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More Than One-In-10 Americans Fell Victim to Fraud

The Federal Trade Commission today released a statistical survey of fraud in the United States that shows that nearly 25 million adults 11.2 percent of the adult population were victims of fraud during the year studied. Certain racial and ethnic minorities were much more likely to be victims of fraud then non-Hispanic whites. American Indians and Alaska Natives were the ethnic group most likely to be victims: nearly 34 percent had experienced one or more frauds in the preceding year. Seventeen percent of African Americans were victims; over 14 percent of Hispanics were victims; and over 6 percent of Non-Hispanic whites were victims.

We found that American Indians and Alaska Natives, African Americans, and Hispanics are more likely to be victims of fraud than non-Hispanic whites, said Howard Beales, Director of the FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection. "These findings will help us fine-tune our Hispanic Law Enforcement and Outreach Initiative, and explore additional opportunities to target frauds aimed at communities which are at risk."

The survey of 2,500 randomly chosen consumers shows that consumers with high levels of debt were more likely to be victims of fraud. Three of the top four categories of fraud related to credit, including credit-repair scams often targeted at those carrying high debt loads or having bad credit.

The most frequently reported type of consumer fraud was advance-fee loan scams, in which consumers pay a fee for a guaranteed loan or credit card. Four and a half million consumers 2.1 percent of the U.S. adult population paid advance fees but did not receive the promised loan or card. In fact, some consumers reported that more than once during the last year they paid fees to get loans or credit cards they did not get.

Buyers club memberships or bills for unordered publications was the second most commonly reported fraud category in the survey. Some four million consumers 1.9 percent of the U.S. adult population were unwittingly billed for memberships they did not authorize or publications they did not order.

Credit card insurance scams and credit repair were the third and fourth most common frauds identified in the survey. While federal law limits consumers credit card fraud liability to $50, fraudsters sell credit card insurance by falsely claiming that card holders face significant financial risk if their credit cards are misused. An estimated 3.3 million consumers bought unnecessary insurance against the unauthorized use of their credit cards.

Some fraudsters convince consumers that they can help them remove truthful, negative information from their credit report, or establish a new credit record. They cant, and credit repair schemes are illegal, but two million consumers paid for credit repair services the year prior to the survey.

The results of our survey indicate that fraud in the U.S. is a serious problem, said Beales. We have brought many enforcement actions against these types of scams in the past, and we will bring more in the future.

The survey reveals that 33 percent of fraud victims first learned about a fraudulent offer or product from print advertising in newspapers, magazines, direct mail, catalogs, or posters. Telemarketing was the first source of contact in 17 percent of the frauds. Only 14 percent of fraudulent offers were promoted using Internet and e-mail; television or radio advertising account for only 10.6 percent of fraudulent offers.

Women and younger consumers are more likely to complain if they have been victims of fraud, the survey found. An estimated 74.5 percent of female victims complained. For males, the complaint rate was 10 percentage points lower. Similarly, almost 75 percent of consumers under the age of 35 complained, compared to only 55.4 percent of consumers between 55 and 64.

According to the survey, consumers between the ages of 25 and 44 are most likely to be fraud victims. Eleven percent of them were victims, compared to 8.7 percent in the 45 to 54 year bracket, 6.1 percent of consumers aged 55 to 64, and only 4.7 of consumers 65 years and older.

The top 10 frauds listed in the report include:

* Advance-fee loan scams 4.55 million victims;
* Buyers clubs 4.05 million victims;
* Credit card insurance 3.35 million victims;
* Credit repair 2 million victims;
* Prize promotions 1.8 million victims;
* Internet services 1.75 million victims;
* Pyramid schemes 1.55 million victims;
* Information services .8 million victims;
* Government job offers .65 million victims; and
* Business opportunities .45 million victims.

In addition to the fraud categories, the survey found that an estimated 13.9 million consumers were victims of telephone slamming unauthorized and illegal changes in long distance telephone service.

If you need help reviewing your credit report, contact Cindy Morus, Certified Credit Report Reviewer for a Credit Report Review. For more information, go to: Credit Report Review Information (http://www.phelps-creek.com/archives/CreditReportPress.asp) and Top 10 Reasons to Review your Credit Report Regularly (http://www.phelps-creek.com/archives/CheckCreditReport.asp)

Cindy S. Morus (www.phelps-creek.com) is a Certified Financial Recovery Counselor specializing in showing women and their families how to achieve financial well-being and peace of mind. She is also a Certified Credit Report Reviewer and Get Clients NOW! licensee. Contact her at 541-387-2995 or cmorus@phelps-creek.com She is also the publisher and editor of "Financial Fitness", an internet gazette dedicated to helping people improve their financial fitness no matter what decisions were made in the past.

Attention Ezine editors/Site owners: Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety in your ezine or website as long as you leave all links in place, do not alter the content and include our resource box as listed above. If you do use the material please send us a note (cmorus@phelps-creek.com) so we can take a look. Thanks.

# posted by magnuszmspyqb @ 9:14 AM 0 comments

Let me share with you my personal experience with a low carbohydrate diet - why it didn't work and what eventually did.

Like so many people around this world of ours, I struggled, and still do, with weight loss issues. Its not that I am overly obese or overweight but like so many men, I suffer from the good old large belly syndrome. My wife wanted me to lose weight and get back to the body that I had when I first met her. So I looked into what options there were. Turning on the television shopping channel and you are completely inundated with all sorts of whiz bang exercise gadgets and gizmos with beautiful tanned models telling you that all you have to do is purchase this machine and you'll have a body as great as them. Their sales pitch always goes something along the lines of just an hour a day in front of the television and you'll be feeling the results in days. I tell you what results I normally feel from these gadgets - I feel exhausted and soon I feel ripped off because after a few weeks, I give up as the initial novelty wears off, the day to day activities get in the way, and I don't see any real results. So then you turn to diet plans instead. And we all know one of the most commonly marketed diet plan is the low carb diet. There was so much marketing buzz about this plan that I had to try it.

There are many different low carb diet plans on the market but I think the best known and most talked about plan is the Atkins Diet. Essentially all of these plans have the same basic message - limit the amount of carbohydrates that are consumed, as carbohydrates turn into fat. The focus of these plans is that you need to count the number of carbs that go into your daily diet and limit the amount according to your own body type or to a set amount as dictated by the diet program. The Atkins diet also involves a two week induction process that basically says no carbs at all and also eliminate all fruit and vegetable intake. The theory behind this is that your body then goes into a state called ketosis where, unable to get energy from carbohydrate, existing fat stores are burnt as a source of energy. After this initial phase, the diet then moves into somewhat less severe phases of weight loss and weight maintenance, but still operates in a mode of restricted carbohydrate consumption.

On paper and in theory, these programs probably do work. It makes sense that by cutting out the foods that turn into fat, you will be able to reduce your fat stores and thus lose weight. But the issue is, theory does not equal real life. The reason why so many people, including me, fail with low carb diets, is that our bodies are used to the kind of energy that we get from carb intake. What basically happened to me is that during the induction period, when I stopped eating any carbohydrates, no sugar nor fruit nor vegetables, I basically felt completely flat and listless and had no energy at all to do anything. By the end of week one I was completely ready to give it all up. I pushed on, but by the mid week two, I couldn't take it any longer and binged on carbs and fruit for a few hours. I then felt guilty and decided to restart the two weeks all over again. Needless to say by the end of week three, I was completely out of it and unable to really function properly. I didn't feel like even getting out of bed which then impacted my family and work life.

I basically didn't even make it out of the initial induction period and it made me depressed! I felt like I had failed and had a lot of negative thoughts about myself and food altogether.

This is essentially the reason why low carb diets, especially the Atkins diet, simply don't work. Whilst in theory they should work, they do not take into account practical life and every day living nor the impacts it can have on people. If I was living in a glass bubble where I didn't actually have any responsibilities nor did I have to go to work, this diet may have worked. But most people I know lead fairly hectic lives that require energy to sustain themselves.

It wasn't until someone pointed me to an alternative diet plan that I was able to pick myself up out of this rut and start feeling better for myself. What attracted me to this new diet plan was the fact that I didn't have to go into this unpractical state of consuming no carbs nor did I have to count calories nor purchase some fancy dietary supplements. The new diet was also based on proven results with all sorts of people and was scientifically proven to work. It also allowed me to eat more meals a day and allowed me to eat most of the things I normally eat.

The diet plan is based around the fact that our bodies do one of two things when you eat food, it either fires up fat burning hormones and thus burns off the fat in the food you are eating as well as fat stored in your body, or it fires up fat storage hormones which basically means you add more fat to your body. The diet plan focuses on an eating plan that optimizes the production of your fat burning hormones. The plan not only consists of what foods to eat it also involves a set time to eat. Contrary to popular belief, three meals a day is not a healthy eating plan - five to six meals a day is! (although obviously these meals are smaller than what most people eat during their three meals a day structure).

This revolutionary diet plan is based around a notion called Shifting Calories. This is because your metabolism always burns calories based on your eating habits during the past few days because it assumes that you'll continue to eat in the same general way. If you shift your calories and shock your body by eating different things on different days, then you can start to increase your metabolism and fat burning hormones thus burning away more fat. Whilst it may sound complicated, let me assure you the diet plan is very easy to follow.

To cut a long story short, I basically bought this plan and tried it out. Whilst it might sound cliche, I was personally very happy as the plan worked and I was able to lose quite a lot of fat around my belly. I'm now on my way of getting back the body I had when I was much younger. Low carb diet plans simply don't work because they do not take into account the practically of real life, but the Fat Loss 4 Idiots diet plan does! Make sure you check it out for yourself if you are struggling with your weight like I was.

For more information on losing weight & staying fit, visit Best Healthy Weight

# posted by magnuszmspyqb @ 4:00 AM 0 comments