Attorney General Chris Carr announced that the Georgia Department of Law is joining a group of federal, state and local government agencies and national consumer advocacy organizations in recognizing National Consumer Protection Week, March 4-10, 2018.

“Our office will continue to do everything in our power to protect and defend our consumers from deceptive practices in the marketplace,” said Attorney General Chris Carr. “But, the best defense against scams and unscrupulous business activities is to be a savvy consumer. We encourage all Georgians to use our resources to educate themselves and know their rights and responsibilities under the law.”

The Department of Law’s Consumer Protection Unit receives hundreds of consumer complaints a month about unlawful business practices and investigates those businesses that demonstrate a pattern or practice of bad behavior. In 2017 CPU was responsible for obtaining $37,609,969 for consumers and the State – $24,439,936 for consumers under Georgia’s Lemon Law program, $7,655,335 in consumer restitution and $5,514,698 in penalties and judgments.

In addition, the office reached over 315,000 individuals with its consumer education efforts, which are carried out through a variety of methods, including presentations across the state, distribution of educational literature and two dedicated web sites:

Consumer.ga.gov, where you can file a complaint against a business, find information on a wide variety of consumer topics, and read the office’s latest press releases.

ConsumerEd.ga.gov, which helps consumers make wise decisions about their homes, cars, credit and finances and responds to consumer questions via the bi-weekly “Ask Consumer Ed” blog.

CPU is currently developing a Consumer Protection Guide for Older Adults designed to protect this vulnerable population from financial exploitation and help them navigate many of the challenging issues they face. The guide is scheduled to be released this Spring.