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Money-Making Schemes or Pipe Dreams? |
| For people who are unemployed, looking for work
at home, or seeking new ways to supplement their incomes, the ads --"Make Thousands a Week
from Home," "Start Your Own Business and Watch the Profits Roll In,"
"earn $100,000 in the First Year"--sound very enticing. Unfortunately, many offers to
make money are designed to profit the promoters, not the consumers who respond to them. For example, the Washington Attorney Generals' Office has filed suit against a Canadian telemarketer, DFD Telebroadcasting, Inc. and Marvin Fine, who used a prerecorded voice emssage to solicit consumers for an elaborate money making scheme that never panned out... |
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Worst Scams Include Mail, Telemarketing Solicitations |
| Among the "Ten Worst Scams" in 1998 announced by the Montgomery County Division of Consumer Affairs, four were mail or telephone solicitations... | |
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Consumers Rate the Calls |
| A "Telemarketing Checklist" has been developed by the South Dakota Attorney General's Office... | |
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Slamming and Cramming Settlements |
| A multi-state settlement with RRV Enterprises, Inc. will refund money to consumers who were unwittingly enrolled in a telephone calling card program... | |
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Nigerian Letters go High-Tech |
| A "If someone sends you an e-mail or fax asking to transfer millions of dollars in your bank account temporarily, and offering you a percentage for your trouble, don't believe it. It's the so-called "Nigerian Letter," a scam that used to perpetrated by mail but is now finding new ways to reach potential victims... | |
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Canadians Get Tougher on Telemarketing Fraud |
| The Canadian Parliament has amended the federal Competition Act to make deceptive telemarketing a criminal offense... | |
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Consumer Vulnerability Index |
| Older people are disproportionately subject to fraud and deceptive practices, according to a new study by AARP... | |
How Can You Get Focused?
Government agencies, nonprofit public interest groups, businesses and trade associations receive the Focus on Fraud as one of the benefits of membership in the Alliance Against Fraud in Telemarketing. Individuals can subscribe for $9 per year ($12 for non-U.S. subscriptions). The newsletter is also available to media on a complimentary basis upon request to the National Consumers League's Public Affairs Department.