Dear Readers,

For the fourth year in a row, the DC Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking (DISB) has set aside a week to focus on fighting financial fraud in the District of Columbia. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty showed the city’s ongoing commitment by declaring August 10 to August 17 as the District’s Financial Fraud Awareness Week.

DISB uses this week to focus on financial scams that seduce consumers with promises of saving their homes from foreclosures, winning easy money or great prizes, and deceiving consumers into giving scammers their personal information or money.

The key messages for DISB’s Financial Fraud Awareness Week 2008 are:  

• Scams target you. Protect yourself.
• Don’t be seduced. Don’t be deceived.
• Fight the scammers! Don’t respond!
• If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.
• DISB is your source for information and protection. Visit our website at disb.dc.gov.

Financial fraud is fast becoming one of the most expensive and inconvenient crimes in society, especially with the economic downturn we are experiencing in the United States. Fraud causes people to lose time, money and confidence in the financial system. DISB has made several efforts to combat fraud on all fronts—through education, as well as enforcement and investigation of fraudulent scams.

This month’s DISPATCH newsletter focuses on identifying and combating fraud. Find out more about fighting fake insurance, mortgage fraud, avoiding charity fraud and the work DISB is doing to prevent fraud against District homeowners. Further, you will be able to read about how DISB is dealing with the subprime lending mortgage fallout and about our health insurance alerts for consumers and a whole lot more. As always, we hope our newsletters continue to provide you with useful information to protect you from unscrupulous and fraudulent practices.

Happy Reading!
Office of Communication and Public Affairs