Milwaukee Tackles Its Legacy of Consumer Fraud
By Khalil Abdullah, Ethnic Media Services
(Milwaukee, WI) -- African Americans and Hispanics continue to be victimized by consumer scams at higher rates than white Americans but are more reluctant to report their experiences, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) officials.
“African Americans are almost twice as likely to be victims of consumer fraud as whites,” said Todd Kossow, FTC’s Midwest Regional Director, noting that Hispanics also are victimized “at a significantly higher rate than whites.”
He listed debt-related scams that hold out the hope of avoiding foreclosure, paying down student loans, and credit card debt among the leading monetary enticements that lure poor, low-income, or otherwise financially marginal individuals to grasp at the false promises of solvency and freedom from creditors.
