A common way consumers can be tricked into a sweepstakes scam is when the person who initiates the contact identifies with a well known organization or government entity. Luckily the person who called BBB yesterday wasn't fooled by a phone call from the "Federal Gaming Commission."

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It’s been nearly 4 months since oil began leaking from a well dug by British Petroleum’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. This environmental disaster captured the attention of consumers, as well as scammers, nationwide. While the leak has since been sealed, BBB continues to hear from consumers about potential scams related to a variety of issues stemming from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

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The summer season continues to heat up and consumers are calling BBB concerned about free offers appearing in their mail and e-mail inboxes. The catch…they must attend a timeshare presentation. BBB reminds you to carefully read through these offers to avoid making a costly mistake.

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Last week, we gave consumers a few tips and advice for making wise donation decisions towards helping oil spill relief efforts. As an addition to that information, here are the websites of several national BBB Accredited charities addressing the oil spill. Keep in mind, this list only includes charities that meet BBB Wise Giving Alliance’s Standards for Charity Accountability. Click on each of the names for their individual BBB charity report.

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Last Friday, we wrote about new guidelines for security companies, specifically mentioning door-to-door sales. In the spirit of that theme, we received an e-mail today from a consumer who was taken by a door-to-door salesman selling meat.

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Most of the time, consumers can be sure that an unsolicited letter from an unknown source asking for personal information is a scam. We like that consumers turn to BBB for advice when they receive one because it helps us stay ahead of the scammers and bring awareness to those who may become future victims. However, we received an inquiry from a consumer who received the following letter from TexasSure asking for information about their car and insurance and it was not a scam...

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