The Better Business Bureau has put together an unscientific list of the top scams of 2012. They evaluated scams by how widespread they were and how they hurt Minnesota and North Dakota consumers.

• Phony debt collectors falsely said consumers faced arrest.

• An unsolicited text message came with $10 charge per text.

• Sweepstakes scams charged fees to get a nonexistent prize.

• Timeshare resellers collected fees but didn't sell property.

• Door-to-door asphalt scammers did shoddy work.

• Utility scam said feds would pay utility bill.

• Scammers used dating sites to extort from love-struck.

• Ransomware locked computers until fee paid.

• Power4Home Pro made unsubstantiated energy-savings claims, had poor service.

JANE FRIEDMANN