The 2010 FIFA World Cup is less than a month away and scammers are trying their best to take advantage of consumers.

“Soccer is an extremely popular sport and with the World Cup around the corner, we are seeing the foreign lottery scam making a comeback,” says Kim States, BBB President. “Stick with the BBB’s advice. If is sounds too good to be true, it normally is.”

The scam lottery appears to be from FIFA and a partnership between the South African and Canadian governments. The solicitation attempts to persuade recipients to submit personal information or forward money to receive the prize.

A new variation of the FIFA lottery scam is appearing as a mass email, which has a PDF attachment outlining the prize details. Opening an attachment from an unknown party could expose your computer to malware viruses and lead to identity theft.

In February, FIFA sent out a warning about lottery prize scams associated with their name – there is no World Cup 2010 Lottery affiliated in any way to FIFA.

BBB recommends the following when you receive a foreign lottery letter or email:

· If you’re thinking about responding to a foreign lottery, don’t do it. This is a scam.

· By responding to just one foreign lottery offer, you’ve opened the door to many more bogus offers for lottery or investment “opportunities”. Your name will be added to “sucker lists” that fraudulent telemarketers buy and sell.

· In both the U.S. and Canada, it’s illegal to play a foreign lottery – through the mail or on the telephone or Internet. Don’t add insult to injury by inviting federal charges.

Most of us know that when purchasing a vehicle, one of the most common pieces of advice we’ll receive is “Don’t buy a lemon!” While this advice is useful, it’s not always easy to follow. What can you do after you’ve purchased the perfect vehicle and days later find that the doors stick shut, it won’t shift gears, and it makes noticeably peculiar sounds when you’re stopped at a light?

New Car: For a legal explanation and advice, consult with an attorney. The period covered by the New Car Lemon Law is equal to the term of the manufacturer’s warranty, two years, or 24,000 miles after purchase, depending on which comes first.  If you believe your new car is a lemon and you have several documented reoccurring issues with the vehicle, contact Better Business Bureau to see if BBB can help with your lemon through our free BBB Autoline Program.

Used Car: For a legal explanation and advice, consult with an attorney. Under the used Car Lemon Law, the period of coverage is 15 days or 500 miles after purchase, depending on which comes first. The buyer must notify the dealership as soon as problems occur. If repairs are needed, the buyer may be responsible for a portion of the cost up to $25 per repair. If two repair attempts do not fix the vehicle, the buyer may continue to negotiate with the dealer. The buyer can request that the dealer take the car back; however the dealer is not required to do so. The buyer may also attempt to mediate, arbitrate, or take the dealer to court.

Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona is alerting consumers to Under Budget Cabinets (UBC), a Tucson-based cabinetry company that has chalked up numerous complaints alleging the business failed to make good on several customer orders.

BBB has received 17 complaints against the company in 2010- two have been left unanswered, and seven complaints are still pending. Although UBC has resolved the majority of their complaints, a pattern has emerged in complaint content.

In the complaints consumers tell the same story: UBC billed them for thousands of dollars worth of cabinets, but when the installation date came around UBC claimed the cabinets were not ready, and in many cases consumers say UBC had not even placed orders for cabinets that had been paid for months in advance.

“They won’t answer or return my calls,” said Karole Holodynski, who told BBB that despite paying UBC more than $4,000 in October,the cabinets still haven’t been installed in her Tucson home.

“It’s like my life is on hold,” she said. “I don’t know what to do; I just want them to give me my money back.”

According to complaints, the difficulty Holodynski experienced when she tried contacting UBC about the status of her order is not uncommon. Multiple consumers tell BBB their phone calls were not returned or they were told the person they needed to speak with was unavailable.

“It was very difficult to reach them by phone,” said Gaylon Rettammel, a Tucson consumer who paid over $1,300 for three bathroom cabinets that he says were never delivered.

“I called back, I’m sure, 10 times,” he said. “I was always told they were either unavailable or in a meeting with a customer.”

Rettammel said that his cabinets were scheduled to be installed four to six weeks after he placed the order, but after waiting four months he was forced to have Visa reverse the charge on his credit card.

“I would have liked to have had the cabinets,” he said, “but I feel very fortunate to have gotten my money back.”

On April 2, UBC Owner Will Rodriguez met with BBB to discuss the complaints UBC had received to that date. At the meeting Rodriguez told BBB the problems the company was having in delivering and installing their customers’ orders was due to an internal personnel issue that had recently been resolved.

Since that meeting BBB has continued to receive complaints from consumers who say they have not received the cabinets they ordered.

On May 11, BBB learned that UBC’s Registrar of Contractors (ROC) License was suspended on March 29, or four days before BBB met with the company. At the time of the meeting UBC did not disclose to BBB that their ROC license was suspended. The Registrar of Contractors is also reporting that UBC has five open complaints against their suspended license.

Consumers who have had a similar experience with the company can file a complaint with BBB at www.tucson.bbb.org; with the Arizona Attorney General at www.azag.gov and the ROC at www.azroc.gov.