General Consumer Fraud Resources

 

Illinois Attorney General's Office

The Illinois Attorney General's Office website provides information on a variety of consumer fraud and consumer protection issues:

www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov

The Attorney General's Office has also produced an "Every Cent Counts" Guidebook, a very useful resource for avoiding consumer fraud and financial scams. That guidebook is also available on their website:

www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/consumers/everycentcounts.html

 

Federal Trade Commission

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) provides information on consumer protection to the public, as well as law enforcement related to market competition, "unfair and deceptive acts or practices," and other consumer protection laws.

www.ftc.gov/

One of the pages offered by the FTC website is a consumer site called "Who Cares." This site is dedicated to providing consumers with information on a variety of health topics:

www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/whocares/index.shtml

The FTC website also has some helpful information on identity theft:

www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft

To file a fraud complaint with the FTC, call 1-877-HELP or use the "Complaint Assistant" on the FTC website:

https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/

 

Better Business Bureaus

Find trustworthy businesses by contacting your local Better Business Bureau (BBB) - see contact information below for local Illinois Better Business Bureaus. You can also check the BBB's rating of a particular business on the national BBB website:

www.bbb.org

Click on "USA Site" to enter the national site. Then click on "Check out a business or charity." You can search for a particular organization by name, type of business, phone number, website, or email address.

BBB of Central Illinois
http://heartofillinois.bbb.org
Email: bbb@heart.net
Phone: (309) 688-3741
Fax: (309) 681-7290
112 Harrison Street
Peoria IL 61602

BBB of Chicago & Northern Illinois
http://chicago.bbb.org
Email: info@chicago.bbb.org
Phone: (312) 832-0500
Fax: (312) 832-9985
330 N. Wabash, Ste. 2006
Chicago IL 60611-7621

BBB of E. Missouri & S. Illinois
http://stlouis.bbb.org
Email: bbbstl@stlouisbbb.org
Phone: (314) 645-3300
Fax: (314) 645-2666
15 Sunnen Drive, Ste. 107
Saint Louis MO 63143

BBB of Rockford
http://chicago.bbb.org
Email: feedback@chicago.bbb.org
Phone: (815) 963-2222
Fax: (815) 963-0329
810 E. State St., 3rd Floor
Rockford IL 61104-1001

 

 

National Consumers League Fraud Center

This website provides information on a variety of scams, including fraud targeting older adults.

www.fraud.org

 

Stetson University Elder Consumer Protection Project

The Elder Consumer Protection Project is part of the Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport, Florida. They provide information and resources on their website for many different types of fraud issues, including charity fraud, telemarketing fraud, investment fraud, and home repair fraud.They also have a helpful video that shows different types of scams and how they occur.

http://elder.law.stetson.edu

This website also has a page with instructions on how to stop solicitations (telemarketers, mail solicitations, and pre-approved credit offers):

http://elder.law.stetson.edu/solicitors.php