District Attorney Recognizes Celebration of 20th Anniversary of National Consumer Protection Week

District Attorney Jill Ravitch urges consumers to recognize and participate in National Consumer Protection Week March 4-10. This year celebrates the 20^thanniversary of the event.

The Federal Trade Commission has a number of events planned to help consumers understand their rights and how to spot scams. See full information by visiting the Federal Trade Commission’s website.

In its Annual Summary of Complaints Reported by Consumers, the FTC reports it received complaints from 2.66 million consumers who reported losing a total of $905 million to fraud in 2017.

The Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office has a unit dedicated to Environmental and Consumer Protection that handles a wide variety of environmental, consumer and fraud cases. The ECLD has successfully prosecuted consumer protection violations, both civilly and criminally, in a number of areas, including misleading telephone solicitations, false advertising, health and beauty scams, retail store price overcharges, mobile home rent control, slack fill products, Proposition 65, adulterated or misbranded products, and public nuisance abatement. Most recently, the unit has been investigating and prosecuting complaints regarding price gouging and unlicensed contractors that have arisen after the recent fires.

  Consumers in Sonoma County who believe they are the victims of unlawful business practices or false advertising are urged to contact the Environmental and Consumer Law Division of the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office at (707) 565-3161. In order to keep consumers informed, the District Attorney’s office also publishes a Consumer Alerts newsletter free of charge that provides alerts to the community of reported scams both locally and nationally. Community members can sign up to receive the alerts by visiting the District Attorney’s Office website