Consumer News: Consumer product safety recall roundup for June 26, 2026

Employment more than doubled in 2025

By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs

• Employment are one of the fastest-growing forms of consumer fraud, with FTC reports and financial losses rising sharply over the past several years.

• Scammers increasingly use fake remote jobs, task-based work, reshipping positions, and bogus recruiter contacts to steal money and personal information.

• Consumer advocates say legitimate employers will never require applicants to pay upfront fees or purchase equipment before starting work.

For Americans searching for work, finding the right job has become more difficult and avoiding scammers has become another challenge altogether.

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) data shows reports of job and employment have nearly tripled since 2020, while consumer losses have climbed from about $90 million to more than $500 million annually. The FTC says scammers are increasingly targeting job seekers with convincing emails, text messages, and online job postings that appear to come from legitimate employers.

The Better Business Bureau reports employment more than doubled in 2025, fueled in part by the popularity of remote work and the growing use of artificial intelligence to create realistic fake job listings and recruiter communications.

The most common employment

• Fake remote jobs. The most common scam involves advertising work-from-home positions that promise flexible hours, high pay, and minimal qualifications. Victims are often "hired" after a brief text or online interview, only to be asked for bank information, Social Security numbers, or payments for training or equipment.

• Task . The FTC has identified so-called "task " as one of the fastest-growing employment frauds. Victims receive unsolicited text messages or WhatsApp contacts offering simple online work, such as rating products or optimizing apps.
  
  Initially, victims may receive small payments to build trust. Eventually, they are instructed to deposit their own money often in cryptocurrency to unlock larger assignments or earnings. The promised payouts never materialize, and the scammers disappear. Task accounted for nearly 40% of reported job in 2024.

• Reshipping jobs. Fraudsters recruit workers to receive packages at home and ship them elsewhere. Victims believe they are working in logistics, but the merchandise is often purchased with stolen credit cards, potentially exposing participants to legal problems while they never receive the promised wages.

• Fake check . After offering a job, scammers send what appears to be a company check to purchase office equipment. Applicants are instructed to buy supplies from a designated vendor or forward part of the money. Days later, the check bounces, leaving the victim responsible for the money already spent or transferred.

• Advance-fee and training . Some fake employers require applicants to pay for certifications, background checks, software, work permits, or training before they can begin working. Once payment is made, the employer disappears or continues requesting additional fees. Legitimate employers generally do not require applicants to pay upfront to be hired.

Red flags

Consumer advocates say job seekers should be wary if a recruiter:

• Contacts them unexpectedly by text or messaging apps.

• Offers unusually high pay for simple work.

• Conducts interviews only by text or chat.

• Pressures applicants to act immediately.

• Requests payment before employment begins.

• Asks for sensitive personal information before a formal hiring process.

• Sends checks and instructs applicants to purchase equipment from specific vendors.

How to protect yourself

The FTC recommends researching employers independently rather than relying on links in emails or text messages. Applicants should visit a company's official website to verify job postings, confirm recruiter identities through corporate directories, and avoid paying any fees to obtain employment.

Anyone who believes they have encountered a job scam should stop communicating with the suspected scammer, report the incident to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, notify the job platform where the listing appeared, and monitor financial and credit accounts if personal information was disclosed.

New car affordability keeps many consumers driving used cars

By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs

• New-vehicle affordability has deteriorated sharply as entry-level models disappear and average prices have climbed more than $11,000 since 2019.

• Buyers are increasingly relying on record-long 84-month auto loans to keep monthly payments manageable, creating new challenges for dealers.

• Analysts say the shrinking supply of lower-priced vehicles is reshaping the market, pushing consumers toward used cars and forcing dealerships to rely more heavily on financing and insurance products.

Housing affordability is a real issue. Increasingly, so is car affordability.

Buying a new vehicle has become significantly more difficult for budget-conscious consumers, and as a result, dealers are selling fewer new cars and trucks.

Data from automotive research firm Edmunds shows the average transaction price of a new vehicle reached $48,402 in 2025, up from $37,310 in 2019. That represents an increase of more than $11,000, or roughly 30%, reflecting both inflation and a shift toward more expensive vehicles.

The biggest change has occurred at the lower end of the market.

Vehicles priced at $20,000 or less have all but vanished, accounting for just 0.2% of new-vehicle sales in 2025. Models selling for $25,000 or less made up only 4.7% of sales, down from nearly 21% six years earlier. Meanwhile, vehicles priced below $30,000 now represent just 15% of the market, compared with 40% in 2019.

Many of the affordable subcompact cars that once served as entry points for first-time buyers have been discontinued, including the Mitsubishi Mirage, Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris, and in most markets, the Nissan Versa.

Big jump in seven years

At the opposite end of the market, high-priced vehicles have become increasingly common. Nearly 95% of large SUVs now sell for more than $60,000, compared with about 59% in 2019. Among full-size pickup trucks, nearly half now exceed the $60,000 mark, versus just 8% six years ago.

To cope with rising prices, consumers are stretching loan terms to record lengths. Edmunds found that loans lasting 84 months or longer accounted for 22.9% of financed new-vehicle purchases during the first quarter of 2026, the highest level on record.

Longer loan terms reduce monthly payments but also increase the total interest paid over the life of the loan and can leave buyers owing more than their vehicles are worth for extended periods.

Problem for dealers

For dealerships, the affordability squeeze presents a mixed picture. Higher vehicle prices can increase revenue per sale, but they also reduce the pool of qualified buyers. As a result, dealers are placing greater emphasis on finance and insurance products to help customers structure affordable payments while maintaining dealership profitability.

The affordability challenge comes as Cox Automotive has reported growing concern among dealers about broader economic conditions. In its second-quarter Dealer Sentiment Index, dealer expectations for the next three months fell below the threshold indicating optimism, with many citing high interest rates, tight credit conditions, and economic uncertainty as obstacles to stronger sales.

The result is an increasingly bifurcated auto market: higher-income buyers continue purchasing expensive trucks and SUVs, while many middle- and lower-income consumers are being priced out of new vehicles altogether, turning instead to used cars or delaying purchases.

Industry executives say gas prices always lag drops in oil prices

By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs

• President Trump has accused major oil companies of price gouging consumers and says he has directed the Justice Department to investigate why gasoline prices have not fallen as quickly as crude oil prices.

• The oil industry rejects the accusation, arguing that retail gasoline prices naturally lag declines in crude oil because of refining, transportation, inventories and other market factors.

• Energy analysts say both sides have a point: pump prices typically fall more slowly than oil prices, though the pace of the decline has become a political issue as Americans continue to pay elevated prices for fuel.

President Trump has opened a new front in his administration's energy policy, accusing the nation's largest oil companies of "gouging" motorists by failing to pass along lower crude oil prices to consumers.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he had instructed the Department of Justice to investigate what he described as possible price gouging after oil prices fell sharply following easing tensions in the Middle East.

"The big oil companies are not dropping their price at the pump commensurate with the sharply lower prices they are paying for Oil," Trump wrote. "Those prices are dropping like a rock! In other words, customers are being 'gouged.'" He added that gasoline prices "better start going down a lot faster than what I'm seeing."

According to AAA, the national average price of regular gas is $3.86 a gallon, down six cents from a week ago. This time last year, the average price was $3.19 a gallon.

The White House has argued that falling energy prices are central to Trump's economic agenda and says lower gasoline prices should quickly follow the recent decline in crude oil markets.

Industry pushes back

The oil industry responded swiftly, saying gasoline prices do not move in lockstep with crude oil.

The American Petroleum Institute (API), which represents major U.S. oil producers and refiners, said the industry shares the administration's goal of lowering costs for consumers but argued that several factors affect retail gasoline prices.

"Gasoline prices don't move in lockstep with crude oil, especially during a major global disruption that is still affecting supply, refining and inventories," API spokeswoman Bethany Williams said in a statement to the media. "Our focus remains on supporting market stability and delivering the energy consumers need."

Oil executives also note that gasoline sold at service stations was often refined from crude purchased weeks earlier at higher prices. Before stations can lower prices significantly, they generally must sell through existing inventory acquired at those earlier costs.

Why prices lag

Energy economists say the relationship between crude oil and gasoline prices is more complicated than a direct one-to-one comparison.

Crude oil accounts for roughly half the price of a gallon of gasoline. The remainder reflects refining costs, transportation, storage, distribution, marketing expenses and taxes. Because of that supply chain, it often takes several weeks before lower crude prices are fully reflected at the pump.

Analysts also point to the so-called "rockets and feathers" phenomenon, in which gasoline prices tend to rise quickly when crude oil becomes more expensive but decline more gradually after crude prices fall. Low gasoline inventories and uncertainty surrounding global energy supplies can further slow price declines.

For motorists, the key question is how quickly prices continue to fall. While national average gasoline prices have declined from their recent peak, analysts expect additional reductions could take several more weeks if crude oil prices remain lower and geopolitical tensions do not flare up again.

Its using AI to weed out potential partiers during the booking process

By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs

• Airbnb is activating its anti-party technology nationwide ahead of the July 4 holiday weekend to block bookings that appear more likely to result in unauthorized parties.

• The company says its screening system prevented or redirected more than 20,000 potentially high-risk bookings over last year's Independence Day weekend.

• Airbnb is also warning parents not to book rentals for unaccompanied minors, saying violators could lose their accounts and face financial liability for damages.

If youve rented an Airbnb for the July 4th holiday weekend, forget about throwing a party. Airbnb is once again deploying technology designed to prevent renters from using vacation homes as party venues, and the company said its even more effective than last year.

Airbnb bans parties in an effort to reduce disruptive gatherings that have drawn complaints from hosts, neighbors and local governments. Unauthorized parties remain prohibited on the platform year-round.

Airbnb says its reservation screening system uses machine learning and other analytical tools to identify bookings that carry a higher risk of being used for unauthorized parties. Rather than automatically rejecting every reservation, the system evaluates multiple factors before deciding whether to restrict or redirect a booking.

How it works

Among the factors the technology considers are a guest's history of positive reviews, how long they have maintained an Airbnb account, the length of the planned stay, and whether the reservation coincides with a holiday or weekend. Guests who are prevented from booking an entire home are often offered alternatives, such as private rooms or hotel accommodations listed on the platform.

According to Airbnb, the strategy has become increasingly effective. During the 2025 Independence Day weekend, the company says it blocked or redirected more than 20,000 higher-risk booking attempts nationwide, including about 3,100 each in Florida and Texas and roughly 2,500 in California.

"This is the fifth year in a row we've run these defenses for July 4," Rog Kaiser, Airbnb's vice president of fraud and safety operations, said in a statement. He said the company's screening capabilities have improved each year to help protect hosts, guests and surrounding communities.

The anti-party system is only one part of Airbnb's safety program. The company also operates a global reservation screening system throughout the year to identify potentially problematic bookings before they occur. Airbnb says fewer than 0.06% of U.S. stays in 2025 resulted in a reported party, reflecting a significant decline since the company began cracking down on disruptive gatherings several years ago.

Adults only

Airbnb is also using the holiday weekend to remind parents and guardians of another policy: adults may not reserve an Airbnb for minors unless they will be present for the entire stay. The company notes that guests must be at least 18 years old to hold an Airbnb account.

Violating that policy could result in account suspension, cancellation of future reservations, financial responsibility for property damage, and possible legal consequences if law enforcement becomes involved. Airbnb is encouraging parents to monitor their children's travel plans and safeguard their account credentials against unauthorized use.

For hosts and neighbors, Airbnb says additional resources remain available during the holiday period, including a 24-hour safety line, a neighborhood support line for reporting disruptive activity, and discounted noise-monitoring devices that alert hosts to excessive sound levels without recording conversations.

The Independence Day weekend is traditionally one of Airbnb's busiest travel periods, making it a key test of the company's efforts to balance growing demand for short-term rentals with concerns about neighborhood disturbances.