National Consumer Protection Week 2026: How to Spot Scams and Protect Yourself

National Consumer Protection Week (NCPW) 2026 runs from March 2 to March 6, and it’s a good time to pause and review how you handle your personal information. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) uses this week to highlight the most common fraud tactics and provide free resources to help people avoid becoming victims. Whether you’ve been targeted before or just want to stay ahead, the FTC’s advice is straightforward and practical.

What Happened: NCPW 2026 Plans Are Underway

The FTC has already begun promoting NCPW 2026 with a dedicated page at ftc.gov/ncpw where you can find toolkits, videos, and discussion guides. The agency encourages community groups, businesses, and individuals to plan events or simply talk about scams with family and friends. In previous years, the FTC shared “consumer advice” articles focusing on timely threats, and this year will likely follow the same pattern.

According to the FTC’s “Get ready for NCPW 2026” announcement (published February 20, 2026), the week aims to help consumers “spot, stop, and report” fraud. The agency has also been gathering planning resources since early February, so if you want to host a local workshop or share tips online, the materials are already available.

Why It Matters: Scams Don’t Take a Break

Scammers often ramp up their efforts during awareness events, using the buzz to impersonate government agencies, tech support, or even the FTC itself. Common schemes that appear around NCPW include:

  • Impersonation calls – Someone claims to be from the Social Security Administration or the IRS and demands payment (often via gift cards or cryptocurrency).
  • Tech support fraud – A pop-up or phone call says your computer has a virus and offers to fix it for a fee; the scammer then gains remote access to your files.
  • Phishing emails – Messages that look official, asking you to click a link to “verify your account” or “claim a refund” from an agency that doesn’t exist.

The FTC’s data shows that imposter scams were the most reported fraud category in recent years, with losses in the billions. NCPW is designed to cut through that noise by giving people clear, actionable steps before they lose money.

What Readers Can Do: Practical, FTC-Backed Steps

You don’t need to be a security expert to protect yourself. Here are concrete actions you can take during NCPW 2026 and beyond, based on the FTC’s own advice:

1. Know how to spot a scam. The FTC says every scam follows a similar pattern: a caller or message creates a sense of urgency, asks for personal information, and insists on an unusual payment method (wired money, gift cards, or cryptocurrency). If you hear any of those elements, stop and verify independently. Hang up and call the agency back using a number you know is real.

2. Lock down your accounts. Use strong, unique passwords for each online account—especially banking, email, and social media. Enable two-factor authentication wherever it’s offered. The FTC provides a checklist at identitytheft.gov for recovering from identity theft, but prevention starts with these basics.

3. Report scams as soon as you see them. If you encounter a suspicious call, email, or online ad, report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Your report helps investigators track patterns and stop fraudsters. You can also forward phishing emails to [email protected].

4. Talk about scams with others. The FTC emphasizes that talking about scams is one of the most effective ways to prevent them. Share what you’ve learned with older relatives, neighbors, or coworkers. Many scams succeed because people are embarrassed to ask for help. Normalizing the conversation makes it harder for scammers to isolate victims.

5. Use NCPW as a yearly security review. Set a recurring calendar reminder for the first week of March to review your credit reports (free at annualcreditreport.com), check for unfamiliar transactions, and update passwords you haven’t changed in a while. This one habit can catch small issues before they become big problems.

Sources

  • Federal Trade Commission, “Welcome to NCPW 2026 – Consumer Advice” (ftc.gov/ncpw, March 2026)
  • FTC, “Get ready for NCPW 2026” (ftc.gov, February 2026)
  • FTC, “It’s time to start planning for NCPW 2026” (ftc.gov, February 2026)
  • Previous NCPW materials and scam data from ftc.gov (2024–2025)

For the latest updates, bookmark the FTC’s consumer advice page and check it during NCPW 2026. Staying informed doesn’t require a lot of time—just a few minutes of attention, once a year, can make a real difference in keeping your money and identity safe.