HARTFORD, Conn. (WTIC Radio)—State leaders and advocates of consumer protection are urging community/nonprofit legal service organizations to join the Federal Trade Commission's new Community Advocate Center Program to help protect underserved communities from fraud.
Connecticut's Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) is partnering with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to encourage participation in the program in an effort to expand the federal agency's reach and efforts in the state.
Through the program, local legal service organizations can report fraud and other illegal practices directly to FTC, find resources for fraud victims on how to recover, see aggregated data of their submitted reports to identify patterns within their local community and get FTC updates on new refund programs and latest trends.
The initiative aims to help those who are vulnerable to scammers but often do not report the scam, FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter said.
"They are the underrepresented communities, communities of color, lower income communities, immigrant communities, people who may not have either the knowledge or the comfort with going directly to a federal government website. But what they do know is their local legal services organizations," Slaughter said.
However, Slaughter explained that while local organizations are hearing about the fraud and scam-related problems their community members are facing, they often do not have the resources to provide the help that is needed on a federal level.
With the program, organizations will be able to connect their community members to concrete steps they can take to try and get back any money that was lost in a scam, Slaughter said.
"Hearing from more voices more quickly will also help state and federal law enforcers take that action to stop those bad actors," she said.
Several state and local officials joined Slaughter Friday at the Hartford Public Library in announcing the program.
Connecticut residents will benefit greatly from this partnership that will provide them with resources to avoid scams and to recuperate losses, Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz said.
"By acting as a critical resource to those who are preyed on by fraudsters, this coalition of legal aid, the DCP and the FTC will be a vital helping hand for consumer victims of fraud around Connecticut," U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal said.
Attorney General William Tong agreed, saying the new initiative will bring much needed outreach and resources to lower-income communities and the legal aid organizations that serve them.
Additional information about the Community Advocate Center program is available at ReportFraud.ftc.gov/community.