Ohio Scam and Fraud Laws: Where to Report, Your Right to Sue (2026)

Ohio's Consumer Sales Practices Act (CSPA) lets a "consumer" who was deceived in a consumer transaction with a business sue for their actual economic damages plus up to $5,000 in noneconomic damages. Triple damages (or $200, if that is more) are available only when the trick had already been declared deceptive or unconscionable by an Attorney General rule or by an Ohio court decision, and the deadline to sue under the act is generally two years from the violation.

Ohio also makes theft by deception from an older person a more serious crime, requires bank and credit union employees (among many others) to report suspected exploitation of a vulnerable older adult, and lets securities dealers and investment advisers put a temporary hold on a suspicious transaction. A scam that came from an anonymous caller or an overseas account is usually beyond the reach of an Ohio lawsuit, so the payment company and fast reporting matter most.

Information last verified on October 2, 2026. This article has not been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Jurisdiction scope: This guide covers Ohio state law: the Consumer Sales Practices Act (Ohio Revised Code chapter 1345), Ohio protections for older adults, and Ohio court deadlines for suing. The Ohio statute text quoted here comes from our statute library's copy of the Ohio Revised Code (retrieved July 31, 2026), because the official Ohio code website could not be reached when this guide was prepared; check the official text for any later amendment. Federal refund and reporting rights are summarized briefly and covered in depth on our national guides. Out of scope: criminal defense, and the law of other states.

First steps if you were scammed in Ohio

Contact the bank, card issuer, payment app, wire company or crypto exchange that moved your money right away. That company is usually the only one that can stop or reverse a payment, and your federal rights depend on how you paid. Our guide on how to get money back after a scam walks through each payment method, and the Zelle and payment app guide covers app transfers. If the bank said no, see what to do when a bank refuses a scam refund.

Then report it. Most scams go to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and online crime to the FBI's IC3; our where to report a scam guide lists every federal channel. The Ohio offices below are in addition to those, not instead of them.

Where to report a scam in Ohio

Ohio government websites could not be reached directly when this guide was prepared, so the complaint page address above was confirmed from an archived copy of the official page dated August 29, 2026. This page does not print an Ohio phone number, and it does not describe what the office does with an individual complaint. Use the official site rather than a number found in a search result or an unsolicited message.

Ohio's consumer protection law: can you sue?

Sometimes. The Consumer Sales Practices Act gives a private right to sue, but only to a "consumer," and the definitions are narrow.

Section 1345.01(D) defines a consumer as "a person who engages in a consumer transaction with a supplier." A consumer transaction, under section 1345.01(A), is "a sale, lease, assignment, award by chance, or other transfer of an item of goods, a service, a franchise, or an intangible, to an individual for purposes that are primarily personal, family, or household, or solicitation to supply any of these things." And a supplier, under section 1345.01(C), is a seller or other person "engaged in the business of effecting or soliciting consumer transactions, whether or not the person deals directly with the consumer."

Put together, the act fits a case where a business sold or offered you something for personal or household use and deceived you along the way. Whether it fits a person who simply sent money to an impostor, with no goods or services offered, depends on the facts, and an Ohio lawyer can tell you whether your situation counts.

The act also has exclusions. Section 1345.01(A) says a consumer transaction "does not include transactions between persons, defined in sections 4905.03 and 5725.01 of the Revised Code, and their customers," with some listed exceptions. Section 5725.01 is the Revised Code's definitions section for financial institutions, so a CSPA claim against your own bank or credit union may be limited. Which institutions that exclusion reaches is a question for an Ohio lawyer.

When a court decides whether an act was deceptive, section 1345.02(C) tells it to "give due consideration and great weight to federal trade commission orders, trade regulation rules and guides, and the federal courts' interpretations of subsection 45 (a)(1)" of the Federal Trade Commission Act, the federal ban on unfair or deceptive practices.

What you can recover

The basic remedy is in section 1345.09(A):

"Where the violation was an act prohibited by section 1345.02, 1345.03, or 1345.031 of the Revised Code, the consumer may, in an individual action, rescind the transaction or recover the consumer's actual economic damages plus an amount not exceeding five thousand dollars in noneconomic damages."

"Actual economic damages" means "damages for direct, incidental, or consequential pecuniary losses resulting from a violation" (section 1345.09(G)). In plain terms, the money you lost because of the violation.

Triple damages are the part most often overstated. Section 1345.09(B) allows them only in two situations:

"Where the violation was an act or practice declared to be deceptive or unconscionable by rule adopted under division (B)(2) of section 1345.05 of the Revised Code before the consumer transaction on which the action is based, or an act or practice determined by a court of this state to violate section 1345.02, 1345.03, or 1345.031 of the Revised Code and committed after the decision containing the determination has been made available for public inspection under division (A)(3) of section 1345.05 of the Revised Code, the consumer may rescind the transaction or recover, but not in a class action, three times the amount of the consumer's actual economic damages or two hundred dollars, whichever is greater, plus an amount not exceeding five thousand dollars in noneconomic damages"

So triple damages depend on the business having done something that was already on the books as deceptive or unconscionable, either in an Attorney General rule adopted before your transaction or in an earlier Ohio court decision made public before the business acted. If the trick is new, the remedy is actual economic damages plus up to $5,000 in noneconomic damages.

Attorney's fees

Fees are discretionary. Under section 1345.09(F), "The court may award to the prevailing party a reasonable attorney's fee," limited to the work reasonably performed and by section 1345.092, if either of two things applies: the consumer brought or kept up a groundless action in bad faith, or "The supplier has knowingly committed an act or practice that violates this chapter." For a consumer, the route to fees is showing the business acted knowingly. The same section is also a risk: a consumer who files a groundless suit in bad faith can be ordered to pay the business's fees.

The business can make a "cure offer"

Within 30 days after it is served with a CSPA lawsuit, a business may send the consumer a written cure offer (section 1345.092(A)). The offer must spell out a money remedy, attorney's fees related to filing the complaint of up to $2,500, and court costs. The consumer has 30 days after receiving it to file an acceptance or rejection with the court, and silence counts as a rejection (section 1345.092(B)).

Rejecting an offer has a cost if the case does not do better. Under section 1345.092(G), if the judge, jury or arbitrator awards actual economic damages that are not greater than the value of the offered remedy, the consumer is not entitled to treble damages or to court costs and attorney's fees incurred after the offer was received. The cure-offer section does not apply to claims for personal injury or death.

The deadline

Section 1345.10(C) sets the limit:

"An action under sections 1345.01 to 1345.13 of the Revised Code may not be brought more than two years after the occurrence of the violation which is the subject of suit, or more than one year after the termination of proceedings by the attorney general with respect to the violation, whichever is later."

The text counts from when the violation occurred, so do not wait to find out how the dispute with the business plays out before you think about this date.

The honest limit

A CSPA case needs a business you can identify, serve and collect from. That can work against an Ohio contractor, retailer or seller with a real address. It usually does not work against an anonymous scammer who called from a spoofed number or vanished with crypto, and a judgment does not help if nobody can be found to pay it. The act does not stop you from also suing under any other legal theory (section 1345.09(H)).

Protections for older adults in Ohio

Theft from an older adult is graded more harshly. Ohio's theft statute covers getting control over property or services "by deception," "by threat" or "by intimidation" (section 2913.02(A)). When the victim is "an elderly person, disabled adult, active duty service member, or spouse of an active duty service member," the crime becomes "theft from a person in a protected class" under section 2913.02(B)(3), a felony that rises from the fifth degree to the first degree as the amount stolen reaches $1,000, $7,500, $37,500 and $150,000. When the victim is an elderly person, the statute adds that the offender "shall be required to pay full restitution to the victim and to pay a fine of up to fifty thousand dollars." The fine is not paid to the victim; the clerk forwards it to the county department of job and family services for elder-abuse work. For this theft statute, an "elderly person" is someone 65 or older (section 2913.01(CC)), a higher age than the 60 used by the adult protective services law below.

A related crime, securing writings by deception, covers anyone who "by deception" causes another person "to execute any writing that disposes of or encumbers property, or by which a pecuniary obligation is incurred" (section 2913.43(A)).

Many professionals must report. Section 5101.63(A) says listed professionals who have "reasonable cause to believe that an adult is being abused, neglected, or exploited" must "immediately report such belief to the county department of job and family services." The list includes attorneys, certified public accountants, notaries public, and "An employee of a bank, savings bank, savings and loan association, or credit union organized under the laws of this state, another state, or the United States," as well as licensed securities dealers, investment advisers and accredited financial planners. Anyone else may report, and the reports are confidential.

The adult protective services law protects a defined group. Under section 5101.60(C), an "adult" is a person 60 or older "who is disabled by the infirmities of aging or who has a physical or mental impairment which prevents the person from providing for the person's own care or protection, and who resides in an independent living arrangement." Exploitation includes using an adult's resources for gain after getting control of them "By deception," "By threat" or "By intimidation" (section 5101.60(J)). Not every scam victim over 60 falls inside that definition, but if you are worried about a parent, report and let the county decide.

Brokerage holds. Under section 1707.49(B)(2), when an employee of a securities dealer or investment adviser has reasonable cause to believe an account holder who is 60 or older (or eligible for adult protective services) may be subject to financial exploitation, "the dealer or investment adviser may place a hold on any transaction impacted by the past, current, or attempted financial exploitation for a period of time not to exceed fifteen business days." The firm must report the hold in writing immediately to the division named in Ohio's securities law and to the county department of job and family services, and the hold can continue for up to another 15 business days if an investigating agency asks or if neither office responds in the first period (section 1707.49(C)-(D)).

That provision covers securities dealers and investment advisers. This guide did not confirm a matching hold rule for Ohio banks and credit unions. If you are worried about a parent's bank account, tell the bank directly that you suspect a scam; its employees are among the people required to report suspected exploitation.

For fraud against anyone 60 or older, the federal DOJ National Elder Fraud Hotline (833-372-8311) can also help, and our elder fraud guide covers the national picture.

Ohio's home solicitation cancellation right

If a seller sold you consumer goods or services at your home, or you agreed to buy somewhere other than the seller's place of business, section 1345.22(A) gives you "the right to cancel a home solicitation sale until midnight of the third business day after the day on which the buyer signs an agreement or offer to purchase." Cancel in writing to the address, email or fax number in the agreement. The rule does not cover purchases under $25 and has other exceptions in section 1345.21(A), such as some sales the buyer started by phone or mail.

Suing a scammer or a business in Ohio

Small claims. An Ohio small claims division hears "civil actions for the recovery of taxes and money only, for amounts not exceeding six thousand dollars, exclusive of interest and costs" (section 1925.02(A)(1)). It cannot hear claims for punitive damages, but the statute says that bar does not exclude claims for the damages section 1345.09(B) authorizes, including CSPA triple damages.

Suing for a crime. Section 2307.60(A)(1) says "Anyone injured in person or property by a criminal act has, and may recover full damages in, a civil action unless specifically excepted by law." Costs and attorney's fees in such a suit are recoverable only where the Civil Rules, another statute or Ohio common law authorizes them, and punitive damages only where section 2315.21 or another statute does.

Deadlines. A CSPA claim has the two-year limit above. A fraud claim has a longer one: section 2305.09(C) requires an action "for relief on the ground of fraud" to be "brought within four years after the cause thereof accrued," and the same section says a fraud claim does not accrue "until the fraud is discovered." Our Ohio statute of limitations guide covers other civil deadlines.

Who you can actually reach. Lawsuits work against people and businesses with a name, an address and assets. A scammer who hid behind a fake identity, a spoofed caller ID or an overseas account is usually not reachable through an Ohio court. In those cases the payment company, a fast report, and protecting your identity are where your effort pays off. Our guide on when a lawyer helps after a scam explains when it is worth paying for legal help and how to avoid "recovery" scams that target victims a second time.

Related guides

• Scams and fraud: your rights and where to start
• How to get money back after a scam
• Where to report a scam
• Elder fraud
• A scammer has my information
• Ohio identity theft laws
• Ohio debt collection laws
• Ohio statute of limitations

Last updated: October 2, 2026.

This article is general legal information, not legal advice. For your specific situation, contact your payment company, the Ohio office named above, or a lawyer licensed in Ohio.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I sue a scammer in Ohio?

Possibly, if you can identify and serve them. The Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act (section 1345.09) lets a consumer sue a business that deceived them in a consumer transaction, and section 2307.60 lets anyone injured by a criminal act sue for damages, but an anonymous or overseas scammer is usually not reachable through an Ohio court.

Does the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act give triple damages?

Only in some cases. Under section 1345.09(B), triple damages or $200, whichever is greater, apply when the act was already declared deceptive or unconscionable by an Attorney General rule, or found unlawful in a public Ohio court decision, before the business acted. Otherwise the remedy is actual economic damages plus up to $5,000 in noneconomic damages.

How long do I have to sue under the Ohio CSPA?

Generally two years after the violation occurred, or one year after Attorney General proceedings on the violation end, whichever is later (section 1345.10(C)).

Will the business pay my attorney's fees under the CSPA?

Not automatically. Section 1345.09(F) says the court may award a reasonable fee to the prevailing party if the business knowingly violated the act. A rejected cure offer can also cut off fees and costs if the award is not greater than the offer (section 1345.092(G)).

Can I sue my bank under the Ohio CSPA after a scam?

Possibly not. Section 1345.01(A) excludes transactions between persons defined in sections 4905.03 and 5725.01 and their customers, and section 5725.01 defines financial institutions. Federal rules on unauthorized transfers, covered in our national guides, may give you rights against the bank instead; ask an Ohio lawyer about your situation.

Who do I call if an elderly person in Ohio is being scammed?

Report suspected exploitation to Adult Protective Services through the county department of job and family services where the person lives (section 5101.63). The DOJ National Elder Fraud Hotline, 833-372-8311, helps report fraud against anyone 60 or older.

Can an Ohio brokerage freeze a transaction if it suspects elder fraud?

Yes. Under section 1707.49, a securities dealer or investment adviser may hold a transaction it believes is tied to financial exploitation of a customer 60 or older for up to 15 business days, and can extend it up to another 15 business days in some cases.

What is the small claims limit in Ohio?

An Ohio small claims division hears money claims up to $6,000, not counting interest and costs (section 1925.02(A)(1)).

How long do I have to sue for fraud in Ohio?

Four years under section 2305.09(C), and a fraud claim does not accrue until the fraud is discovered. A CSPA claim has its own shorter two-year limit.