businesses and scams:
- Internet Crime Complaint Center. This is the central hub for reporting cyber-enabled crimes. It is run by the FBI, which is the lead federal agency for investigating crime. Users will not get a response directly to every submission. The FBI takes each report seriously. Submissions help the FBI respond faster, defend cyber networks better, and more effectively protect the nation.
- FTC’s Report Fraud Website. Any reports made to the FTC are shared with more than 2,800 law enforcement agencies across the U.S. These reports can lead to cases against fraud, scams and bad business practices. You can also see what kinds of reports are being made where you live.
- BBB’s free resources. The Better Business Bureau will help consumers who have problems with a business through its free dispute resolution process. BBB staff works with the business and the customer to encourage communication and assist in settling the problem. BBB can present the customer’s views to the business and offer the business’s viewpoint to the consumer in an impartial way. BBB’s Scam Tracker allows people to report scams and scam attempts. This information is shared with law enforcement agencies.
- State attorney general's offices. Consumers can also work with the attorney general’s offices in each state. Consumers will want to file reports with the attorney general's office where the business is located. Depending on the state, consumers may be contacted by the attorney general for more information. The attorney general offices in Missouri and Illinois each have online forms that consumers can fill out.
- Identity theft assistance. If you believe you have been subjected to identity theft, check out the FTC’s Identity Theft website. Illinois residents can also help consumers resolve ID theft complaints by calling the Illinois Attorney General’s ID theft hotline at 866-999-5630 or visiting their ID theft information website. You may also want to consider freezing your credit through the three credit reporting agencies – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
About the St. Louis Consumer Fraud Task Force
The Task Force, formed in October 2002, is a coalition of local, state and federal government agencies and nonprofit business and consumer groups in Missouri and Illinois that work together to protect consumer and donor rights and guard against fraud. The group has issued news alerts about predatory payday loan offers, tax scams, timeshare fraud, credit repair and foreclosure scams, bogus sweepstakes, internet sweetheart scams, phony grant scams, home remodeling, elder fraud, payment scams and a variety of other issues.
For information, or to report a scam, contact members of the Task Force:
- Better Business Bureau Serving Eastern and Southwest Missouri and Southern Illinois – (888) 996-3887; www.bbb.org
- Federal Trade Commission – (877) FTC-HELP (382-4357); www.ftc.gov
- Federal Bureau of Investigations - (314) 589-2500
- Illinois Attorney General – (800) 243-0618; www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov
- Illinois Secretary of State - Securities Department - 800-628-7937
- Missouri Attorney General – (800) 392-8222; www.ago.mo.gov
- St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department - (314) 231-1212; www.slmpd.org
- U.S. Attorney, Eastern District of Missouri – (314) 539-2200; www.usdoj.gov/usao/moe
- U.S. Postal Inspection Service – (877) 876-2455; postalinspectors.uspis.gov
- U.S. Secret Service – (314) 539-2238; www.secretservice.gov
