The Sentinel Team is pleased to announce new data sources. We welcome the expansion of the Department of Health and Human Services data feed, which includes medical complaints; the Federal Bureau of Investigation data feed, which includes Government Impostor complaints; and the Federal Communications Communication data feed, which includes phone complaints. We also welcome new data contributors from the business community, such as Capital One Bank and Zillow as well as the employment websites Handshake, Indeed, and ZipRecruiter.
Interested in contributing data? Simply contact us at sentinel@ftc.gov.
|
|
|
Since 2003, Americans have been able to opt out of receiving most telemarketing calls by putting their phone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry, and millions of them have done so. The Registry now has nearly 250 million telephone numbers on it. Not only is the Do Not Call program wildly popular with consumers, but it also helps telemarketers operate more efficiently by screening out consumers who do not want to be contacted. We are pleased that Do Not Call complaints in Sentinel have aided law enforcement actions. We are also pleased to note recent robocall enforcement actions by the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission.
|
According to Sentinel data, text message scams took consumers for $330 million in 2022. The latest Consumer Protection Data Spotlight focuses on this form of fraud, which often works by impersonating well-known businesses.
|
The FTC has updated its Sentinel complaint categories, streamlining them to 100. The categories let you know the type of scam or the good or service offered to the consumer.
|
You can find a specific complaint category by going to Advanced Search and selecting Product or Service. (You can hold down the Control key to select more than one source.) There is also a filter on the left-hand side after you run a search.
You can learn more on how to best use Sentinel by joining one of our monthly Summer Training Sessions, which are live and online. Just email sentinel@ftc.gov for more information.
|
|
When planning summer vacations, the last thing consumers want to worry about is being scammed. The FTC provides timely consumer education information on recognizing travel scams. See more consumer advice at consumer.ftc.gov.
|
|
|
|
|
