Wondering how that contractor managed to underbid his competition by so much?  Maybe it’s because he doesn’t pay his taxes, does shoddy work or will take your money and run.

You can find out at suspectfraud.com, a website developed with the Washington state departments of Revenue, Labor & Industries, and Employment Security. The site is an effort to cut down on an underground economy of businesses that don’t play by the rules and to pursue individuals that evade paying their fair share of taxes.

Links allow consumers to check to see if a registered business is properly licensed, owes the state taxes, has had complaints filed against it, or is the subject of state enforcement actions.

Of all the people to be targeted by identify theft: The head of Idaho's consumer protection division? Deputy Attorney General Brett DeLange tells the Idaho Statesman today that fraudulent charges were made to his credit card, and the first he knew of it came when the credit card company called him to verify that he'd ordered five video cameras - he hadn't. DeLange immediately checked his credit card online and found several other fraudulent charges; he notified the credit card company, which canceled the account and took care of the charges, reports Idaho Statesman reporter Sandra Forester. DeLange is suggesting that all credit card users monitor their statements regularly for unusual activity. You can read Forester's full story here.
  

Scammers from Canada have been targeting Idaho seniors, posing as grandchildren who have run into trouble while abroad and need money wired right away; three Idaho families have fallen for the scam in the past two weeks, the Idaho Attorney General's office reports, and lost thousands of dollars. “You may think that you wouldn’t fall for these scams, but they’re designed to catch you off guard,” said Attorney General Lawrence Wasden. “Con artists play on your fears to make you do things you wouldn’t normally do.” Click below to read the full “Consumer Alert” Wasden issued today.

Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Complaints about mortgage practices kept lawyers in Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden's office busy last year. Wasden released his annual consumer protection report for 2010 on Tuesday. He says his attorneys handled 261 complaints about loans, compared to just 109 in 2009. In response, Wasden says his office pursued several enforcement actions against deceptive loan modification companies. It also hired a housing counselor to assist Idaho homeowners and spearheaded a public education program related to foreclosures, mortgage modifications and purchasing a home. Other significant consumer protection activity included lawsuits and settlements with pharmaceutical manufacturers over their marketing and pricing of drugs. Wasden says lawyers in the consumer protection division recovered nearly $6 million in restitution, the second largest amount ever recovered by the attorney general's office.

The owners of a bankrupt firm that once was the largest seller of extended auto warranties in the nation have been barred from doing business in Idaho, under a settlement announced today by Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden. “These individuals got rich by blanketing the country with deceptive mailings, unwanted telephone calls, and high pressure sales tactics, often aimed at senior citizens,” Wasden said.  “They made millions selling nearly worthless service contracts, in many cases to people who were covered by a manufacturer’s warranty. This settlement prohibits them from repeating those practices in Idaho.”

Wasden and ten other state attorneys general sued the defunct company and its owners earlier this year, alleging the illegal actions stemming from deceptive junk mail, telemarketing robocalls and misleading TV ads. Click below to read Wasden’s full news release.

Identity thefts rose almost 50 percent last year — and most of the companies victimized had few protections in place to safeguard consumers.

In fact, most companies victimized — 91.5 percent — didn’t even require passwords to access consumer information.

That’s according to a new report from the Identity Theft Resource Center, which reported a 47 percent increase in “data breaches” in 2008. In total, the center reported 656 breaches, exposed more than 35 million consumers.

What compromises a “data breach”? Here’s an excerpt from a post at WalletPop:

It means that a company holding your private information (typically credit card numbers and/or social security numbers) had its computer systems hacked. Your private information then sits in the hands of criminals.