As families prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving and other traditions to welcome in the holidays, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is launching a holiday consumer protection campaign focused first on ways to protect your information if you’ll be hitting stores in person or online over the weekend.
Beginning today and continuing through mid-December, the Attorney General’s website will focus on educating consumers on the numerous tactics used to cheat them out of their funds during the holidays. The direct URL is mi.gov/AGholidayscams.
“The holidays fly by every single year,” Nessel said. “And while everyone is focused on celebrating their traditions and checking off those gift lists, it’s imperative we all keep in mind ways to protect our personal and bank information from bad actors.”
To kick off the campaign, Nessel is sharing important information surrounding the biggest shopping and philanthropic days of the year – Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday – with the reissuance of three consumer alerts focused on protecting your information.
- Research the retailer. You will know the business and their existing inventory if you’re visiting a store, but on the web some businesses are fabricated by people who just want your credit card information or other personal details. Avoid online retailers if you cannot verify their listed physical locations and customer service phone numbers. Then double check any listed information is legitimate by putting them in an online search.
- Do an online image search of the product and any other images the seller has posted to see where the product is coming from, how much it really costs and who else is selling it. Watch this video to learn how to do that.
- When making online purchases, pay with a credit card. Credit cards provide protections that allow you to dispute charges if an item is not delivered or is not as advertised.
The Department provides a library of resources for consumers to review anytime on a variety of topics.
Your connection to consumer protection is just a click or phone call away. Consumer complaints can be filed online at the Attorney General’s website, or by calling 877-765-8388.
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