Colorado: Taking Aim at Bad Business Practices, Fraud

The state of Colorado is working to curb fraud and unscrupulous business practices with a new program to mediate disputes between consumers and businesses, as well as a revamped, more user-friendly Stop Fraud Colorado website.

In 2023, Colorado consumers filed roughly 40,000 fraud reports, with losses totaling $164.2 million, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Impostor scams topped the list of incidents, with 13,941 reports.

Fraud losses in the state have more than tripled since 2019, FTC data shows.

But fraud is often underreported, in some cases because people are ashamed, Attorney General Phil Weiser (D) said in an interview with the Bulletin. The state recently streamlined its fraud prevention website, stopfraudcolorado.gov, to make it easier for consumers to report suspected fraud.

Those reports help the state stay up to speed on the latest scams and “go after the worst actors,” Weiser says.

“If it’s a potential scam that you were able to avoid, we want to know about it because we might get involved ... and also because we can better educate and protect others,” he says.

The website also has information on everything from schemes that target natural disaster victims to mail fraud and identity theft, and consumers can sign up to receive fraud tips and alerts.

Another way the state attorney general’s office is helping Coloradans is through its consumer mediation program, a pilot project that became permanent last year.

The program uses informal negotiations overseen by the Colorado Department of Law to resolve disputes between consumers and businesses. The thousands of complaints the office receives each year don’t always include scams or require legal intervention.

Some of the most common involve retail sales, including service or delivery issues, contractor or remodeling issues, or product or service warranty problems.

For example, a subscription service keeps billing a customer after he’s canceled. Or a contractor who is already paid doesn’t finish the job.

The program can’t handle every case, but it allows the state to make sure companies are aware of very dissatisfied customers who feel wronged, Weiser says.

The pilot program was developed by student interns and graduate fellows working at the department and launched in March 2022. It included over 60 dispute resolutions and more than $127,000 in value returned to consumers.

‘Everyone is susceptible’

The attorney general’s office also works closely with AARP ElderWatch Colorado to help educate older residents on how to spot and avoid scams.

Mark Fetterhoff, ElderWatch program manager, says that while younger people report being the victim of a scam more often, older adults tend to lose more money because they have more assets.

It’s an old trope that the only people experiencing scams are older adults because they’re trusting or don’t want to hang up the phone because it’s rude, says Kathy Stokes, director of fraud prevention programs at AARP. Everyone is susceptible to fraud, but for older Americans, it can be catastrophic, Stokes says.

“When you’re 83 and you lose $800,000 and that’s all you had, it’s life-altering,” she says.

ElderWatch will hold a telephone town hall on fraud prevention on Wednesday, May 1, from 11 a.m. to noon.

Weiser will join the event to provide fraud updates and answer questions.

AARP this year will also hold events where Coloradans can shred sensitive personal documents to help protect against identity theft, and workshops on how to check credit reports.

To report fraud, call the ElderWatch helpline at 800-222-4444 and select option 2. Find out about upcoming events at aarp.org/COevents.

You can also report suspected fraud at stopfraudcolorado.gov.

Cynthia Pasquale is a freelance writer and former editor at The Denver Post. She has written for the Bulletin since 2011.

More on Fraud

• 6 Top Scams to Watch Out for in 2024
• 5 Ways to Build Better Passwords
• 13 Ways to Protect Yourself from Fraud