Wisconsin Consumer's Top 2021 Complaint a Familiar One

Tuesday, February 8th, 2022 -- 9:00 AM

(Bob Hague, WRN) Wisconsin’s top consumer complaint for 2021 is a familiar one.

Lara Sutherlin with the state Department of Ag, Trade and Consumer Protection says there were more than 27-hundred complaints regarding telemarketing last year. “With the number of scam calls and texts that all consumers and businesses get . . . we’re going to continue to see that as our number one complaint.” Your safest course of action is to not respond to unsolicited calls, texts, emails or social media posts. “If it sounds too good to be true it is.”

Sutherlin says they’re everywhere. “And they often piggyback on government programs, issues around things that we need and people we trust. So romance scams where people pretend to be someone we love, or student loan scams where people pretend to be a company that is going to help you out of an inordinate amount of debt. Unsolicited calls, unsolicited texts, can generally be ignored. If there’s information there that you think you need, search that information out from a place that you trust, and ignore those unsolicited calls.”       

DATCP fielded more than 27-hundred complaints regarding telemarketing last year. If you need assistance, to file a complaint, or to find additional resources and information visit DATCP's Bureau of Consumer Protection at www.datcp.wi.gov, call the Consumer Protection Hotline at (800) 422-7128, or send an e-mail to [email protected].

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.