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State consumer agency reports rising complaints, highlights top scams and multistate enforcement partnerships
Summary
The Department of Consumer Affairs said complaint volumes rose to 5,757 last year with about $1.2 million recovered through mediation; it highlighted common scams, an identity‑theft toolkit and examples of multistate enforcement involving federal partners.
The Department of Consumer Affairs said last calendar year it received 5,757 consumer complaints and recovered about $1.2 million in credits, refunds and adjustments for consumers through mediation, administrator Carrie Grube Limarker said during a department webinar.
"But last calendar year, we got 5,757 complaints," Limarker said, and added that the agency has seen an uptick in complaints since 2020. She also reported that so far this calendar year DCA had received nearly 3,000 complaints and recovered about $570,000 through mediation, a 22% increase over the prior calendar year.
Limarker laid out the top complaint categories: vehicles (more than 1,100 complaints), real‑estate transactions (including 337 timeshare complaints and 517 homeowner‑association complaints) and contractors (477 complaints, with solar contractor complaints singled out). She also listed other frequent topics such as utilities, landlord‑tenant matters, debt collections, consumer finance and online purchases.
On scams, Limarker said DCA received 963 scam reports in 2023 — about 300 more than 2022 — with purchase scams, service/repair scams and lottery/sweepstakes scams among the most common. She pointed to monthly scam reports posted on consumer.sc.gov showing shifting monthly trends (for example, subscriptions and tech issues appearing in certain months).
The webinar included two enforcement examples that illustrate how DCA works with other agencies. Limarker described a 2022 inquiry about a COVID testing site that prompted DCA to contact the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General and issue a press release; the FBI later led a multistate investigation. She also recounted an illegal pension loan scheme initiated by an attorney soliciting nationwide investors; DCA partnered with the Federal Trade Commission and other state partners to stop that scheme.
Limarker emphasized DCA's limited criminal authority: "We don't have criminal authority here. We have civil authority," she said, and encouraged consumers to file police reports when appropriate and to use DCA's complaint and scam reporting tools. The agency's identity‑theft unit maintains toolkits and intake forms and is preparing an online intake form to replace the current PDF submission process.
Limarker closed by encouraging partners to request presentations and outreach materials and to consult the agency’s website for data and the webinar calendar.
