Category Archives: Consumer protection

Children’s car safety seats: Are you using yours correctly?

By RENAISSANCE ALLIANCE

baby in a car seat

Are you using your child’s car safety seat properly? A 2016 report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) suggests you might not be. More than half the car seats looked at in the report were improperly installed or incorrectly used. Similar studies conducted independently showed even higher levels of misuse. While some of the errors found in these studies were small, others were large enough to negate the safety of the seat entirely. As Miriam Manary, senior engineering research associate at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, told the New York Times:

“… somewhere around 35 percent of it is gross misuse where they’re not going to get any protection from that system — things like not securing the child restraint into the vehicle or not harnessing the child in the child restraint system.”

Motor vehicle accidents are the number one cause of death in children, and forty percent of children killed in automobile crashes were unrestrained. Correctly using a child’s car safety seat can reduce the risk of fatal injury by more than half. The child safety group Safe Kids Worldwide offers free children’s car seat checks. Look at their website to see if they’re sponsoring an event near you. If there are no safety checks nearby, Safe Kids Worldwide also offers a list of technicians qualified to check that your children’s car safety seat is properly installed and that you’re using it right.

Here are some pointers to help make sure your children are getting the safest ride out of their car seats:

Don’t forget the top tether. All children’s car seats have at least three anchor straps. Some have five. It’s easy to forget that important top strap.

Check the expiration date. Like all good things, children’s car seats won’t last forever. Wear and tear, exposure to heat and UV light — all these things take their toll. Most convertible car seats are good for 10 years; most infant seats for 6. Check your warranty card to see when yours expires.

Been in a wreck? Throw it out. A damaged car seat is an ineffective car seat. If you’ve been in a serious accident while your child’s car seat was in the car with you, maybe toss it and get a new one.

And finally, some good news: more expensive doesn’t always mean better. All children’s car safety seats have to meet the same federal standards. They’re tested by the NHTSA to make sure that all models on the market conform to those guidelines. Some models may be more convenient, more versatile, better looking, or have a better cup holder – but they’re still providing the same baseline safety features.

So keep these tips in mind, do your homework, and before you take a spin, strap ‘em in!

Parents of toddlers take note: Prevent tip-over accidents in your home

By RENAISSANCE ALLIANCE

child at risk of a furniture tipover

Can you spot what’s wrong with the picture in this post? If you have young children or know someone who does, the photo should set off warning alarms – but unfortunately, many people just aren’t cued in to the danger of furniture tipovers. For example, there was an important recall notice from IKEA that you might have missed over the holidays. After an 8th child died in a tip-over accident, IKEA re-issued its recall notice for Malm dressers. A 2-year old California boy died after being trapped under an unanchored 3-drawer chest.

Furniture tipovers pose a risk that goes well beyond IKEA. Every year in the U.S., more than 25,000 children are treated in emergency rooms for tip-over accidents and about one child dies every 2-3 weeks from these types of preventable home accidents. Most tipovers – about 80% – involve young children, from 1 to 5 years old. They happen in bedrooms and living rooms and involve chests, drawers, bookshelves, armoires, TVs and other unanchored furnishings tipping onto, trapping and crushing children. The little boy in the photo above is in a hazardous situation. A post on the CPSC On Safety blog explains the importance of anchoring children’s furniture.

In this video clip, a Mom speaks about what happened to her son Shane and offers advice to parent so that they can avoid such a tragedy.

You can also see a video of a near-miss involving twin boys who suffered a tip-over but fortunately escaped serious injury. The parents posted the chilling video online to warn other parents by showing how quickly and easily such incidents can occur when furnishings are unanchored.

We’ve posted on the topic of tip-overs several times. For additional information see our past posts and these other helpful links:

Don’t let email scams hijack your holiday!

By RENAISSANCE ALLIANCE

illustration of thief robbing santa

As seasonal shopping ramps up both on and offline, there are many opportunities for scammers and thieves to separate you from your hard-earned money.  Dial up your fraud awareness radar to the max – particularly when shopping online. Today, we’ll focus on email scams, a favorite tool for crooks. We’ve been monitoring our email spam folders and monitoring news reports to bring you some common scams this year.

Shipping status phishing emails: Be alert for emails telling you to login to check shipping status for recent purchases. This often works because it uses the names and logos of large retailers that you might actually have made a recent purchase from, such as Amazon or Walmart. Or it might be an email pretending to be Fedex, UPS, or another shipping service. Take the time to check these out carefully – did you make a purchase? Look at the information of the sender in the email header – is it legit? Hover over the link to read where it is taking you before you click. If there is any doubt, go back to the site where you made your purchase and check shipping info form there.

Emails using your name. There are many ways that scammers can get your name so that is no guarantee of legitimacy. They can even spoof your email address so that an email looks like it is coming from your own account. Here are some recent scams we’ve see using our name:

  • Cash advance for {your name}
  • Verify this charge to your {name of large retailer} account
  • Are you {your name)
  • We found your missing money {your name}
  • Hey {your name} !! Do You Remember me ?
  • Why did you text me (your name}

Gift card scams. Be alert for emails or phone calls telling you that you’ve been selected to get a $50 card or that you’ve been sent a card. In the last few weeks we’ve had malicious email attempts touting McDonald’s, Kohl’s, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Target, CVS, Apple and PayPal. Some of these mails can look very legit. Here are a few tips to stay safe:

  • Don’t buy gift cards from emails or from online auction sites. If you want to a purchase a gift card, go to the actual vendor site or their offline store.
  • When purchasing a gift card, never give private information such as your Social Security number, bank account number or date of birth.
  • Only use gift cards at the intended sites. If a caller or an online vendor tells you they only accept payments via gift cards, beware. Don’t give anyone gift card claim codes. Also, no reputable vendor or service will ask to be paid in Amazon or Apple gift cards, or any other gift cards.
  • If you purchase a gift card in a retail store, ask the cashier to scan the card to verify that the card actually reflects the stated amount and correct balance.

The TN Department of Commerce & Insurance has a good list of common holiday scams: Letter from Santa? Or is it bait from a scam artist? It’s worth glancing at their list of scams as well as  checking out their tips to stay safe.

Other common email scams and pitches we’ve seen in our spam folder lately that lead to malicious sites:

  • Check you Experian score
  • Letters from Santa offers
  • Instant loans: Get approved for $15,000 Immediately
  • Credit card offers
  • Pain drugs and medical marijuana offers
  • You have been selected for clinical trials
  • Please confirm receipt
  • Free samples

A few common signs of scams:

  • Offers that are too good to be true – they usually are fake.
  • Demands or threats to take action now to avoid consequences; emails saying “Final notice.”
  • Requests to update your information or change your password

Crooks have a lot of tricks and are good at exploiting human weaknesses. Here are a few sites that will help you learn more about current scams and improve your online safety savvy.

 

 

Infographic and expert tips for Cyber Security Month

By RENAISSANCE ALLIANCE

October is National Cyber Security Month – an annual reminder to safeguard your digital information and review your online safety practices. It’s a good time to ensure your software is up-to-date and take a few moments to review expert advise to ensure you have maximum protection against emerging threats.

National Cybersecurity Awareness Month is a collaboration between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security the National Cyber Security Alliance, a private consortium. Whether you are an individual, a family or a business, each of these links offer tips, tools and resources to help you stay safe online. We’ve included an infographic below.

Here are some other tips from cyber security experts

Infographic with syber security tips

Equifax Data Breach: Here’s what to do if you haven’t acted yet

By RENAISSANCE ALLIANCE

criminal looking through computer data

If you’ve been immobilized about taking action related to the mammoth Equifax data breach, you’re not alone – many people have been. The sheer enormity and scope of the breach – 143 million records in the US alone – left many feeling hopeless. There have been big breaches before so it is easy to become numb to the significance, but this is a truly alarming incident that merits a response. Equifax, as one of the nation’s big three credit reporting bureaus, has access to your most sensitive personal data, including your birth date, Social Security number, driver’s license, address, account history and more.

We’ve gathered the best consumer advice we’ve found from trusted sources on what you can do to protect yourself.

First up: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has compiled an excellent summary page: The Equifax Data Breach: What to Do. It explains more about the breach and the steps that you should take to protect yourself. FTC also points to a very useful site from IdentityTheft.gov related to what you should to when your information is lost or exposed. In a simple drop down menu, they guide you through the steps you should take for various types of exposure, including information about specific breaches. You can see more about these services in this video clip:

Next up: This brief video from AARP is also quite good. Here’s the accompanying article: How to Protect Your Personal Data From Hackers.

Finally, more excellent advice on actions consumers should take comes from Trend Micro, the digital security firm. Their Simply Security blog features a post on The Equifax Data Breach: What Do I Do Next? At the end f the post, they offer a bulleted list of action stops.

Key links you need: