5 Places to Investigate Franchises or other Business Opportunities

Are you considering a franchise or other business opportunity? Take time to check to make sure this business does not have a record of fraud, consumer protection violations, or other illegal activity. Here are the federal agencies and other consumer protection organizations I would suggest you check:

• The Better Business Bureau
  This non-profit organization allows you to check out a business to see if there have been any complaints against it. Note that just because you can't find the business in the BBB data base doesn't mean there haven't been complaints; they may not have been registered or the business may be listed under another name. You may know only the fictitious name (d/b/a) of the business. You can also look in the list of BBB accredited businesses, which means that the business has been around for at least 3 years and has been reviewed by the BBB.
  
  
• U.S. Postal Inspection Service
  The Postal Inspection Service, a law enforcement agency of the U.S. government, has a mission of
  

  "fighting criminals who attack our nation’s postal system and misuse it to defraud, endanger, or otherwise threaten the American public."

  The organization's Mail Fraud section investigates franchise fraud, phony job opportunities, multi-level marketing and work-at-home schemes, among others.
  
  
• Your state attorney general
  Check with your state attorney general to see if the organization has been convicted of fraud in the state. The easiest way to check is to search the website to see if there have been any news releases or other actions against a specific company.
  
  
• The Federal Trade Commission
  Consumer protection is the goal of the FTC. If you want to see if a case has been filed against a specific company, check the list of case filings.
  
  
• Your state consumer protection agency
  Each state consumer protection agency might also have information on companies doing business in your state.

In addition to all of these resources, there is still the good ole search. I would suggest searching Google News on a company name. You might be surprised at what you find, and it's always better to be surprised sooner rather than later.