Consumer columnist and West Hartford resident Harlan Levy has more than 20 years of experience writing stories about everyday experiences that anyone could encounter.

By Harlan Levy

Before I get to serious topics, here’s a food hack for everyone who loves the fruit bananas – a major source of the important mineral potassium and vitamin B6. Potassium is linked to better heart, kidney, bone, and metabolic health, and B6 primarily helps to metabolize proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. That’s why I eat half a banana every day, besides the fact that I like it.

Anyway, last week, while scrolling through internet messages I found a video that said to wash and dry bananas with paper towels to remove the ripening agent, then wrap the stems in a wet paper towel to keep them fresh longer than just hanging them on a hook. In fact putting bananas on a hook actually hastens their ripening.

If you didn’t know it, now you do.

Deceptive travel ads

Now may be a good time to start making your travel plans for next year. In so doing you should watch out for travel apps operated by Hopper Inc.

On Nov. 2, the Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against Hopper, alleging that when Hopper users were ready to confirm their flight, hotel, and other destination bookings, they saw a screen with the “total” price listed and a prominent “continue” button – suggesting that was the full price the consumer would pay for their booking.

On the next screen, users received additional details about their itinerary above a prominent “Swipe to Book Flight” button.

But there was a catch. Hopper had pre-selected add-on charges – a “Tip” and an additional charge for “VIP Support” – that were automatically added to the total. Only customers who ignored the “Swipe to Book Flight” button and scrolled down on the screen could see these additional pre-selected charges. And most consumers never did.

“Hidden fees like this can trick you into paying more for travel,” the FTC said. “Dishonest companies are betting that you’re too rushed, too distracted, or won’t look closely enough.”

Tips to help you spot and avoid hidden fees if you’re booking travel, making reservations, or purchasing anything online:

• Scroll down: Before you confirm a payment, keep scrolling past the “Book,” “Pay,” or “Confirm” button to see the whole screen. Make sure there’s nothing hidden below the payment button.
• Look for pre-selected options: Some businesses hope you won’t notice that you’re automatically agreeing to pay additional charges now (or later). Review every checkbox and toggle, and deselect anything you didn’t choose or don’t want.
• Compare the final total to the original price. If the amount at checkout is higher than the price you saw earlier, don’t just accept it – find out why before completing the purchase.

Fake debt collection fraud

Have you ever gotten a call that claims you owe a debt you never heard of? If you’re naive, you could be a victim of the following “phantom” debt collection fraud:

On Nov. 9, at the FTC’s request, a federal court temporarily halted and frozen the assets of a debt collection operation that allegedly used deceptive and unlawful tactics to pressure consumers into paying debts that they frequently did not owe.

According to the complaint, McDonnell & Associates, also doing business as First Capital Group, Maxwell & Bryant Group, and Lewis, McDonnell & Associate LLC and owners falsely claimed to be a law firm or affiliated with attorneys and used high-pressure tactics to coerce consumers to make payments on fake debts.

For instance, the complaint alleges that the defendants left deceptive voicemail messages to get consumers to respond and threatened to contact consumers’ employers and family members if they did not.

The complaint further alleges that when consumers did call back, the defendants would make a series of false representations and threats designed to coerce payment from consumers. For example, the defendants threatened to take legal action against consumers if they did not pay the alleged debt, garnish consumers’ wages and put a lien on their properties. Yet, these threats were deceptive because defendants did not take these actions, nor did they intend to.

While making these threats, the complaint alleges, the defendants did not make legally required disclosures: The defendants did not disclose that they were debt collectors and that any information consumers provided would be used for purposes of debt collection. The defendants also failed to provide consumers with legally required debt validation notices that listed the amount of the purported debt, identified the creditor and provided other essential information.

Nevertheless, because of the defendants’ deceptive and abusive debt collection tactics, consumers often paid hundreds of dollars or more to satisfy the purported debts. In total, consumers have paid more than $20 million to defendants.

The court’s temporary restraining order, issued on Nov. 5, 2026, freezes the defendants’ assets and puts the company under the control of a court-appointed receiver while the case continues.

Alarming numbers

The FTC has just reported the following unbelievable numbers:

From 2020 to 2025, total fraud losses reported by older adults (ages 60 and over) increased from $600 million to about $3 billion. And last year, while younger adults were generally more likely to report losing money to fraud than older adults, older adults were more likely to report losing money on certain types of scams including tech support, prize, and government impersonation scams.

Recent FTC law enforcement actions that impacted older adults focused on various consumer protection areas including debt relief services, health insurance frauds, government and business impersonation schemes, money-making opportunities, and tech support scams.

Now you know.

NOTE: If you have a consumer problem, contact me at [email protected] (“Consumer” in subject line), and, with the power of the press, maybe I can help.

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