Consumer Action reaches Spanish-speakers through print and TV coverage during COVID

By Nelson Santiago

Since the pandemic began, I have, in my role as community outreach manager, taken extra steps to get the word out to media about the organization’s Spanish scam alerts and other resources. La Voz, a bilingual paper in Northern California, started publishing our articles regularly. I’ve also responded to newspaper and television reporters' requests for interviews on emerging consumer problems.

Scammers have been unrelenting during the pandemic. The tips in the news articles can help keep consumers safe through the end of the crisis, and beyond.

Our Spanish media coverage linked to below can be shared with Spanish-speaking consumers you know or serve. We regularly post press releases and stories in Spanish on our website.

• Early in the COVID crisis, as part of a collaborative media outreach campaign with Americans for Financial Reform's Language Access Task Force and other groups, the Orange County Spanish weekly Excélsior published vital information about mortgage assistance during COVID in "Cómo obtener ayuda con su préstamo hipotecario durante el brote de COVID-19." The article includes information on finding a housing counselor.
• Also during COVID, the Spanish edition of the Los Angeles Times ran a story, "Asistencia financiera para trabajadores indocumentados: Cómo hacerle frente al COVID-19", based on our fact sheet on financial assistance for undocumented workers.
• El Pregonero, part of the DC-based Catholic Standard, published an article warning seniors about scams. "Estafan a abuelos aprovechándose de la pandemia del Covid-19" is based on a Spanish scam alert that we shared with reporters following the publication of our May SCAM GRAM.
• Both La Opinión newspaper and the National Univision television network contacted us about a WhatsApp scam in which the perpetrator, who has hacked someone's WhatsApp account, reaches out to the hacked account's contacts asking for money to be sent somewhere urgently and requesting a code that would give the scammer control of that person's account and access to their contacts in order to continue the scam. Click here for the article and here for the video.

Early in 2021, Northern California's La Voz invited me to regularly submit bilingual articles for publication. Recent articles include:

• Consumer Action's emergency savings during COVID fact sheet
• Consumer Action's Emergency Broadband Benefit consumer alert (both May and June issues)
• New, and not so new, scams to watch for

For regularly updated COVID resource information, visit our multilingual online guide Resources for consumers impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Learn more about Consumer Action's outreach to the Spanish-speaking community here.