Unemployment fraud and auto and retail points final yr changed considerations about airline refunds and robocalls as the highest sources of complaints amongst customers within the state, based on an annual replace from Colorado Legal professional Common Phil Weiser.
“Final yr we had some main challenges on id theft associated to pandemic fraud,” Weiser mentioned throughout a information convention on Monday morning. “We had an enormous variety of unemployment insurance coverage scams.”
These resulted in 995 complaints made to the state, which was the second-largest class after retail-related points comparable to unauthorized memberships and subscriptions, which generated 1,266 complaints final yr.
Customers filed 13,970 complaints and inquiries with the Client Safety Part within the Colorado Division of Legislation, a 15.1% enhance from 2020, based on a launch tied to Nationwide Client Safety Week, which runs from March 6-12. In 2020, shopper complaints rose 23.5% from 2019 as pandemic-related fraud shot up.
Manufacturing disruptions and supply-chain issues have resulted in too few new autos and triggered costs for used autos to skyrocket. Vehicle gross sales and repair complaints moved into the third spot final yr with 758 complaints. The state had success in getting airways to reform their refund and flight credit score insurance policies in the course of the pandemic. However numerous various companies are behind auto-related complaints, which means the state doesn’t have the authorized assets to go after everybody, Weiser mentioned.
Different main classes of complaints had been skilled and associated companies at 728; business and residential residence restore companies at 727; and trip and journey at 678. Timeshare resale scams stay an enormous difficulty within the trip class. Debt assortment practices, well being care billing points, telecommunications and actual property complaints spherical out the record.
Notably absent from this yr’s record had been robocalls, which fell sharply after the federal authorities required carriers to offer ID authentication on calls. That mentioned, Weiser famous that scammers are nonetheless calling individuals pretending to be authorities officers or debt collectors. His household obtained a name final week threatening to chop the ability off if cash for a supposedly overdue invoice wasn’t forwarded in an hour.
Customers who’re involved about potential scams, worth gouging, or different misleading practices can name Cease Fraud Colorado at 800-222-4444 or go to www.StopFraudColorado.gov and file a grievance.
Weiser’s record differs from one additionally launched on Monday by shopper advocacy group CoPIRG, which reported submitting 4,729 complaints on behalf of Coloradans with the Client Monetary Safety Bureau’s Public Client Criticism Database.
“To paraphrase the Academy Award-winning movie ‘Community,’ Colorado customers are mad as heck they usually’re not going to take it anymore. Persons are letting the CFPB know their grievances in unprecedented numbers, the company is responding, and that ought to make all of our lives higher,” mentioned Danny Katz, govt director of CoPIRG, in a launch.
Monetary strains due to the pandemic are leading to extra complaints about credit score stories and debt assortment. Incorrect data on credit score or private shopper stories generated 995 complaints, whereas points with a credit score reporting firm’s investigation into an current downside generated 669 complaints in Colorado. Makes an attempt to gather a debt the patron reported not owing generated 298 complaints, based on the CoPIRG record.
