This section tracks official scam warnings and money rule changes affecting people in the US, drawn from federal agencies, state attorneys general, regulators and the courts. Each alert is labeled, dated and written from the original notice, so you know whether a scam is active, a rule is live, or a change is still just a proposal. It is for anyone who borrows, banks, pays bills or holds crypto and wants to know what has actually changed.
How should you act on a consumer alert?
Read the label before you do anything. A proposed rule changes nothing yet, a blocked or delayed rule may never take effect, and only an entry marked in effect should change how you handle a loan, a collector or a bank fee. Every alert names the agency or court document it came from, so you can check the original wording rather than rely on a summary. If a scam warning matches a call, text or offer you have already received, stop responding, pay nothing and report it to the FTC or your state attorney general.
One rule cuts through most schemes: no government agency, bank or legitimate lender will demand payment by gift card, wire transfer, payment app or cryptocurrency, and none will threaten arrest for refusing. Scams & Regulation explains how these operations work and who polices them. Laws & Your Rights covers the protections behind each rule, including the 30-day window the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act gives you to dispute a debt in writing. If a scam or a rule change has already affected your report or balances, Credit Scores and Debt Help walk through the repair steps.
Latest guides
What the labels mean
- SCAM ALERT
- An official warning about an active scam aimed at consumers.
- WARNING
- An official warning about a risky practice, product, data breach or fraud trend.
- PROPOSED
- A rule or bill that has been proposed or is open for comment. Nothing has changed yet.
- NEW RULE
- A rule or law that is final or signed and takes effect on a later date.
- IN EFFECT
- A rule or law that has just taken effect or takes effect within two weeks.
- BLOCKED
- A rule stopped by a court, repealed or withdrawn.
- DELAYED
- A rule whose effective or compliance date was pushed back.
- UPDATED
- The story developed after we first published it. The update is dated at the top.
Every alert starts from an official notice (a federal agency, state attorney general, regulator, legislature or court) and lists that source at the end. We never link to scam sites or print scam phone numbers.
Idaho AG warns Idaho Power customers of utility scams tied to nearly 400 accounts
Idaho's attorney general says nearly 400 Idaho Power accounts saw fraud.[…]