You may consider yourself too smart to fall for the Nigerian Money Letter or Earn Big Bucks at Home gambits. But Vermont Assistant Attorney General Elliot Burg, of the state’s Consumer Fraud Unit, says you’d be surprised at how many people do get taken in by Internet and telemarketing scams. Burg sees hundreds of complaints each year, and he suspects those calls are just the tip of the iceberg, because many people are embarrassed to report that they’ve been fooled. Others may not even notice that money is being extracted from their bank accounts.
Vermont Edition guest host Steve Zind talks with Burg about the vast and often highly organized world of international consumer fraud. (Listen)
Also in the program, lawmakers are considering a bill that would move Vermont’s primaries from September to August, to give challengers more time to campaign against incumbents. VPR’s Bob Kinzel discusses the bill’s prospects and why it has momentum now. (Listen)