What You Should Know About National Consumer Protection Week 2026

The first week of March is National Consumer Protection Week. It’s the perfect time to take stock of the state of privacy in the U.S. and learn ways to protect yourself from today’s top threats. 

What is National Consumer Protection Week (NCPW)? 

The FTC proposed NCPW as a time to “talk about frauds, scams, and consumer rights.” The goal is to help consumers make informed decisions about their data and online safety. A variety of federal, state, and local agencies participate, alongside businesses and nonprofit organizations. Educational materials can include seminars, blog posts like this one, webinars, and newsletters. 

Unfortunately, a lot of people haven’t even heard of National Consumer Protection Week. That needs to change. 

Why National Consumer Protection Week matters

Consumer data privacy is hampered by a lack of awareness of today’s top threats, as well as the rights and protections already available. 

As a result, fraud and scams are the norm in the United States. Americans lost tens of billions of dollars to identity theft alone in 2024. National Consumer Protection Week exists as one way to improve consumer education and combat the scam economy. 

Let’s take a look at some of those threats. 

Top data privacy and online safety issues for consumers in 2026

Privacy laws aren’t what they should be, and with that consumer protections. The “default setting” of privacy in the United States leaves us exposed to many different types of attacks, scams, surveillance, and questionable business models that expose our personal information. 

1. Tax scams

Tax season is prime time for scammers. Fraudsters can pose as the IRS and threaten to arrest victims unless they make a payment, often with gift cards or cryptocurrency. 

Never answer calls, texts, or emails that claim to be from the IRS. The IRS sends official communications through mail first. 

Another common scam is the fake tax preparer who offers to prepare your taxes for a price and steals your refund or personal data. Use only verified and credentialed tax preparers through a known service. 

2. Sextortion

In sextortion schemes, cybercriminals threaten to share victims’ intimate images or information unless they pay, send more images, or comply with other demands. Sextortion exploded by 137% last year, in part thanks to the fact that increasingly sophisticated AI image generators allow cybercriminals to easily pose as romantic partners. 

Many of these scams target minors. Known financial losses due to sextortion reached more than $33 million in 2024, and the real number is likely much higher. Victims of sextortion have even died by suicide. 

How to stay safe this National Consumer Protection Week:

1. Research common scams and how perpetrators find their victims.
2. Make sure you communicate online risks openly with your children and that they know they can come to you if something goes wrong.
3. Never share intimate images online, even if you trust the recipient. Data breaches and account takeovers can still lead to unwanted exposure. 
4. Set social media accounts to private and make sure you know who your children communicate with across platforms. 
5. Do not pay or comply with demands if a sextortion incident occurs. Cybercriminals will rarely back off. 
6. Report sextortion to the authorities. 

When it comes to online scams and sextortion, what you don’t know most definitely can hurt you and your family. 

3. Job scams

Jobseekers tend to attract scammers. Fraudsters impersonate real companies and post fake job listings. The goal is sometimes to steal personal information, but most often it’s to get applicants to pay some kind of upfront fee. 

Remember that a legitimate employer will pay you, not the other way around, period. Treat any requests to pay for training or equipment with suspicion and do your research before you apply. 

4. Phishing threats

Phishing emails and texts that “fish” for personal info or login credentials are well-known, but new forms emerge every day. Some can bypass password protections, like the phishing-as-a-service package called Starkiller. 

When victims click on a link in an email or text, Starkiller loads the actual login page of a major platform like Google, Microsoft, Apple, or Facebook, and sits in the middle to record usernames, passwords, and one-time passcodes. Once the victim logs in, cybercriminals have everything they need to access the account. 

This is especially concerning because each of those platforms are used to sign into a host of other services and software. And since the phishing link leads to an actual known platform, it can fool even tech-savvy individuals. 

Never click login links sent via email and text. Instead, go directly to the website and type the address into the browser. Businesses can also use phishing-resistant MFA, advanced email filtering, and data removal to make employees and executives less visible to potential attackers. 

5. Facial recognition

Facial recognition is widespread and poorly regulated. It’s a feature in smartphones, airport security checkpoints, retail stores, and law enforcement. There are some facial recognition solutions, like Pimeyes, that are freely available to anyone who pays and wants to identify an individual, with or without their consent. All feed into a massive surveillance economy that tracks our lives constantly in public and at home. 

Privacy advocates are already pushing back, but one thing consumers can do is contact local representatives to demand stronger biometric privacy legislation. They can also support organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is actively working for stronger protections around facial recognition. 

6. Age verification

In response to concerns about minors accessing harmful online content, governments and tech platforms have started to implement stricter age verification measures. That process usually requires a government-issued ID, a passport, or a facial scan. 

As shown by the recent breach that exposed 70,000 IDs submitted by Discord users, age verification can quickly turn into a privacy nightmare. 

Look for platforms that allow for one-time verification and immediately delete identity-related data or that only collect information related to age and do not store names or IDs. 

7. Slippery subscription models

Consumers pay more and own less than ever before. Software, entertainment, mobile apps, and more are all based around monthly fees instead of one-time purchases and rental instead of ownership. The ongoing relationship allows companies and apps to aggressively collect user data over time. 

Even apps marketed as tools to help you save money and manage or cancel subscriptions, like Rocket Money and other services, profit from the data users hand over when trying to get their finances under control. 

Cut out the middleman and reduce the number of subscriptions you have to protect your privacy and your financial wellbeing at the same time. 

For Android, open the Google Play Store, click your profile icon, and select Payments & Subscriptions > Subscriptions. Then you can cancel anything tied to your Google account. 

Apple users, go directly to the Settings App, tap your name at the top, and select Subscriptions to cancel any from that screen. 

Check your bank account regularly to see when money goes out and make sure you know where it’s headed. Otherwise, you’re primed for slippery subscriptions and for unnoticed charges on your account or your credit card. 

8. Data broker-related exposure

Data brokers collect and sell personal information on a daily basis to anyone who pays, usually with no consequences whatsoever. Profiles can include names, contact information, home addresses, employment status, and much more. Some data brokers like National Public Data even have your SSN. 

That info can easily fall into the wrong hands. National Public Data suffered a breach that exposed the personal details of millions of people, and that’s not even the worst result of data brokers’ shady data collection and sale practices, which can include doxxing and real physical harm. 

Submit opt-out requests to data brokers like Spokeo, Whitepages, and Truthfinder or consider paying a service like DeleteMe to opt out on your behalf. Even if you opt out, data brokers can resell lists after a few months, so check back regularly to keep your information safe. 

Final thoughts

Online threats may be more sophisticated, personal, and pervasive than ever before, but one of the best tools you have is awareness. National Consumer Protection Week should be a reminder to make your privacy a priority and not wait for a breach, scam, or stolen identity to force you into action. 

Internet safety starts here. 

Learn more

• Learn about how hackers and cybercriminals take advantage of your exposed data
• Try out our free scan to see where your information might be exposed and put you at greater risk of scams online
• Discover our tips to improve your privacy in just five minutes