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Written by admin on January 4th, 2010

Consumer Scams Come in All Shapes and Forms

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It seem that everywhere you look there is a scam going on. Consumers have to be constantly on the alert in order to avoid becoming a victim. Most of the scams are designed to steal money or assets of some kind. What is becoming apparent is that criminals will go to great lengths to devise scams including posing as government agents.

Recently the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a warning that scammers posing as FDA agents are perpetrating a con over the phone. The intent is to extort money from consumers through fear. This is an international scheme that locates victims by identifying people who have bought drugs over the internet.

The scam is fairly simple. A criminal telephones a consumer that has purchased drugs using the internet. The criminal claims to be an FDA, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) or Secret Service special agent. The criminal will choose the agency that best fits the circumstances and area of the consumer.

The telephone caller tells the consumer that he or she broke the law by purchasing drugs over the internet. These are legal drugs that were purchased. The criminal then tells the consumer they must pay a fine for breaking the law. The amount of the bogus fine depends on the wealth of the customer and have ranged from $100 to $250,000.

Some consumers refuse to cooperate and that’s when the caller turns hostile. The person impersonating an agent will inform the consumer they are going to be imprisoned, deported, or their property searched unless they pay the fine. Since this is a scam that must move quickly, the consumer is often told to wire the money immediately. Currently the Dominican Republic has been the most frequent location where funds are to be wired.

The federal government wants consumers to understand that federal agents would never contact consumers over the phone and demand money. Agents are not permitted to collect fines and fines can only be paid to the U.S. Treasury. It is against the law to impersonate a federal agent, but it is difficult to stop these kinds of criminal activities since they originate outside the United States.

The FDA issued another warning too connected with this criminal activity. It said that people buying prescription drugs online need to be very cautious about who they buy the drugs from. The internet has many scams going on and some involve selling drugs that are not as advertised. That means consumers could be using dangerous drugs or drugs that are ineffective.

If you are contacted by anyone claiming to be a federal agent asking for money, the first thing to do is report it to the appropriate authorities. In the case of criminals demanding money because you bought legal prescription drugs over the internet, the call should be reported to the Office of Criminal Investigations at the Food and Drug Administration. If something just doesn’t feel right then chances are it’s not right. If consumers trusted their instincts more often there would probably be fewer victims.