In 2009, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office received more than 28,000 consumer complaints. It also opened more than 240 investigations and filed more than 35 lawsuits to protect Ohioans from unfair business practices.

Unfortunately, scam artists also were hard at work in 2009. The year’s top consumer scams included:

Job scams — As unemployment numbers rose, so too did scams targeting job seekers. Ohioans were bombarded by phony work-at-home offers, job placement scams and false information about unemployment.

“Cash for Clunkers” scams — When the federal government offered a program to give credits to consumers who traded in less fuel-efficient vehicles, copycat scammers created phony “registration” Web sites designed to steal consumers’ personal information.

Foreclosure rescue scams — Scammers targeted homeowners at risk of losing their homes to foreclosure, making false promises to save their homes. They took homeowners’ money but never provided any real help.

H1N1 scams — The H1N1 virus generated news on a weekly basis, and scammers kept the pace, regularly developing phony “swine flu” Web sites and H1N1-vaccine phishing scams.

Advance fee loans — With credit markets tightening, more consumers fell prey to scammers charging upfront fees for credit cards and loans that didn’t exist.

“Free trials” of weight loss and beauty products — Web sites boasted free trials for tooth-whitening products and acai berry weight loss supplements. After consumers signed up for the free deals, however, they were charged monthly fees.

Fake check scams — Using fake checks to make their sweepstakes scams, phony job offers and online sales scams seem real, scammers convinced consumers to cash the checks then wire-transfer some of the money to the scammer. Later the check was returned as counterfeit and consumers lost any money they sent.

Shoddy home improvement work — From unfinished roofs to driveways that were never properly paved, unscrupulous contractors took thousands of dollars from consumers across the state for shoddy work.

Phishing scams — Scammers made phone calls and sent e-mails and text messages telling consumers their accounts had been compromised and they needed to enter their personal information. In reality, the messages were a ploy to trick consumers into revealing their personal information.

Credit repair scams — Scammers told consumers that they could completely clean up their credit reports and improve their credit scores for a fee. As usual, the offers were just too good to be true and consumers’ credit never improved.