Consumer Fraud - Telephone And Mail Solicitations
people consumers charities credit
To most people, junk mail and telemarketer calls are merely a NUISANCE, but unscrupulous companies can use both the mail and the telephone to part innocent (and not merely gullible) people from their money. Applications for credit cards or personal loans promise easy credit, but the fine print promises exorbitant interest rates. Sweepstakes promising millions in winnings await the lucky recipient, who often feels compelled to send an order for several magazines along with the prize receipt. Charities use telemarketing and mass mailings to ask for donations; while some of those charities are established and legitimate, others are dubious. Many phony charities assume names that sound like better-known organizations in the hope of fooling consumers.
Every day, people are contacted by telephone and mail with phony offers. Despite warnings from consumer-advocacy groups, people continue to provide credit card numbers, bank information, and even Social Security numbers to those whom they do not know. The elderly are a common target, in part because once they find that they have been defrauded they refuse to report the crime because they are embarrassed. Groups such as the Federal Trade Commission, the National Consumers League (NCL), and Consumers Union provide information to the general public in an effort to curtail fraud.
In 2002, several states initiated "do-not-call" programs that allow people to store their telephone numbers in a centralized database that telemarketers are prohibited from calling. A telemarketer who calls a prohibited number faces stiff fines.
User Comments
about 4 years ago
Another form of obtaining money from unsuspecting people is in the form of mobile slamming (whereby a call to you from someone proporting to be from your mobile company sets you up with a new contract at exhorbitant rates without your agreement or knowledge)this practice is commonplace and once you become a victim it is nigh on impossible to get any co-operation from the company who will continue to raid your bank account. A new twist to this happened to my son. He was at the airport going abroad for the family holiday for 2 weeks. He received a call from a company claiming to be his mobile phone company 3mobile. He was offered an upgrade as his contract was nearing its agreed term. He explained he might be interested but as he was going away for 2 weeks he would contact them on his return. The agent then asked him to confirm his details, Name ,address, Tel No, Bank account number.(so he could be sure he was speaking to the correct person). Well guess what? on his return home he found a card from the post office advising of a package to be collected. He went along and collected said package and found it contained a mobile phone, and an inferior one to his original at that. He Phoned 3mobile and told them what had happened and said he would be returning the phone and they sould cancel this contract. They said they would do this and he returned the phone immediately. At the end of the month he was checking his bank statement and low and behold, there was a new direct debit to 3 mobile in addition to his usual contract payment. The agent had set up a totally new contract not an upgrade. Anyway this is still ongoing and a right old battle is taking place with 3mobile not giving an inch and now taking my son to court for cancelling the direct debit and being in arrears. What a flaming cheek. Oh and the agent wont even speak to him or answer emails. The police say it is nothing to do with them, they don`t class this as fraud.