KINGSTON - Consumer awareness and satisfaction are on the rise in New York State, according to the state’s top industry expert.

Bockstein

State Consumer Protection Board Executive Director Mindy Bockstein addressed Ulster County Chamber of Commerce members during a breakfast Thursday in Kingston and said that although new protection issues seem to arise every year, consumers are “staying on top of things.”

Last year nearly 17,000 consumer complaints came through the office, according to Bockstein, varying from identity theft to credit card fraud and interest and fee complaints, to worries about increasing oil and energy prices and telemarketing schemes.

“We saved consumers last year over $1.3 million. We constantly get notes and letters thanking us for the hard work and mediating problems, and alerting people to scams,” she said. “We are protecting New York dollars; we are protecting consumers.”

Bockstein said growing issues this year still continue to be utilities overpricing, Do Not Call list policies for telemarketing, and identity theft.

Bockstein talked to senior citizens, the most vulnerable of demographics she claims, later Thursday at SUNY New Paltz, and educated them on the importance of identity monitoring.  She said they continue to be “the group with the least amount of education, and the most to lose” given their fixed income and inability to rebound from great financial loss.