Wisconsin Football Coaches Association All Star Football Game

It's always great to have Michelle Reinen from Dat Cap visit with us to try and keep people out of some summer jams.

How you doing, Michelle?

I'm doing great.

Thanks for asking.

Good to have you back.

You know, it's July and I even hate to bring this up, but, uh, school shopping scams.

It's probably not too early to start looking at school supplies and we want to keep people from scamming,

right?

Absolutely.

I've already seen the ads on television.

So that time of year is here already.

And we do want to keep people aware of what they need to look out for.

And shopping online can have really great benefits.

However, it can also be a great platform for scammers to try and convince parents to make a purchase and then never send the promised product or deliver poor quality products.

And in 2025, shopping scams were the most reported scam on social media, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

And more than 40% of people who lost money to a scam on social media said it started.

when they ordered a product they saw in an online ad.

So by knowing how to identify those possible risks, consumers can avoid wasting their money and energy during this upcoming back to school season.

What are some things they should look for or look out for, Michelle?

Well, there's a different groupings that they need to be mindful of.

And the first is dishonest ads.

And this is where shoppers can receive an ad.

on that social media feed, maybe in a text message or in their email, and it will be promoting school supplies.

And more expensive items like bags, clothing, or laptops are commonly advertised as having a limited supply or only being on sale for a short time.

And these ads and links can lead to websites that are dishonest or outright scams.

And that takes us to that next grouping, and that's the Copycat website.

Those are the convincing lookalikes.

to well-known sales platforms and they're carefully designed to trick consumers into that false sense of familiarity and normalcy.

And even if the price and our product seems too good to be true, you really just need to trust your gut on that versus trusting the website because it could just be that copycat.

And then we have poor quality products, and that's whether a seller uses that fraudulent copycat website or their own third-party sales platform.

You need to be mindful of a low-quality counterfeit or knockoff product, and sellers may provide those vague product information, descriptions, or sell popular items at those suspiciously low prices that can't be found anywhere else.

And then finally, we have the fake reviews category.

Because it's possible for scammers to purchase or create fake product reviews and social media comments.

And even if a company has a large number of followers or glowing testimonial, it could still be fraudulent, dishonest, or a scam.

So in addition to fake reviews, they can come with generic or unverified profiles and customers who are offered a free product or discount in exchange for a positive review.

Be mindful of the fact that not all reviews are honest and truthful and coming from legitimate customers.

Is it easier or maybe better I should say to pay with a credit card when you're shopping and something like that?

Yes, I hope consumers do plan to pay with a credit card because it offers that additional anti fraud protection that's out there and a couple of other things to just keep in mind is to really

Check the website address and pay attention to that URL because you want to be sure you're paying when it's an HTTPS, S being for security.

You want to pay attention to the URL that goes in and be sure that it doesn't have any additional backslashes that talk about sales or some other promotion that you're legitimately at the company you think you are and the best way may be to type it in yourself.

And then compare those deals across several websites to check if a price is unrealistically low for the product you're looking at.

There's something I don't believe we've talked about in this program.

If we have, it's been a while, but uh, gold bar loss.

What can you tell us about that?

Yeah, we've only talked about it in reference to a scam, but here we have a situation where we really want to bring it to light because we heard from a dad cap consumer.

who had liquidated their entire life savings.

They purchased the gold bars and gave them to a scammer who was impersonating a government agency and lost $2.5 million in total as a result.

And what happened here is this scammer impersonated the Federal Trade Commission, reached out to the consumer and convinced them their finances were caught up in a scheme involving criminal cartels and money laundering.

and then they claimed that they could help.

But in order to help, the consumer had to sign a fake non-disclosure agreement and they were pressured into keeping the entire situation a secret from their closest friends and family.

And then the consumer talked to the consumer through the process of liquidating their life savings, transferring it to a bank and converting it into hundreds of gold bars.

And the final step is that the scammer then arrived at the consumer's house to pick up these gold bars.

They drove away and the consumer never heard from or saw them again.

So this is really very tragic.

And when you are stepping away from it, you can see the red flags.

But when you're in it, it gets difficult to navigate this because

This scammer used the tactics of urgency, high pressure, threats of consequences, impersonating the government, manipulating emotions, and they just carried it forward step by step.

You can see why people get a little paranoid.

I mean, it pays to be mindful, but you know, sometimes it scares people into not wanting to do anything, I think, doesn't it?

Absolutely.

So if we can all just put in practice that

No matter the situation, we're going to pause before taking any action.

We're going to pause and then we're going to talk to someone about it.

That could be calling DadCap.

It could be calling your family members, but that you will not keep anything a secret because if you want to talk about it, there's no reason why anything should have to stay a secret.

So that will help you then talk through a situation to see if it's legitimate.

Maybe they'll convince you to check things out a little further than you already have.

And then remembering when and if we can that a consumer never needs to move their money to protect it.

Financial accounts are already secure.

And if there are any problems, a financial institution is going to contact a consumer directly.

And no honest business or government agency will tell someone to immediately move their money.

But again, that's when you're caught up in the emotion.

That part gets forgotten.

But if we can put in practice the pause and talk about it, that can be our regular routine.

Every year we talk about summer travel, which is right, the middle of it right now.

But you wanted to talk a little bit about hotel booking issues, Michelle.

I do because we've heard from a consumer who ran into kind of a double layer situation here.

The consumer thought they'd booked a hotel room for a family event, but they later learned that by calling the hotel's front desk, the room had never actually been booked at all.

Instead, they'd accidentally booked the room on a fraudulent website that looked identical to the real hotel's page.

And as a result, this consumer lost their money.

And then they didn't have any lodging for the upcoming event because the hotel was completely booked.

So ways that you can avoid this imposter website scam is

Don't click on those links in social media ads and posts.

Check if the website address has any unexpected additions or differences from a usual URL like slash booking or reservation added to the address.

And then whenever possible, book directly with the hotel, not on a third-party website, because then you can confirm that everything is legitimate by checking

on different platforms and calling the front desk and then at the end of the reservation period go ahead and call the hotel again directly after booking just to confirm everything went through the transaction successfully and you are connected and ready to go.

But the other thing that happened with this consumer in this situation is that

problem didn't stop with that original booking.

After they discovered that this reservation didn't go through and there were no additional vacancies, they managed to find an available room on a third party booking website.

So the consumer booked and paid for that room, but later they were charged an additional $200.

And that is because they had not unchecked a small box on the third party sites payment page.

And so this is a negative option billing situation.

That box was for an optional refund protection fee, but because it was checked by default, the consumer just didn't notice it and they didn't opt out to avoid being charged that extra amount.

So when you're on these sites, you really have to pay attention to these negative option billings or these dark patterns where boxes are pre-checked for us

and and really look at the details closely so you know what you are agreeing to and maybe paying for.

You

have a beware of scams for those with federal student loans.

What can you tell us about that, Michelle?

Yeah, this is also happening right now.

A very busy time of year for us this summer and that is that the federal student loan borrowers who are still enrolled in the SAVE plan

were notified that as of July 1, they have 90 days to switch to another plan option, or they're automatically going to be placed into another plan.

And so borrowers who are affected by these changes should immediately check their current repayment plan and status, find out what other plans are available to them, and then take action now to switch to the plan that's best for them versus being automatically switched to any old plan.

And pay attention to red flags that could be out there.

They could get phone calls or emails or post text messages asking for upfront fees for assistance in switching plans.

They could be promised loan forgiveness or cancellation by scammers that are out there or told that they have great offers for a limited time only.

being asked for their federal student aid or their FSA ID number, which it really is the same legal status as a signature, so you should never give that away unsolicited.

And then signing any document that would give third-party authorization or power of attorney form.

Scammers are really trying to convince consumers who are in these spots to sign over that power so they can then contact

and change information for the borrower by changing where those payments are being directed and getting that payment directly to that scammer.

Are there some places where people can turn for some resource information?

Yeah, actually, Wisconsin has some great resources.

The Wisconsin Student Loan Help Hotline.

This is run by the Wisconsin Coalition on Student Debt and Ascendium Education Solutions.

You can call 833.

5-8-9-0-7-5-0 or go to the Wisconsin Coalition on Student Debt's website at debtsmarts.org because they will also be able to respond to questions.

And then there's always the federal student aid website studentaid.gov.

That's the office of the U.S.

Department of Education and that assists powers with federal aid, grants, forgiveness, and repayment programs.

And there you should find legitimate real time information.

All right.

Well, you're a valuable resource.

We appreciate that.

Since the last time we talked, we had one of our listeners call and update us on a situation where there was a couple that were looking to rent a residence and they were kind of duped into putting a down payment, finding out later that this place in the picture was not for rent.

Is that common?

Is that something you've dealt with, Michelle?

It is something we have heard about here at DadCap, and unfortunately for this consumer, the scammers are using legitimate web postings and creating new contact information.

They're using real addresses, the places that are rented, and so it can be hard to navigate.

But they're also using artificial intelligence to create and compile postings.

So they create a new location but use a different address and a different property owner.

So it can be very difficult for those who are out there looking to rent a property.

And we hope that they can take time to check things out by getting the address of the property and verifying and confirming the actual owner and property manager using public records.

that are on file with the municipality or the county, searching the address to confirm that it isn't just a driveway or a dumpster type situation, that there really is a property for rent at that location, and then checking for complaints against the property owner that they are indicating they are.

But doing all this before any money is put down, because we've also seen scams,

where applications fees are, uh, being quite high and being asked for of each and every tenant that will be at that property before someone can even tour the property.

And so money is lost, not just personal application information.

If possible, probably better to go to the realtor office or the, the office of the, you know, the manager or whatever, see them in person, right?

Absolutely.

You want to see if you can tour the property, make that appointment, confirm everything for your own eyes by walking through that property.

But that's part of this scam because housing is in demand in so many areas that they encourage you to put the money down to hold your space and indicate that there aren't appointments for the tour right now.

We've even seen where some have been on legitimate third party rental housing platforms and then refused to allow the, quote, landlord to talk to the tenant live in person.

They have to continue communicating through the platform.

And so consumers have tried to ask questions about utility bills and the lease provisions and earnest money and security deposits.

And these gamers haven't been able to give legitimate answers to those questions.

So some have been able to see the red flags and back away from the situation.

Sounds good.

We have taken much of your time.

Shall we appreciate your expertise and we'll talk to you in the month of August.

That sounds great.

Thank you.

Michelle Reinen for our monthly visit on the morning show.

Any other topics you'd like to discuss, you can check out more.

You can always call Wisconsin Consumer Protection's hotline at 1-800-422-7128 or DATCP hotline at wi.gov.