Report Section 8 Scammers to the FTC and BBB

As we continue to raise awareness of online scams that take advantage of people looking for affordable housing assistance, in this installment of our scam series, we provide a step-by-step tutorial for submitting reports to the Federal Trade Commission and Better Business Bureau. We again ask our users to help the fight against these scammers by following these steps.

The Federal Trade Commission is a United States federal agency created to protect consumers and prevent unethical and illegal business practices. It covers activities such as identity theft, SPAM, and most importantly to us, scams.

For those who have paid money into a Section 8 scam, the Federal Trade Commission offers a “Complaint Assistant” website to report consumer wrongdoings. This week, we will use the scam website Section8programs.com, which pretends to be an online Section 8 application portal and charges users for its “service.”

Please follow the steps below to report a scammer to the FTC, and if you have not been scammed, skip below to find out how to submit a report to the Better Business Bureau.

Federal Trade Commission

1.  Click this link to go to the FTC’s “Complaint Assistant” website.
2.  Click the box on the left titled “Scams and Rip-offs”.
3.  A new box will appear with several different categories. Select the bottom category, “NO MATCH FOUND.”

4.  This will bring you to a page asking how you were contacted. Select the appropriate answer. There is an option called “I initiated contact” if you went to the scam website on your own will.
5.  The FTC will then explain that it is soon going to ask you to write an explanation of what happened. Click “Continue”.

6.  Fill out each question as it applies to your situation. If you have been scammed by Section8programs.com, you can use the entries we have provided below as a guide. Once these entries are complete, click “Continue” on the bottom right corner.

7.  The next page asks for company information. Complete the information as it applies to your situation, or if you have been scammed by Section8programs.com, follow our guide below. Once that information has been completed, click “Continue.”

8.  The FTC will now ask for you to provide as much contact information as your would like. It is important to not that the more information that is provided makes it easier for the FTC to contact you, if needed.

9.  For the final piece of content, the FTC asks for you to explain how you were scammed. You may use our explanation as a guideline.

10.  A window will pop up asking you to confirm your address. Click “Accept.”

11.  You can now review all of the information you have submitted with this complaint. Make any changes as needed, then click the green button titled “Submit” on the bottom right corner of the page.

The final FTC page gives a phone number if you have any further questions or comments, along with a confirmation number of the complaint. You will also receive an email with the confirmation number if that information has been provided. Please write this number down and keep it in a safe place.

Better Business Bureau

Even if you are not a victim of a scam, you can report scammers to the Better Business Bureau (BBB). Although it is a non-profit organization with no connection to the Federal government, it is a reliable source for consumers in the United States and Canada. Consumers use this resource to find out if certain businesses are reputable, or not.As of the writing of this blog, Section8programs.com has had 21 complaints within the past three years. There is also a section on the scam site’s Better Business Bureau’s page that the BBB contacted the administrator, Hiram Lewis, to have mis-leading text removed from the website, but Mr. Lewis refused to cooperate.

Please follow the steps below to submit a review to the BBB. We have provided specific instructions for those who have been scammed by Section8programs.com in our images below.

1.  Visit the general Better Business Bureau page here.
2.  Type the business’ name in the search bar on top, and click the search icon on the right.

3.  Locate the business in the search results and click “Submit a Customer Review” below.


4.  Type a review in the box on the top of the page.
5.  Click the option below to rate your experience as “Negative”
6.  Under that rating, select “0” as the answer to, “How likely are you to recommend this business.”

7.  Fill out your contact information below.
8.  Click the check box confirming your complaint is legitimate and that it will go through the BBB’s review process.
9.  Click the green button titled “Submit Review.”

10.  Confirm your email address in the email that is sent to you after clicking “Submit Review.”

We thank our users who have taken the time to submit complaints about Section 8 scammers. Although organizations like the Better Business Bureau cannot take any disciplinary action against websites like Section8programs.com, additional negative complaints help Internet users become more aware of these scams. With numerous visible online complaints, users who are not aware that websites such as this are a scam are more likely to discover that they are illegitimate operations.