By Forum Staff
Retail sales fraud, both online and in-person, was the No. 1 consumer complaint of 2024, according to State Attorney General Tish James.
The AG’s Office received more than 5,100 retail sales complaints last year. Common sources of such fraud include online purchases, price gouging, retail sales, defective merchandise, poor customer service, pet stores, and animal breeders.
The rest of the top 10 consumer complaints of 2024 are: landlord/tenant; automobile; internet; credit, banking, and mortgages; consumer services; utilities; home repair/improvement; entertainment; travel.
James released the following tips to help consumers avoid fraudulent retail sales practices:
- New York’s price gouging statute prevents businesses from taking advantage of consumers by selling essential goods or services at an excessively higher price during market disruptions resulting from emergencies.
The OAG has seen an increase in complaints about price gouging of eggs and poultry amid a national bird flu outbreak. The bird flu has affected poultry and dairy farms across the country, causing shortages and driving up prices. Attorney General James urges New Yorkers who see significantly increased prices on eggs or poultry to report the issue to her office. When reporting price gouging to OAG, consumers should:
- Report the specific increased prices, dates, and places that they saw the increased prices; and,
- Provide copies of their sales receipts and photos of the advertised prices, if available.
- Price gouging violations can carry penalties of up to $25,000 per violation.
Consumers have increasingly complained about restaurants and other businesses charging extra for using a credit card, often without disclosing that is the case. New York law allows merchants to offer discounts for payment with cash, while charging consumers paying with a credit card a higher price only if they obey the following rules:
- Merchants must either solely display the higher credit card price for the products or services they sell or list both the credit card price and the lower cash price for the items.
- Merchants cannot simply post that they are adding a surcharge or additional fee, or that there will be a percentage added to the bill.
- Merchants cannot charge customers more in surcharges than what the business is charged by the credit card processing companies.
“Every day, my office fights back against a wide range of fraudulent, deceptive, and illegal practices, protecting New Yorkers from price gouging, deed theft, false advertising, and more,” James said. “It is more important than ever that consumers and small businesses in New York know that my office is on their side and always looking out for their wallets. I encourage everyone to stay vigilant, follow our tips, and contact my office with information about scams and violations of consumer protection laws.”
James also noted that the AG’s Office has seen an increase in complaints related to online account takeovers. In an account takeover, scammers compromise your account and change passwords so that the rightful owner cannot access the account. Once bad actors gain access, they can steal personal information, read private messages, scam contacts, post publicly, fraudulently charge credit cards, and take other nefarious actions.
