Month: August 2025

BEWARE! SCAMS ARE COMING YOUR WAY! PART 2

Consumers beware; you’ll need to up your vigilance to avoid scams. The Trump administration is weakening consumer protections. From the cryptocurrency industry to cyber security to Social Security and health care, weak oversight and regulation will lead to consumer rip-offs and outright fraud.

Consumers beware; scams of all sorts are coming your way. The Trump administration is weakening or eliminating agencies and regulations that protect consumers. From the cryptocurrency industry to cyber security to Social Security and health care, weak oversight and regulation will lead to consumer rip-offs and outright fraud. You will need to up your level of vigilance to avoid getting scammed.

(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

(Note: Please follow me and get notices of my blog posts on Bluesky at: @jalippitt.bsky.social. Thanks!)

Consumers beware; scams of all sorts are coming your way. The Trump administration is weakening or eliminating agencies and regulations that protect consumers, so it’s an open field for unscrupulous behavior by businesses and fraudsters. From the cryptocurrency industry to cyber security to Social Security and health care, weak oversight and regulation will lead to consumer rip-offs and outright fraud. (See this previous post focused on financial and other corporate scamming.)

The cryptocurrency industry is trying to transform its image from that of a scandal-ridden and crime-enabling financial technology (aka fintech) experiment into that of a mainstream financial and commercial investment and transaction vehicle. Don’t let yourself be fooled. For example, Coinbase, founded in 2012 and now the largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange as well as the world’s biggest bitcoin custodian, has had over 8,000 consumer complaints filed against it with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). [1]

The crypto industry spent well over $100 million in the last elections, including donations to Trump-affiliated entities, to elect pro-crypto politicians and to instill fear into others who might oppose the industry. It has also spent millions on a lobbying campaign to build bipartisan support for the Republican-led pro-crypto bills and to obtain a favorable regulatory environment.

Despite the crypto industry’s record of fraud, facilitating criminal activity, and extreme volatility, the Trump administration, through an executive order, is allowing investments in it by retirement plans, corporations (including banks!), and the government itself. [2] Furthermore, the Trump administration has eliminated crypto crime units at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and in other government agencies. It has ended numerous investigations and criminal prosecutions of crypto industry entities. These actions effectively facilitate money laundering and criminal activity. [3]

Three bills have been introduced in Congress ostensibly to regulate the industry but appear more focused on giving it legitimacy and a government seal of approval. One of the three bills, the so-called Genius Act has passed and become law. It established a regulatory framework for a piece of the crypto industry called stablecoins. This type of cryptocurrency is linked to the value of the U.S. dollar which is supposed to prevent the volatility that occurs with other cryptocurrencies. Most, but not all, Democrats opposed this bill due to concerns that it lacked strong provisions to prevent fraud and money laundering. Furthermore, it does nothing to stop President Trump, his family, and his associates from profiting from cryptocurrency activities that allow other people and entities to effectively put money in Trump’s and his affiliates’ pockets. [4]

One of the other bills, the so-called Clarity Act would create a broader crypto regulatory framework. The third bill would ban the Federal Reserve from creating its own cryptocurrency that would compete with private cryptocurrencies and presumably reduce the profitability of the private crypto industry. So, beware of anything crypto industry related that comes your way.

In a variety of other arenas, the Trump administration is also weakening consumer protections.

Having effectively eliminated the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Trump administration is now considering weakening the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) that protects consumers from dangerous non-financial products.

The Trump administration has dramatically weakened some of the federal government’s cyber security agencies. So, be ever more alert for cyber crime and cyber scams. It is taking FBI agents away from their specialties such as combating hackers (as well as terrorism, espionage, public corruption, white-collar crime, civil rights, child sex crime, etc.) to have them patrol the streets of D.C. where crime is at its lowest level in years. Moreover, a map of where FBI agents and troops have been deployed makes it very clear they are not really there to combat crime; they are there to be seen and to make a statement. [5]

The Trump administration is cutting staffing and services at the Social Security Administration, while having it send out misleading information. (See this previous post for more detail.) This will make it harder for seniors and others to receive the benefits they’re owed and to get accurate information. This will create fertile ground for scammers to step in. Be on your guard.

Similarly, cuts to the health care system and weakened oversight of privatized Medicare Advantage Plans will open the door to scammers. For example, 17% of Americans now report they are using buy now, pay later (BNPL) programs to pay for medical or dental care. [6] BNPL programs not infrequently involve terms and costs that are not well explained to consumers and, therefore, result in financial abuse.

Please contact your members of Congress and tell them you support strong regulation of the crypto industry to protect consumers and to prevent crime and money laundering. Ask them to oppose the two crypto industry bills as they are currently written. Ask them to stand up for strong consumer protections from the CFPB, CPSC, and cyber security agencies. Ask them to protect seniors and others from the undermining of Social Security and our health care system.

You can find contact information for your US Representative at http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/ and for your US Senators at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm.

By the way, there is lots of good news. See Jess Craven’s latest good news post. It includes California Governor Newsom fighting fire with fire on the gerrymandering front, numerous judges’ decisions, protests all across the country, conservative economists opposing Trump’s nominee to run the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Ohio’s Sherrod Brown deciding to run for U.S. Senate again in 2026, and much more.

[1]      Silverman, J., 5/27/25, “Three coin monte,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/power/2025-05-27-three-coin-monte-crypto-regulation/)

[2]      Johnson, J., 8/7/25, “‘Disaster in the making’: Trump to open 401(k)s to crypto, private equity vultures,” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-private-equity-401k)

[3]      Silverman, J., 5/27/25, see above

[4]      Gold, M., 7/18/25, “Here’s how Congress is wading into crypto regulation,” The Boston Globe from the New York Times

[5]      Cox Richardson, H., 8/19/25, “Letters from an American,” (https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/august-19-2025)

[6]      Corbett, J., 8/6/25, “‘Gouging’: US health insurance giants raked in over $71 billion in profits last year,” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/news/health-insurance-profits)

BEWARE! SCAMS ARE COMING YOUR WAY!

Consumers beware; scams are coming your way. The Trump administration is weakening consumer protections. From financial services to big tech a lack of oversight and regulation will lead to consumer rip-offs and outright fraud. You will need to up your level of vigilance to avoid getting scammed.
Top view of money banknote, toy padlock and square letters with text SCAM ALERT.

Consumers beware; scams of all sorts are coming your way. The Trump administration is weakening or eliminating agencies and regulations that protect consumers. From financial services to the big tech companies a lack of oversight and regulation will lead to consumer rip-offs and outright fraud. You will need to up your level of vigilance to avoid getting scammed.

(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

(Note: Please follow me and get notices of my blog posts on Bluesky at: @jalippitt.bsky.social. Thanks!)

Consumers beware; scams of all sorts are coming your way. The Trump administration is weakening or eliminating agencies and regulations that protect consumers, so it’s an open field for unscrupulous behavior by businesses and fraudsters. From financial services (including student loans) to the big tech companies, a lack of oversight and regulation will lead to consumer rip-offs and outright fraud.

Perhaps the most blatant of the Trump administration’s anti-consumer actions is the virtual elimination of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). In its 14 years of existence, the CFPB has required over $20 billion to be returned to consumers who were defrauded by financial businesses. Last year, for example, it sent $1.8 billion in checks to 4.3 million customers who had been defrauded by two credit repair services. [1] It has saved consumers billions more by regulating late fees on credit cards, overdraft fees on bank accounts, and much more. If it had been in existence before the 2008 financial collapse, it might well have prevented the collapse, and it would have saved many home owners their homes and others billions of dollars lost to mortgage fraud.

Not surprisingly, in the absence of CFPB enforcement, the number of consumer complaints has already exploded with 2.5 million complaints filed in the last six months. This is over ten times the number of complaints filed in a typical six-month period over the last 13 years. A major source of complaints is inaccurate data on consumers’ credit reports. Two weeks before Trump took office, the CFPB had sued Experian (one of the three big credit reporting agencies) for basically ignoring consumers’ complaints about inaccurate information. This lawsuit is going nowhere under the Trump administration. The Trump administration also voided a ruling that would have forced the Navy Federal Credit Union to return $80 million in fraudulent overdraft fees to customers who had been told they had sufficient funds to cover a withdrawal. This just one example of Trump administration actions to take millions of dollars promised to fraud victims and give it back to corporate scammers.

The Trump administration is attempting to dodge requirements that the CFPB make consumer complaints public so consumers can know which companies are bad actors. It has also stopped actions to curb excessive credit card late fees, to remove medical debt from credit reports, and to regulate digital payment businesses, payday lenders, and credit repair services. It has permanently dropped at least 22 enforcement actions against companies accused of billions of dollars of consumer financial fraud, including one against Zelle, the electronic payment platform that was infested with fraud shortly after being launched.

Medical credit cards and abuses of them are likely to increase dramatically with the CFPB out of the way. For example, in 2023, Synchrony Bank made $3.7 billion in interest and fees on its 11.7 million CareCredit cards (the most widely used medical credit card). These are offered to patients, sometimes ones in a crisis. They are often interest-free up-front but have a balloon interest amount due if not fully paid off in a set period. There are frequently junk fees associated with them and users frequently report that the terms and rules of the credit card weren’t clearly explained to them. [2]

The emasculation of the CFPB will eliminate oversight and accountability in the financial industry. This will make consumers vulnerable to the multitude of financial scams in the marketplace, which will now grow and proliferate. You will need to up your level of vigilance to avoid getting scammed.

Consumers will also be harmed by the far-reaching business deregulation and lack of enforcement of regulations and laws governing business behavior that the Trump administration is undertaking. As economists have noted for literally hundreds of years, bad money drives out good money, or, in other words, honest companies have a tough time competing against dishonest companies. Therefore, bad business behavior is likely to proliferate. [3]

Over 165 enforcement actions against businesses have been dropped or put on hold in the first six month of the Trump administration. Not coincidentally, roughly $50 million in donations to Trump’s inauguration and untold millions to Trump via other vehicles have come from companies subject to federal investigations, lawsuits, enforcement actions, or antitrust cases. Technology companies, particularly the big three: Meta (Facebook’s parent company), Apple, and Google, have benefited by spending relatively small amounts of money for them (a few million dollars) on political spending and lobbying to get favorable actions from the Trump administration. Of the 140 investigations and enforcement actions targeting 104 tech corporations when Trump took office, at least 50 have already been stopped. Bank of America, Capital One, Coinbase, DuPont, and JPMorgan donated to Trump’s inauguration and then federal enforcement actions against them were dropped. Intuit, which makes tax preparation software, gave to the inauguration and then the IRS discontinued its free, Direct File tax return program. Apple supported the inauguration and was then exempted from most tariffs. These companies are getting a great return on their “investments”. This pattern is evidence of a pay-to-play scheme that would be criminal bribery under any other president and administration. [4] [5]

The Trump administration is weakening or stating it won’t enforce laws banning U.S. companies from bribing foreign officials, prohibiting workplace discrimination, or regulating loan shark lending and its usurious interest rates. It is also making life harder and loans more expensive for student borrowers by making federal government student lending much less helpful and more costly. This will force many students needing to borrow funds for college into the hands of private lenders, some of whom are financial predators that the CFPB won’t be around to regulate or hold accountable. [6]

More in my next post on scams to be on the lookout for, including from the cryptocurrency industry.

[1]      Tkacik, M., & Baratta, J., 7/11/25, “Hardly workin’,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/economy/2025-07-11-hardly-workin-cfpb-doge-trump/)

[2]      Covert, B., 5/28/25, “Predatory lenders in the operating room,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/health/2025-05-28-predatory-lenders-operating-room-medical-credit-cards/)

[3]      Dayen, D., 5/27/25, “The golden age of scams,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/power/2025-05-27-golden-age-of-scams/)

[4]      Johnson, J., 8/14/25, “‘Corporate crime pays’ under Trump as his agencies drop enforcement against 165 companies,” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/news/corporate-crime-donald-trump)

[5]      Johnson, J., 4/22/25, “‘See how this works?’: Trump drops cases against corporations that funded his inauguration,” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-corporations-inauguration)

[6]      Dayen, D, 5/27/25, “Borrowers besieged,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/education/2025-05-27-borrowers-besieged-student-debt/)

THERE’S GOOD NEWS AND LOTS OF IT!

Despite all the bad news, there’s lots of good news. Democrats in Congress are starting to increase their resistance. In addition to action at the national level, state level action is critically important. I don’t condone gerrymandering, but I do believe we need to fight fire with fire. For lots of good news, look at Jess Craven’s weekly good news edition of her Chop Wood, Carry Water blog.

(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

Despite all the bad news the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are generating, there’s lots of good news.

Democrats in Congress are starting to increase their resistance. (Finally!) Democrats on the Homeland Security Committee invoked a rarely used procedure that allows five members of the committee to obtain documents from the administration. Senate Democrats have formally and officially demanded the release of the Epstein files by August 15. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has announced that she and hopefully other Democrats will refuse to cooperate with Republicans on any spending bills until Trump stops withholding previously appropriated funds. She pointed out that if Republicans allow Trump to ignore spending decisions by Congress or to rescind them after the fact, any future spending bills are a meaningless waste of time. Democrats are also demanding a thorough vetting process for fifty Trump nominations awaiting Senate confirmation rather than letting Republicans ram them through in an expedited process. [1]

Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) strongly criticized his fellow Democrats for voting for some of Trump’s policies. Apparently as a result, Democrats held a closed-door meeting to develop a strategy for their resistance to the Trump / Republican agenda for the next two months.

In addition to action at the national level, state level action is critically important. Most notable right now is states’ threats to gerrymander congressional districts. Texas is threatening to do a very unusual and very partisan redistricting (normally this is only done when there is new Census data every ten years). Its goal would be to create five districts where Republicans would replace Democrats. Not only are Texas Democrats working to block this however they can, Democratic states are announcing that if Texas does this, they will take similar action to create new districts where Democrats would replace Republicans. I don’t condone gerrymandering, but I do believe we need to fight fire with fire. Democrats can’t afford to play by the rules when Republicans aren’t playing by the rules and are destroying our democracy.

For lots of good news across all levels, look at Jess Craven’s weekly good news edition of her Chop Wood, Carry Water (CWCW) blog. Here are some samples of the dozens of items she reported in the last two weeks.

August 3 edition examples (there’s much more!)

  • President Trump was caught on camera cheating while playing golf in Scotland.
  • Michigan’s Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced that nearly 210,000 Michiganders will see more than $144 million in medical debt eliminated.
  • A federal judge ruled that Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide must continue to be reimbursed by Medicaid, despite a provision in the Republican / Trump budget cutting off this funding.
  • On April 30, several thousand CWCW readers contacted their U.S. Representatives urging them to sign a bipartisan letter supporting fiscal year 2026 funding for global maternal and child health, GAVI (the vaccine alliance), and global nutrition. On July 23, the House Appropriations Committee rejected Trump’s proposed cuts, continued FY 2025 funding levels, and INCREASED nutrition funding to $172.5 million. ADVOCACY MAKES A DIFFERENCE!
  • Vermont Republican Gov. Phil Scott denied a request from the Department of Defense to activate Vermont Army National Guard soldiers in support of federal immigration enforcement activities.
  • Solar and batteries make up the vast majority of new power plant installations in the U.S. — and will continue to through 2030. Trump may be able to slow the momentum, but not stop it

July 27 edition examples (there’s much more!)

Please contact your members of Congress and tell them to increase their resistance. Urge them to speak out against Trump / Republican policies and to explain to their constituents the toll these policies will take on every day Americans and our society.

You can find contact information for your US Representative at  http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/ and for your US Senators at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm.

[1]      Hubbell, R., 7/31/25, “More signs of life among Senate Democrats,” Today’s Edition Newsletter (https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/more-signs-of-life-among-senate-democrats)

HARMFUL POLICIES OF THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

Trump administration policies are doing wide-ranging harm to people and our society. We need to protest and resist to convince elected officials, business and academic leaders, and others to stand up and push back.

Trump administration policies are doing wide-ranging harm to people and our society. We need to protest and resist to convince elected officials, business and academic leaders, and others to stand up and push back.

(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

Trump administration policies are doing wide-ranging harm to people and our society. This is why we need to protest and resist in every way possible and however each of us can. We need to make it clear these policies are unpopular and convince elected officials, business and academic leaders, and others to stand up and push back. Perhaps some of the topics below will suggest wording for your protest signs. This previous post highlighted some of the harms of the recently passed Trump / Republican budget and thisprevious post documented some of the harm to seniors.

This post highlights harmful policies in crime and violence prevention, in children’s health and well-being, and for low-income seniors. It also notes harms to economic data and states’ finances.

CRIME AND VIOLENCE PREVENTION: The Trump administration has slashed funding for multiple programs that fight crime, reduce violence, and improve public safety. In April, the Department of Justice (DOJ) canceled $820 million in grants that had supported over 500 organizations working to reduce crime and promote public safety. This included $13 million for a program that funded rural law enforcement, supporting investigations of sexual assaults and reductions in child abuse. It cut a $3.5 million collaboration program for law enforcement, community leaders, and researchers to reduce violent crime – a program that Trump had touted as a success in his first term. These cuts are literally defunding the police. [1]

These programs had been working. After a spike in violent and property crimes during the pandemic, over the last three years crime has fallen substantially. Homicides have fallen in major cities, e.g., down 62% in Baltimore to a record low and also to record lows in Chicago and New York.

YOUNG CHILDREN’S WELL-BEING: The Head Start program provides essential services and supports to almost 800,000 low-income children up to age 5 and their families each year. The services include early education and child care, health and dental referrals, nutrition, and parenting supports, including support for getting a job.

The Trump administration’s ban on enrolling children who are undocumented is punishing children for their parents’ status and behaviors. This is like telling parents they can’t send a child to school because they got a ticket for running a red light. Denying them Head Start services will jeopardize the children’s development and ability to succeed in school and in life – early nutrition and development have life-long effects. Moreover, parents may not be able to work because they will have lost their child care. [2]

Head Start has provided these services and supports to over 40 million children and their families since 1965 with no questions asked because they benefit the children as well as their and our society’s futures.

Moreover, between Trump’s inauguration on January 20 and April 15, 2025, according to the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Trump administration illegally withheld more than $800 million from Head Start programs. Some Head Start programs were forced to close at least temporarily, negatively affecting thousands of children and hundreds of staff. [3]

CHILD MALNUTRITION: The Trump administration recently ordered the destruction of over 500 tons of emergency high-nutrition biscuits that would have prevented malnutrition for about 1.5 million children for a week. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) had spent about $800,000 on this important food source for distribution to children in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It was in storage when the Trump administration gutted USAID stopping its distribution. Secretary of State Marco Rubio assured the House Appropriations Committee that the food would get to the children before it spoiled. However, the State Department ordered the destruction of the food because providing food to Afghanistan might benefit terrorists (although no reason was given for destroying the food destined for Pakistan and apparently no option of delivering the food to another country was considered). Destroying it will cost the U.S. taxpayers $130,000. [4]

WORK PROGRAM FOR LOW-INCOME SENIORS: The Trump Labor Department has quietly ended that Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP). This program helped tens of thousands of seniors (55 or older) who are living on the edge of poverty get part-time employment. The Labor Department withheld about $300 million from grant recipients in July. This is doubly cruel as the Trump / Republican budget is putting work requirements in place for these seniors to qualify for Medicaid health care coverage and for food assistance from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). [5]

ACCURATE ECONOMIC DATA: The accuracy of economic data provided by the Trump administration has been a matter of concern for months. Cuts to staff at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), a key source of economic data, have hurt the timely production of accurate data. For example, the Consumer Price Index and related data that the BLS produces have included a lot more estimated data than in the past. [6]

When the August 1 jobs report from the BLS showed low job creation for the last three months, Trump falsely claimed that the data had been manipulated to make him look bad. So, Trump fired the Commissioner of Labor Statistics, Dr. Erika McEntarfer. With a Trump replacement, future data from the BLS, which is important to investors and business leaders making decisions about hiring and growth, will be even more suspect that it has been to date.

IMPACT ON STATES’ BUDGETS: Massachusetts Governor, Maura Healey, has introduced legislation to spend $400 million of emergency state funds on research and development. This is an effort to soften the blow of Trump administration cuts of research and development grants. MA state programs have lost $714 million in federal funding already this year and universities and other entities have also lost federal research and development funding. MA receives over $8 billion annually in federal research and development funding, which supports 81,300 jobs and generates $16 billion in ancillary economic activity. In New England, the Trump administration has canceled hundreds of research grants from the National Science Foundation and the Health and Human Services Department totaling over $3 billion. [7]

[1]      Waldman, M., 7/22/25, “Trump defunds effective crime-prevention policies,” Brennan Center for Justice: The Briefing (https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/trump-defunds-effective-crime-prevention-policies”

[2]      Hilliard, J., 7/14/25, “Immigration policy shift threatens Head Start,” The Boston Globe

[3]      Conley, J., 7/23/25, “Nonpartisan watchdog agency finds Trump admin illegally withheld Head Start funds,” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/news/head-start-trump)

[4]      Cox Richardson, H., 7/15/25, “Letters from an American,” (https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/july-15-2025)

[5]      Johnson, J., 7/20/25, “‘Extra cruel’: Trump admin ends job program for seniors as work requirements loom,” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/news/senior-job-training-program)

[6]      Cox Richardson, H., 8/1/25, “Letters from an American,” (https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/august-1-2025)

[7]      Gross, S. 8/1/25, “Mass. Research would get $400m,” The Boston Globe