At My Office, Every Week is Consumer Protection Week

Even though last week was National Consumer Protection week, at my office, every week is Consumer Protection Week. That’s because consumers like you play a key role in identifying and alerting our office to deceptive businesses, scams, and fraudsters.

Our office’s new 2021 Consumer Protection Report details last year’s trends on the issues District consumers are facing and how our office is helping stand up for consumers including getting money back in their pockets. The numbers were startling. In 2021, we received over 2,500 complaints—a nearly 70% increase since 2019—the most consumer complaints our office has received in a single year.

There are several reasons we received more complaints. First, District residents are increasingly turning to our office to assist them when they feel wronged–because we get results. Last year, we returned over $5.6 million to District consumers through our mediation program (where a trained professional assists consumers by advocating on their behalf with the merchant at-issue) and through lawsuits and settlements.

Second, the COVID-19 pandemic led to an increase in several new consumer-related issues, including price-gouging, cancellation of services, and COVID-19 related scams like tech support, phishing, and lottery scams.

And finally, we doubled down on our outreach efforts during the pandemic to connect with more residents, particularly our most vulnerable neighbors.

I urge any District resident who has been taken advantage of by a deceptive business to file a complaint with our office. We will investigate it and, where possible, get your money back.

With your help, we will continue to work on your behalf to protect consumers, and stop deceptive scams and unethical businesses practices.

Click here to read our 2021 Consumer Protection Report.

Thank you.

Karl A. Racine
Attorney General 

Four New Cure the Streets Program Sites Covering Areas in Wards 1, 4, 5, 6, and 8

Last week, my office announced that we selected four community organizations to run our new Cure the Streets program sites: Father Factor, Global Transcendence, InnerCity Collaborative CDC, and Women in H.E.E.L.S. These community-based organizations will run new Cure the Streets violence reduction program sites in the neighborhoods of Congress Heights (Ward 8), Brightwood Park/Petworth (and parts of Columbia Heights; Wards 1&4), Sursum Corda/Ivy City (Wards 5&6), and Historic Anacostia/Fairlawn (Ward 8).

Cure the Streets is a community-led violence reduction program that works to stop gun violence in neighborhoods with the highest rates of it.

Community-led violence reduction programs are a critical piece of a larger effort to combat gun violence in the District and keep residents safe. We’re proud to partner with these community organizations to expand Cure the Streets to four new sites.

All District residents should feel safe in their communities, but for too many, gun violence has become normalized. We must put an end to this culture of violence. Programs like Cure the Streets make real and lasting change. We know change doesn’t happen overnight, but we’re already seeing promising results and we’re committed to continuing our investments in this critical work.

Celebrating International Women's Day

On International Women’s Day on Tuesday, March 8, we celebrated the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements women have made to society, and recommit to fighting for gender equality. Pictured above is our senior leadership team–the majority of whom are women–after meeting with Councilmembers at the Wilson Building this week and after our office’s performance oversight hearing before the DC Council last month. These exceptional colleagues, and so many other women at our office, work every day to make the District a fairer place to live. Together, we’ll keep fighting for the rights of all women in the District and beyond.

Honoring Abortion Providers for Supporting Reproductive Rights

Last Thursday was Abortion Provider Appreciation Day. Thank you to the health care workers in DC and across the country who have stepped up and who continue to treat patients, especially as states like Texas have cruelly banned abortion care. Your work is essential. These bans disproportionately force rural patients, low-income patients, and Black and brown patients into continuing a pregnancy, without regard to their own choices, circumstances, or safety. Anyone who needs abortion care is welcome in the District.

Continuing to Stop the Spread of Vaccine Misinformation

The overwhelming majority of companies comply with subpoenas and document requests, especially requests about important issues like misinformation and disinformation concerning COVID-19. Rather than adhering to this norm, Facebook sought to block my office's plainly lawful request for this information.

Last Thursday, the DC Superior Court agreed to enforce my office’s subpoena after Facebook refused to turn over many requested documents and materials about its efforts to stop the spread of vaccine misinformation. Based on the Court’s order, we anticipate working with Facebook on a schedule to produce the documents in the next few weeks.

We thank the Court for compelling Facebook to do what it should have done in the first place. We will continue to push companies to reduce the level of disinformation and misinformation on their platforms.