TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Attorney General Ashley Moody is leading a nationwide investigation into Meta Platforms, Inc., formerly known as Facebook, for conduct relating to use of its social media platform Instagram by children and young adults. Attorneys General across the country are examining whether the company violated state consumer protection laws and put the public at risk by carelessly promoting the platform to younger users.
Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “We have serious concerns about how social media is impacting the lives of young people in this country, and as a mother, I want to know how Facebook/Meta is targeting youth and what strategies this Big Tech giant is using to entice children and teens to lengthen engagement on its platforms. I am proud to lead these efforts with our partner states to find out if Meta violated any consumer protection laws and put our children at risk.” Continue reading
It’s International Fraud Awareness Week and one of the best ways to fight fraud is to empower consumers with information and resources to spot and avoid scams. Fraudsters work day and night to trick consumers into parting with their hard-earned money.
The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners estimates that businesses worldwide lose 5% of revenue each year to fraud, totaling more than $4.5 trillion lost annually. In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission received more than 2.1 million fraud reports from consumers last year, with reported consumer-related losses adding up to more than $3.3 billion.
It’s so important to stay ahead of the latest trends and take steps to avoid falling prey to fraud. To guard against common fraud schemes: Continue reading
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Attorney General Ashley Moody is leading efforts to garner support for the Federal Communications Commission’s continued attempts to fight illegal robocalls. Scammers are finding ways to circumvent previously implemented anti-robocall technology to continue bombarding citizens with scam messages.
Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “Working with the FCC, we have been successful in reducing the number of scam robocalls targeting Americans. Unfortunately, in recent months, scammers have found ways to circumvent the technology created to protect our citizens from fraudulent robocall messages. Today, I asked the FCC to continue its efforts to reduce the number of calls by implementing stricter processes on companies that assign and distribute telephone numbers.”
Earlier this year, following efforts by Attorney General Moody and other attorneys general, phone companies were required to implement a technology program called STIR/SHAKEN. This technology checks to see if a phone call comes from a legitimate source before the designated phone begins to ring. Since the FCC required large phone companies to begin using this technology in June, scam robocalls have dropped nearly 30%. Continue reading
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men, women, and people of most racial and ethnic groups in the United States—about 655,000 Americans die from heart disease each year, according to the Centers For Disease Control And Prevention—but you can protect yourself 3 ways.
Three Steps To A Healthier Heart
- Don’t smoke. If you do smoke, quit. Your doctor can help.
- Get regular exercise. The Surgeon General recommends 2 hours and 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise week.
- Eat right. Choose plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables and foods high in fiber and low in saturated fats, trans fat, and cholesterol.
To help, Mazola® Corn Oil has come up with a number of recipes that are delicious and support heart health. The all-purpose cooking oil is a heart-healthy* choice for baking, grilling, sautéing, stir frying or mixing up a marinade.
Plus, it has a high smoke point of 450° F. All cooking oils have a smoke point that, once exceeded, negatively affects the food’s flavor.
Here’s a heart-healthy* recipe, popular with Latinx cooks, that’s delicious for everyone: Continue reading
by the We Can Do This
COVID-19 Public Education Campaign
(NAPSI)—Entering the second holiday season of the COVID-19 pandemic, West Virginians are eager to reconnect with family and friends and return to treasured holiday traditions. Some simple steps can keep family and friends healthy through their fall and winter celebrations.
“Every family has unique traditions, and they are eager to enjoy time with loved ones this year, especially if they skipped or changed their holiday plans due to COVID-19 in 2020,” said Dr. Michael Edmond, Chief Medical Officer, WVU Medicine. “With a little care and planning, it is possible to enjoy these special holiday traditions while making sure everyone stays healthy.”
As generations gather to celebrate, the No. 1 way to avoid spreading COVID-19, including to grandparents, young children and others who may be vulnerable, is to make sure everyone who is eligible gets vaccinated against COVID-19. Children ages 5-11 are the most recent group eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine. Learn more at www.cdc.gov/coronavirus.
People can take these additional steps to ensure they safely enjoy family, friends and special connections they may have missed recently, even as people from different households and different parts of the country gather. Continue reading
For renters seeking a new apartment community since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, finding the best place to live has come down to the three Rs—ratings, reviews and reputation.
The search for a new place to rent can bring challenges and stresses, but pandemic concerns and restrictions on in-person tours can make that search more difficult. As a solution, renters are skipping the physical tours and going digital to vet communities. As such, online ratings and reviews have become critical for many renters seeking new spaces.
Expert Opinion
“More than 85% of all renters industrywide indicate they read reviews before making a decision on which apartment they want to live in. That’s significant,” said Mike Gomes, chief experience officer for Cortland, which owns and operates more than 200 apartment communities across the country. The company benefited greatly from positive reviews, attracting new residents throughout its portfolio despite the unimaginable challenges of 2020. Through a responsive customer care team and a tenant-focused service philosophy, it has maintained its position as the No. 1 property management brand in online reputation. Continue reading
Children and teens are catching and spreading COVID-19 at an increasingly high rate. Even if your child or teen has not yet contracted COVID-19, they are at risk, especially with the low number of vaccinated residents in Oklahoma.
“In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, older people were most likely to get the virus. Now it is affecting everyone, and children and teens are also at risk of contracting the virus and experiencing long-lasting impacts,” said Dr. Dale Bratzler, University Chief COVID Officer and Professor in the OU Hudson College of Public Health. “We need to do everything we can to keep all our kids safe, and the best way to do that is to get more people vaccinated.”
Parents and other adults in a child or teen’s life can take steps to protect young people and themselves.
Get Your Child Vaccinated When Eligible
The best way to protect your children from COVID-19 and all the potential complications is to get them vaccinated as soon as they are eligible. The COVID-19 vaccine is free, widely available, and highly effective in preventing hospitalization and death from COVID-19. Like most vaccines, some minor side effects may occur, such as a sore arm or slight fatigue, but the symptoms and long-term impact of contracting COVID-19 are much more serious. Ultimately, it is much safer for children and teens to get a COVID-19 vaccine than getting the disease itself.
Practice Prevention
If your children are not eligible to be vaccinated, you can still keep them safe from COVID-19 by practicing recommended prevention methods such as physical distancing when possible and continuing to wear a mask, especially in crowds or while indoors. Even people who have been vaccinated should wear a mask in crowds and public indoor places. Most children can safely and effectively wear face masks, so it’s important to remind them that it keeps them safe and to set an example by wearing a mask, too.
Encourage Adults In Your Child’s Life To Get Vaccinated
Ensuring that those who spend time around your child are vaccinated helps keep an unvaccinated child from getting sick or spreading COVID-19 to other vulnerable people. Talk to the adults in your child’s life—grandparents, friends’ parents, and teachers—about getting vaccinated to protect themselves and your child.
Children and teens are just as susceptible to COVID-19 as adults, and they can spread the virus to others who are at even greater risk. A growing number of children and teens have been hospitalized with COVID-19. Getting all eligible children and teens vaccinated and following simple prevention measures will protect them, their families, and friends, and get everyone one step closer to getting this pandemic under control.
Learn More
For more information and to find a vaccine, visit www.vaccines.gov.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Attorney General Ashley Moody is warning Floridians about the recent explosion in deadly counterfeit pills confiscated nationwide. The United States Drug Enforcement Administration recently seized 1.8 million fentanyl-laced pills in a two-month nationwide sting that launched on Aug. 3. Since the start of 2021, officials have seized more than 9.5 million counterfeit pills—an increase of nearly 430% since 2019. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin and is an accelerating force behind the increase in drug overdose deaths.
Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “We are seeing a nationwide increase in the amount of fentanyl coming across our border. We are also seeing a dramatic spike in the number of overdose deaths attributed to fentanyl. As Florida’s Attorney General and as a mother, I don’t want anyone to abuse drugs, but please be especially warned that if you take a pill from anyone other than your doctor, you may be risking your life. Just one dose of fentanyl can kill, and with an increasing number of these counterfeit pills circulating throughout the country, the message is more important today than ever before.” Continue reading
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Attorney General Ashley Moody today issued a Consumer Alert highlighting a staggering increase in the number of robocalls flooding Floridians’ phones. According to the Robocall Index, so far in 2021, robocalls have increased by nearly 450 million calls, or 16% when compared to the same time period last year. The Federal Communications Commission cites robocalls as the agency’s top consumer complaint. Attorney General Moody is working with attorneys general from across the country in a coordinated effort to fight back against illegal robocalls to protect Floridians from scams connected to calls.
Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “The pandemic changed the way we work, learn and socialize—further popularizing the tools we use to communicate remotely, including cellphones. With this rise in cellphone use, it is no surprise that we are seeing an increase in the number of robocalls targeting Floridians. Please remain vigilant when receiving calls from unknown sources and never give personal or financial information in response to an unwanted solicitation.”
In 2019, Attorney General Moody, attorneys general from other states and 15 phone companies adopted the Anti-Robocall Principles to fight robocalls through prevention and enforcement solutions. Since then, companies that agreed to the principles have: Continue reading
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Attorney General Ashley Moody today issued a Consumer Alert warning Floridians of a new COVID-19 vaccination text scam. There have been reports of fraudulent text messages being sent to Floridians asking for driver license details in order to remake licenses that show vaccination status. The text messages provide a link that sends targets to a spoofed Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles website with input boxes requesting Social Security and driver license information—including a place to upload a photocopy of a driver license.
Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “COVID-19 cases have decreased drastically across the state, but that hasn’t stopped scammers from finding new angles to exploit the pandemic. Please be on the lookout for phony messages and remember that the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles will never reach out via text and ask for personal information. Florida is not updating driver licenses to include proof of vaccination—any solicitation making this claim is a scam that should be reported immediately.” Continue reading
