buyer beware

Always be aware of new scams happening around your area. If you think something is too good to be true, trust your gut!

One of the worst but most effective scams to thrive under pandemic conditions has been the puppy scam. It really kicked into gear during the many lockdowns because more people were home, but even with less restrictions, it's still going strong.

As you probably already know, today is Cyber Monday, which is always the first Monday after Thanksgiving. I say "always" like Cyber Monday has been around forever, but it's only been called that since 2005.

Look, the cold, hard fact is that scammers are looking to screw you over 12 months out of the year. However, the holiday season always brings out more bad actors than the rest of the year, without fail.

Over the past month or so we've seen food product recalls of salads, pet foods, and muffins, all for different reasons. Two had a problem with Salmonella, another involved the potential for listeria. Now comes another recall, and this time it's beef.

I know, I write about scams going around and through Rockford and the Rockford area quite a bit. The reason is pretty simple. I'm outraged by what scammers are doing to senior citizens, people who are barely getting by, young people, and families.

Normally, the warnings about home improvement scams go out right after some sort of weather event like destructive storms, flooding, damaging winds or similar occurrences.

As I look at an email I just got from the Illinois Lottery, I see that tonight's Powerball drawing has about $730 million reasons for you to consider playing. As the Illinois Lottery's Jessica Perez explains, "This is the fourth largest Powerball prize in game history and the sixth highest jackpot in U.S. lottery history."

We do our best around here to keep an eye on the latest scams that are working their way across the country, and if there's one thing to be learned, it's the fact that scams come in all shapes and sizes.

You've got phony charities out there trying to making you sorry for being altruistic, puppy fraud scams taking your money and giving you a broken heart, and now a couple of other scams are making headway, too.