Take a close look at your CLUE report

A Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange report is compiled on you by the insurance industry to evaluation your risk profile so as to price insurance policies. Negative information means higher rates. The system is also used to track your claims and even your inquiries.

The report generally contains up to seven years of auto and personal-property claims history. It’s a snapshot of information about you and any claims and inquiries you have made during that time frame. It’s sort of like a credit report but it is specific to the insurance industry.

Your CLUE report contains claims information that’s supplied by insurance companies — the dates of loss, the type, how much the company paid and other data. If you haven’t had any claims, you should have a clear report. If you even make an inquiry — did a storm cause hail damage to my roof? — that could show up on the report and affect your risk profile.

If you would like to see your report, you may request a copy from LexisNexis (which owns the database) once every 12 months. You must own the house or vehicle you request a report on.

You will be asked to provide your full name, Social Security number, date of birth, daytime phone number and address. You might be asked to answer several questions that are designed to verify your identity, just like when you order a credit report. You can order a report at personalreports.lexisnexis.com/fact_act_disclosure.jsp or call 888-497-0011. Your report will be mailed; they take about two weeks.

If you find inaccurate information, tell LexisNexis. Access the website and follow its steps to dispute any incorrect information; LexisNexis will follow up with an investigation. Seeing your report is a good way to make sure everything being reported about you is accurate and that you are paying the right rate when you insure your home or auto.

Using Alexa or Siri to make calls could connect you to scammers

Smart speakers are handy for all sorts of tasks, but you should be wary of asking these voice-activated devices to place calls to customer service numbers for you. Why? Because voice-search scams are on the rise as more and more criminals have found a way to use technology against consumers.

Here’s how this scam works. You ask your smart speaker to call a reputable company’s customer-service phone number. Perhaps you need to change an airline ticket or speak with your phone provider about a problem with your account. The “representative” on the line sounds knowledgeable but when they ask you to pay money either with a prepaid debit card or wire transfer you can bet it’s a scam.

You might be wondering how Alexa or Siri can connect you to a scammer. Because criminals buy ads on sites like Google to appear high in the search results: When you ask the assistant to place the call, it could grab the number from the wrong site. (Algorithms pull customer service numbers from online listings).

Consumers have even complained that they are being connected to tech-support scammers. The best way to avoid this scam is to go to the actual company’s website directly and call the support number listed. Use a credit card instead of a debit card in case you need to dispute the charge later.

Absent that, look up the number yourself. Alexa will connect you. Just say, “Alexa, call …”

You can report international scams online

One frustrating thing about scams is the crooks often are beyond the reach of U.S. law enforcement. Econsumer.gov says more than half of the complaints it receives comes from U.S. consumers. We certainly seem to be a targeted group.

To help authorities spot trends and combat fraud, you can report international scams online at https://www.econsumer.gov/#crnt. This organization works with 35 consumer-protection agencies around the globe. The complaint database, Consumer Sentinel is maintained by the Federal Trade Commission.

If you decide to report a scam, your data, including contact information, will be made available to law enforcement and regulatory agencies in many countries. These agencies use the information to investigate scams and pursue regulatory and determine enforcement actions.

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If you have encountered a consumer issue that you have questions about or think our readers should know about, please send me an email at terridickersonadvocate@gmail.com or call me at 208-274-4458.