The office of New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman issued a report Monday announcing that $13.5 million has been refunded to consumers duped by scams, with the Hudson Valley region reporting the second-highest value of recoveries.
The report released by the Consumer Frauds and Protection Bureau and the Internet Bureau, agencies within Schneiderman”™s office, said the bureaus resolved more than 17,000 consumer complaints from 2011 to 2014 through the Consumer Assistance Program. The automobile, credit and identity theft, and service industries were the top three sectors of incidents reported, with more than 2,000 complaints in each category, the report said.
Hudson Valley consumers reaped $2.56 million in total refunds, second only to New York City, which saw $3.57 million in recovery money.
While the report says the attorney general’s office “helped over 17,000 people successfully resolve their consumer complaints,” only about 12,000 included financial relief. The other roughly 5,000 consumers “received other forms of mediation or assistance that were not monetary,” a spokeswoman with the attorney general”™s office told the Business Journal. The other forms of relief could include adjustments to credit reports following identity theft or requested changes to service contracts.
The Consumer Frauds and Protection Bureau has on its own refunded $1.8 billion in consumer relief through litigation and other efforts since 2011.
