Each year Ohio Attorney General DeWine adds up all the complaints they have gotten from consumers in the last year and sees which area has the most.

As usual, it's car sales that is in the Number One spot again.

1. Motor vehicles
2. Professional services
3. Collections, credit reporting, or financial services 
4. Shopping, food, or beverages 
5. Utilities, phone, Internet, or TV 
6. Home or property improvement
7. Identity theft 
8. Potential scams or other (such as sweepstakes, do-not-call issues, or grant offers) 

"Nearly a quarter of all complaints involved motor vehicles. The most common motor-vehicle complaint related to used vehicle sales. Other top motor-vehicle complaints involved vehicle repairs and new vehicle sales" DeWine's office reported.

Car sales fraud continues to dominate consumer complaints and in the past year we've seen some wild ones. Money really does make a car dealer go blind.

Like the Cleveland car sales operation that concentrates on internet sales of high priced and often wrecked and badly repaired vehicles. We've seen internet car sales fraud involving vehicles under $20,000 all the way up to over $100,000 that are bought by people who see online advertisements and after some phone calls and emails trusting consumers get ripped off more often than ever.


And then there's the Dayton-area operation that deals with its customers by packing high-profit "soft add on products" such as window etching they
call theft deterrent that is worse than useless and a so-called concierge service that amounts to a high priced "call us and we'll answer your questions if we can" scam --- and the customer often doesn't even realize what is happening to them at the time because of the 5 finger close the dealer uses to hide the numbers from the buyer's view.

Or the Rv dealer in the Columbus-area who charges what amounts to a $2,000 "delivery" charge for each motorhome sale.

Perhaps the worst rip off we've seen this year was the Cincinnati area Rv dealer who charged $2,500 for prepping the inside of their Rv's with a germ killing spray-down that was just as effective as a $2 bottle of Lysol.

Before you buy, check out the merchant at your local Better Business Bureau, do an internet search for complaints against the company, or you can even check the Ohio Attorney General's office for complaints against them too.

Buy local from car dealers you know and trust. And if you are not sure, then be extra careful. Read everything. If something is not clear or not what you were told, then make the car dealer hand write on the printed documents what they promised you or what they said to you about the vehicle. Never agree to any arbitration document - cross it out big and bold - if the dealer wants your money bad enough (and he does) then he will not argue over it. If they argue with you, then ask yourself "what are they doing to me that they are afraid of me taking them to court for?"

And when all else fails, get a car sales fraud lawyer on your side. Oh yeah, that's what we do.

Welcome to my world. According to the latest survey from the Consumer Federation of America (and a couple of other consumer agencies, NACAA and NACPI), the biggest complaint that consumers have is about their cars and car dealers - everything from dealers who cheat them to lemons and bad repairs and advertisements that mislead readers. Surprise, surprise.

31 agencies from 18 different states were surveyed and asked about the most common and fastest growing and worst complaints they had seen in the last year. And car-related problems came out on top.

A whopping quarter million car-related complaints were logged last year and over $208 million was recovered in restitution for consumers.

And outright fraud is now one of the top ten consumer complaints - often from scammers that operate outside of the US borders - making it far more difficult to track down the thieves and recover stolen funds. Such ripoff artists now take advantage of internet sales schemes that enable them to pick the pockets of American consumers far more easily than ever before.

Here's the top ten categories of consumer complaints:
1. Auto - misrepresentations in advertising and sales of both new and used cars, lemons, bad repair jobs, etc.
2. Credit and Debt - billing and fee disputes, mortgage fraud, credit repair scams, debt relief ripoffs, predatory lending schemes, abusive and illegal debt collection tactics
3. (tie) Home Improvement Companies and Shady Retail Sellers - home improvement companies who perform bad work or take the money and don't even start (or finish) the job. With retail sellers, consumers are complaining more than ever about false advertising and deceptive ads and merchandise, rebates that never get paid, and goods that never get delivered
4. Utilities - billing disputes with phone, cable, satellite, internet, and gas and electric companies continue to rise
5. Consumer Services - misrepresentations continue to rise, shoddy work, unlicensed service providers and providers who take the money and don't do the work or deliver the goods at all
6. Internet Sales - deceptive ads on the internet continue to bilk consumers out of millions of dollars, sometimes never delivering paid for goods at all
7. Household Goods - more misrepresentations and failure to deliver complains, along with bad repairs of appliances and furniture
8. Landlord-Tenant - unsafe and unhealthy living conditions and failure to make repairs and refund deposits continue to rise
9. Outright FRAUD - new to the top 10 list this year, bogus sweepstakes and lotteries that are just a scam, work at home schemes also rip off consumers
10. Home solicitations - door to door and telemarketing and mail solicitations continue to rip off consumers, including do not call violations

It's not nice out there, folks. So be extra careful in dealing with anyone who wants your money. Especially over the phone or the internet or at your front door. Fraud happens. And Car Sales Fraud happens more than ever.

When it happens to you, if you can't get it straightened out, call us. Helping the victims of consumer fraud cases, especially car sales fraud, get their money back - that is what we do. And consumer protection laws almost always give you the right to make the fraudsters pay your attorney fees too.

Every year the state Attorney Generals run their numbers to see what scams and rip off artists consumers are complaining about the most. This year they all got together and totalled the numbers on a national basis and the list is out with some old familiar and new faces on it.

In these tough times, it comes as no surprise that credit card complaints and predatory lending-mortgages made the list for the first time.

Back in their top 3 spots are the familiar con man favorites: debt collectors, car sales and home repair-construction outfits. They held the top 3 spots last year too. In fact, they have been on the list probably longer than there has even been a list.

A surprise is that complaints about credit card companies got so bad it tied for the #3 spot on the list, followed by internet goods and services, predatory lending-mortgages, telemarketing-do not call violations, auto repair, auto warranties, and telecom slamming-cramming.

The list is an unscientific list of the top consumer fraud spots and complaints compiled by the National Association of Attorney Generals, NAAG, and tells consumers and their lawyers what to watch out for.