It’s National Consumer Protection Week —and while AARP is focused on protecting consumers year-round – this is a good time to highlight some key consumer protection tips.

Giving out personal or financial information to someone who contacts you is a high-risk proposition – be it by phone, email, text, or online. Rather than clicking links from texts and emails from your bank or from businesses you have accounts with, go to your app if you have one, or to a web browser and type the address in yourself – that way you know you are going to the legitimate site. Lastly, engage your inner skeptic when a communication produces a strong emotional response; we know scammers want us “under the ether” of emotion to get us to believe their lies. Check out our Fraud Resource Center at www.aarp.org/frc for more insights and tips to stay safe from scams and fraud.

Be a fraud fighter! If you can spot a scam, you can stop a scam. Visit the AARP Fraud Watch Network at www.aarp.org/fraudwatchnetwork or call the AARP Fraud Watch Helpline at 1-877-908-3360.