How to Report Consumer Fraud to State Attorney General

You paid for something and didn't get it. Or you got it, and it wasn't what you were promised. Maybe a contractor took a deposit and vanished, or a "free trial" turned into charges you never agreed to. Whatever happened, you're not stuck just eating the loss — your state attorney general's office exists partly to deal with exactly this.

Every state has a consumer protection division inside the attorney general's office, and filing a complaint there is free, doesn't require a lawyer, and takes most people under twenty minutes online. Here's how to actually do it.

Why your state AG, and not just the FTC

A lot of people report scams to the Federal Trade Commission and stop there. That's worth doing, but the FTC mostly collects data and refers patterns to law enforcement — it rarely resolves individual cases. Your state attorney general is different. Their office has real jurisdiction over businesses operating in your state, and they can:

• Investigate a specific business and pursue legal action against it

• Negotiate directly with a company on your behalf for a refund

• Pull a business license or shut down a local operation

• Refer criminal cases to prosecutors

• Add your complaint to a pattern that triggers a broader investigation, even if your individual case doesn't get resolved

That last point matters more than people realize. A single complaint about a small contractor might not go anywhere on its own. But if twenty people file the same complaint in the same month, that's a case.

Step 1: Figure out if it's actually fraud (or just a bad experience)

Not every disappointing purchase is fraud. A restaurant with slow service isn't a matter for the attorney general. But these generally are:

• A business took payment and never delivered the product or service

• You were charged for something you never agreed to, or a "free trial" auto-billed you without clear consent

• A company used bait-and-switch pricing or hid fees until checkout

• Someone posed as a legitimate business, government agency, or charity to get your money

• A contractor took a deposit and did no work, or did work far below what was promised

• You were sold a product with false claims about what it does or is made of

If you're not sure whether your situation qualifies, file the complaint anyway. The attorney general's office will tell you if it's outside their scope and usually point you to whoever can actually help — insurance commissioner, banking regulator, and so on.

Step 2: Find your state attorney general's consumer complaint page

Every state runs its own site and its own complaint form, so there's no single national portal. The fastest way to find yours:

• Search "[your state] attorney general consumer complaint," or

• Go to the National Association of Attorneys General directory at naag.org/find-my-ag, which links out to every state's official page

Most states let you file entirely online. A handful still want a mailed or faxed form, and a few require you to create an account first. Either way, use the official .gov site — scammers have been known to set up fake "complaint" pages that just harvest more of your information.

Step 3: Gather your documentation before you start

Complaint forms move faster, and get taken more seriously, when you can back them up. Pull together:

• Receipts, invoices, or order confirmations

• Any contract or written agreement

• Screenshots of the website, ad, or listing you responded to

• Emails, texts, or chat logs with the business

• Bank or credit card statements showing the charge

• The business's name, address, phone number, and website, exactly as it appears

You don't need everything on this list to file — missing documents aren't a dealbreaker. But the more specific and dated your paper trail, the easier it is for an investigator to act on it.

Step 4: Fill out the complaint

Most state forms ask for similar information: your contact details, the business's contact details, the dollar amount involved, the date of the transaction, and a description of what happened. Write the description like you're explaining it to someone who knows nothing about the situation — plain, chronological, and specific. "I paid $450 on March 3 for a deck repair. The contractor took a $200 deposit and never returned" tells an investigator more than "I got scammed by a contractor."

A few things worth knowing before you submit:

• You'll usually get a confirmation number or email. Save it. That's your reference if you need to follow up.

• Some states let you attach files directly, others ask you to mail copies. Check the instructions on the form itself.

• Filing doesn't guarantee a resolution. The AG's office typically forwards your complaint to the business and asks for a response, but they can't force a private settlement the way a court can.

• There's no cost to file, and you never need to hire an attorney to do it.

Step 5: Know what happens after you hit submit

Once your complaint is in, one of a few things usually happens. The office may open a mediation process, where they contact the business directly and try to get you a refund or resolution — this is common for smaller, individual disputes. If enough similar complaints pile up against the same company, it can escalate into a formal investigation or lawsuit, which takes longer but can result in broader restitution, fines, or a company being barred from doing business in the state. And in some cases, particularly involving elder fraud or clear criminal intent, the office refers the matter to law enforcement.

Response times vary a lot by state and by how backed up the office is — anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of months for an initial reply. If you haven't heard anything after 4-6 weeks, it's reasonable to follow up using your confirmation number.

Other places to file at the same time

Filing with your state AG doesn't use up your only shot — in fact, reporting to multiple agencies strengthens the overall case against a bad actor and costs you nothing extra:

• FTC, at reportfraud.ftc.gov, for national-level scam tracking

• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, if the issue involves a bank, lender, credit card, or debt collector

• Better Business Bureau, for a public complaint that shows up when others research the company

• Your state's insurance commissioner or banking regulator, if the business falls under one of those instead of general consumer protection

• Local police, if you believe a crime occurred, especially for identity theft or large-dollar scams

  
  

If you're dealing with elder financial exploitation

If the person affected is elderly or has a disability, there's an additional resource worth using alongside the attorney general: your local adult protective services agency. You can find yours through the Eldercare Locator or by calling (800) 677-1116. These cases often move faster through that channel because they're built for exactly this kind of situation.

The bottom line

Reporting consumer fraud doesn't require a lawyer, doesn't cost anything, and takes less time than most people expect. Even if your individual case doesn't get resolved the way you'd like, your complaint becomes part of the evidence that eventually shuts down repeat offenders. Filing it is worth doing every time.