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 my two main topics – passports and the new weight-loss pill – here’s a scam to be aware of.

On Monday I received the following email supposedly from the state Department of Motor Vehicles:

“Per Department of Motor Vehicles official files, you have unpaid traffic violations. Pursuant to Conn. Gen. Stat. § 14-33, if complete settlement is not received by April 27, the below actions WILL be imposed: Effective April 28: Your Motor Vehicle Registration shall be SUSPENDED, and you will be prohibited from all subsequent registration renewals until the outstanding balance is fully satisfied.

Pending Resolution: Your Connecticut Driver’s License will be SUSPENDED INDEFINITELY.

Collections Action: Your account will be assigned to a licensed collection agency, resulting in maximum statutory financial penalties and potential entry of a Civil Judgment.

Pay Now: https://connecticutdmv.pay-ticku.com/pay. Reply Y, then reopen this message to tap the link, or copy and paste it into your browser.”

I have no outstanding tickets, and you should never reply “Y” or reopen the message or tap the link! A total scam. I’ve passed it on to the DMV.

Passports

Friends of ours who are habitual international travelers are now on a trip to Malta and Sicily. Of course they have updated passports. Maybe some of you readers are contemplating taking a trip abroad.

Here’s what you need to know and what to do:

• Scams: It can take six weeks to get a passport, which takes you into mid-June at the earliest. So, you might be looking for a site to expedite the process. BBB’s Scam Tracker has received over 750 reports of passport scams this year. These scams trick people into paying a fee to fill out a form that is a free download on the U.S. Department of State’s website. You may be misled into providing personal and financial information on these unsecured websites, with costly consequences … and no passport.
• The Federal Trade Commission provided one Connecticut consumer’s experience: One Connecticut consumer recently reported, “I wanted to obtain a new passport for a trip to Europe. I googled, ‘how do I obtain a passport?’ and I clicked on the first website that came up. Unfortunately, it was a .com website, not a .gov website. I did not realize that and I filled out all the information and uploaded my photo. I received an invoice for $148.00. I charged that to my AMEX credit card. After the scammers received my payment, I was never able to get back on their website. I tried over and over. I called the fake customer service number to no avail. I sent an email to their fake email address to no avail. They kept ‘telling’ me that my account did not exist; that my email was incorrect, my billing invoice number was incorrect and my phone number was incorrect.”
• To obtain a passport the forms were free. Appointments with the State Department’s passport centers are also free. If applying for the first time, you must do so in person. If renewing a passport you can do so online. If you’re running out of time, you can opt for expedited services and shipping through the official government website: travel.state.gov.
• The only official, authorized place to renew your U.S. passport online is opr.travel.state.gov. Always check you’re on a website ending in .gov, NOT .com, .us, or .org.

New weight-loss pill

Hey weight-loss strivers: On April Fool’s Day the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Eli Lilly’s obesity pill Foundayo (orforglipron), marking the fifth approval under the FDA’s new National Priority Voucher pilot program, and setting up competition with Novo Nordisk’s new Wegovy pill.

“Issued 50 days after filing and 294 days before the pill’s Jan. 20, 2027 approval deadline date, this decision represents a historic milestone as the first new molecular entity (NME) approved under the program,” the agency said. It is also the fastest approval of an NME since 2002.

Foundayo is approved for use in combination with a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity to reduce excess body weight and maintain weight reduction long term in adults with obesity or adults with overweight in the presence of at least one weight-related condition, the FDA said.

In its trials, 72 weeks of treatment with Foundayo, in combination with a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity, resulted in a statistically significant and clinically meaningful reduction in body weight.

Foundayo is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist in tablet form that should be taken orally once daily, which does not need to be taken on an empty stomach. Starting dosage is 0.8 mg, which should be increased to 2.5 mg after at least 30 days and then to 5.5 mg after another 30 days. The dosage may be increased further to 9 mg, 14.5 mg, or 17.2 mg after at least 30 days at each level based on treatment response and tolerability.

NOTE: Foundayo can cause side effects: nausea, constipation, diarrhea, vomiting, dyspepsia, stomach pain, headache, abdominal extension, fatigue, burping, gastroesophageal reflux disease, gas, and hair loss. It also may cause inflammation of the pancreas, severe gastrointestinal reactions, acute kidney injury due to volume depletion, hypoglycemia (too low blood sugar, hypersensitivity, damage to the eye’s retina in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, and acute gallbladder disease.

Also, it should not be used in combination with another GLP-1 receptor agonist.

Other than that, it’s great! Kidding.

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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