News

Internet Phone Systems Become the Phone Fraudster's Tool, Debt Scam Alert, and Sorry, Telemarketers: Texas Drops Phone Numbers from Vehicle Accident Reports.

New Phishing Phone Scam Targets the Unemployed, Scam Artists Posing as Water Department, and More Debt Collectors Use Abusive, Illegal Tactics.

MoneyGram International, the second-largest money transfer service in the United States, will pay $18 million in consumer redress to settle FTC charges that the company allowed its money transfer system to be used by fraudulent telemarketers to bilk U.S. consumers out of tens of millions of dollars.

The FTC is warning the public about con artists who call posing as government officials and claim consumers have won what turns out to be a bogus sweepstakes prize.

Many of those annoying prerecorded telemarketing calls will be history starting Sept. 1. The Federal Trade Commission said Thursday that it is banning these "robocalls" to consumers, unless the telemarketer has written permission from a customer that he or she wants to receive these calls. Violaters will face penalties of up to $16,000 per call.

Better Business Bureau has issued a national alert about phony debt collectors that are calling consumers nationwide and claiming that they have defaulted on a payday loan and will be arrested if they don’t pay immediately.

Consumers across the U.S. and Canada are bombarded with phone calls promising to lower interest rates on their credit cards.

A Buffalo company went way too far in their attempts to collect debts, and has now been shut down by the Attorney General's office. The debt collector threatened to throw debtors in jail, seize all their stuff, and get them fired.

The Federal Trade Commission has filed suit to halt the illegal operations of several telemarketing boiler rooms in Montreal, Canada. The agency alleged that the telemarketers bilked thousands of small- and medium-sized U.S. businesses and non-profits, including churches, schools, and charities, out of millions of dollars by deceiving them into paying for listings they never ordered in worthless business directories.

The Federal Trade Commission has started investigations into several companies involved in making "robo-calls" that warn people their auto warranties are about to expire, and the agency expects to bring cases against them within days.

Kris McDavid at CanadaEast published interesting details about the Canadian National Do Not Call List. According to the article, the CRTC, the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission, the body that oversees the Do Not Call List, has been receiving a monthly average of 20,000 registered complaints. However, apparently they have yet to levy a single fine against a telemarketer for a violation.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) today announced that telephone numbers registered on the National Do Not Call List (DNCL) will remain on the list for five years rather than three years.

Lawyers in the debt business say that as collectors get desperate in these tough times, consumers are increasingly fighting back by suing those who use illegal tactics.

The Federal Trade Commission and Attorney General of Kentucky say they caught several telemarketing companies placing unauthorized charges on people's credit cards and bank accounts. The culprits claimed to be calling on behalf of a major retailer or credit card company.

Verizon Wireless said today it has settled a lawsuit it filed last month against Feature Films for Families Inc., a telemarketing company that was using an autodialing device to call Verizon customers and employees to advertise a children's movie.