On July 29, the California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) announced a large uptick in consumer complaints and inquiries received since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. From March through the end of June, the DBO states that consumer complaints increased more than 37 percent, email inquiries increased 86 percent, and consumer calls increased 22 percent. These sharp increases, DBO notes, are primarily due to Covid-19-related concerns about “mortgages, student loans, personal loans, questionable investments, and apparent fraudulent schemes.”