HELENA — The Montana Office of Consumer Protection announced that in 2024, it saved Montana from losing $1 million from business and scam complaints. In 2024, the office fielded 900 scam complaints and over 1,000 complaints about businesses.
Andrew Butler is the Division of Criminal Investigations Attorney for the Office of Consumer Protection at the Montana Department of Justice.
Butler urges Montanans to be aware of the scammers tactics and tone.
“Their tactics tend to be high pressure, fear-mongering, and intimidating toward individuals in those circumstances; if you can hang up, hang up immediately, call us, and we'll be happy to send out a representative or touch base with you in a way that would kind of calm the situation down. We understand that it can be terrifying.
As for the most common scams that the Office saw in the past year, I'd appreciate it.
“So, the top scams that we usually see come across our desks are scams related to impersonating law enforcement, which usually results in them asking for some payment. A lot of times, they’ll ask for Bitcoin or gift card payments. We also see computer tech scams so, like remoting into your computer, and even pet scams, a little bit of that,” said Butler.
Of the $1 million that the office prevented Montanan’s from losing, OCP prevented the loss of $314,00 to scammers and recovered $687,000 for consumers who filed complaints against businesses.
Additionally, Montanans themselves were able to prevent the loss of some $ 4 Million by recognizing potential scammers.
The OCP says the dollar amount they protect Montanans from losing each year and recover for residents from scams fluctuates between $800,000 and $1.2 million.
Montanans should keep these tips in mind to protect themselves from scammers:
- Don’t give out personal information to someone soliciting it from you over the phone or the internet. Banks will never and government agencies will never call and ask for your personal information.
- Never wire or give money to someone you don’t know. Don’t send gift cards, prepaid debit cards, or cryptocurrency to someone you do not know. Even if you think it’s someone you know, follow up to make sure before you wire any money.
- Use common sense and do your due diligence: ask around, talk to others, and call OCP if you have any doubts or questions.
- Be skeptical, resist high-pressure tactics, take your time. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!
Montanans can report any phone, email, or mail scams to the Montana Department of Justice's Office of Consumer Protection via email at contactocp@mt.gov or toll-free phone call at 800-481-6896.
