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Consumer Alerts

• Three years ago, the FTC created its first fotonovela – a graphic novel to help Spanish-speakers spot and stop frauds targeting Latino communities. To date, we’ve published seven fotonovelas on topics from notario fraud to government imposters. They’ve been very popular – almost a million copies have flown off our shelves – and today we are announcing our newest fotonovela, La familia Rivera evita las estafas de telemercadeo (The Rivera Family Avoids a Telemarketing Scam).

• Your phone rings and the caller ID shows a number you don't know. You answer it anyway and hear, “Can you hear me now?” It's a pre-recorded robocall – even though it sounds like a real person – and it's illegal. We've heard from hundreds of people who have gotten calls like this.

• The IRS continues to warn consumers to guard against scam phone calls from thieves intent on stealing their money or their identity. Criminals pose as the IRS to trick victims out of their money or personal information.