Oregon Consumer League

❗️ According to an Amazon update on scams trends, Amazon impersonators are sending deceptive emails about product safety recalls and pressuring recipients to click on links for information about refunds. Clicking the links will lead to third-party websites designed to steal login credentials, payment information and personal data.

Amazon will not ask customers to verify account information or to log in through a link sent by email. When Amazon notifies consumers about a genuine recall, customers will see the information directly in their Amazon account under “Messages” or “Your Orders.”

For tips on what to do if you receive a suspicious recall notice and where to report fake recalls, check out Amazon's update by clicking the article below.

The latest scam trends from Amazon US: Recognizing Fraudulent Product Recall Notices Each month, Amazon updates consumers with the latest information on the top scams to watch out for. Continue to check this page for updates and to view our previous alerts.

Academic studies have found that microfinance, loans issued in communities not served by traditional banks, doesn't improve the economic conditions of most borrowers. High interest rates, which can top 100%, and pressure tactics by loan officers have been tied to suicides, homelessness and children pulled from school to work.

Hundreds of Billions in Loans Didn’t Make a Dent in Global Poverty Microfinance aimed to foster prosperity but stoked hardship for those borrowers who took on debt they couldn’t afford.

🏝️❗️Watch out for these common traps and scams when planning your vacations. Check out tips from National Consumers League's Fraud.org by clicking this link: https://fraud.org/dont-let-summer-scams-spoil-your-plans/

An analysis by the Wall Street Journal found that the largest five insurance companies denied over 44% of claims in 2025. Those companies included Allstate, State Farm, Liberty Mutual, USAA, and Farmers. Plus, the percentage of insurance claims denied has risen substantially over the last decade. The insurers are also increasing deductibles, meaning that consumers have to pay more out of pocket before their coverage kicks in.

Big Five home insurers didn't pay out on nearly half of claims last year, analysis says The five biggest home insurers collectively declined more than 44 percent of claims resolved in 2025, according to the analysis

The rising cost of insurance is threatening the ability of would-be buyers to attain homeownership and, increasingly, the ability of existing homeowners to sustain it.

Check out the research report from Urban Institute:

Property Insurance Affordability The rising cost of insurance is threatening the ability of would-be buyers to attain homeownership and, increasingly, the ability of existing homeowners to s…

Privacy legislation in twenty-one states (including Oregon) includes the right to opt out of the sale and sharing of personal data, and most of these laws require companies to provide clear, easy-to-use opt-out mechanisms for consumers to exercise their rights. EPIC's report finds that many prominent online platforms’ opt-out processes utilize manipulative design patterns, which are deceptive, manipulative, coercive, or exploitative design choices that undermine consumers’ ability to make choices that reflect their true preference and intentions.

Check out the report:

Good Luck Opting Out: Manipulative Design Patterns in Opt-Out Processes EPIC’s report Good Luck Opting Out: Manipulative Design Patterns in Opt-Out Processes by Justin Sherman, EPIC Scholar in Residence, and Caroline Kraczon, EPIC Counsel, investigates whether the consumer opt-out processes provided by major online platforms use manipulative design patterns to make it...

The Oregon Consumer League joined 138 stakeholders in a letter to congressional leaders calling on Congress to preserve an independent, bipartisan Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and ensure the agency has the appropriate tools, resources, and personnel to carry out its lifesaving mission.

Read more here:https://nclnet.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Letter-HHS-Budget-CPSC-Transfer-5-27-26.pdf

The rise of property technology, or “PropTech,” is exacerbating the country’s rental housing affordability crisis. A new report from the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) shines a light on one predatory PropTech product, security deposit “alternatives.” Millions of tenants who use them end up paying more and may be left with fewer legal protections.

Promoted as a lifeline for renters struggling with the high upfront costs of a new apartment, security deposit alternative products have nonrefundable fees, higher overall costs, misleading marketing, and fail to protect tenants, according to the report.

Tenant Insecurity: How Security Deposit "Alternatives" Raise Tenants' Costs and Erode their Protections “PropTech” is compounding the unaffordability and precarity of securing and maintaining rental housing. The proliferation of property technology has become another way to extract profits from tenants desperate for a roof over their heads. This report focuses on one of these predatory products: s...

🏫 A recent leak of customer information from Booking.com is making it easier for criminals to impersonate hotels and airlines in a scam called reservation hijacking‼️

Learn more from Fraud.org:

https://fraud.org/reservation-impersonation-becoming-easier-as-data-breaches-grow/

⚖️ Attorneys General from Oregon, California, Washington, Nevada, and New York to Highlight State-Led Wins – and Call for Resources to Address Growing Corporate Consolidation❕

As the US DOJ’s antitrust division has lost key leadership and career attorneys and federal priorities shifted away from protecting consumers, state attorneys general stepped up to protect consumers from illegal mergers and monopolies.

AG Rayfield, State AGs Warn of Enforcement Gap as Feds Pull Back on Corporate Oversight - Oregon Department of Justice Attorneys General from Oregon, California, Washington, Nevada, and New York to Highlight State-Led Wins – and Call for Resources to Address Growing Corporate Consolidation Attorney General Dan Rayfield will host a multistate press conference today to highlight the critical antitrust enforcement wo...