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Phony Credit Card Offers Still
Attract Consumers
Bogus credit card offers continue
to lure consumers who have financial problems and are unable to
obtain credit elsewhere with promises to get them cards,
“guaranteed.” Crooks typically ask for payment upfront by
arranging to debit victims’ bank accounts, but they never
provide the promised cards. “It’s against the law for
telemarketers to ask for fees in advance if they guarantee or
claim it’s very likely that they can get you credit,” cautions
Grant. “The upfront fee coupled with the promise that you’ll get
a credit card or a loan is the tip-off that it’s a telemarketing
scam.”
Over the years, reports of
payments made by bank debit in connection with various types of
telemarketing scams have skyrocketed. In 1995, bank account
debits made up only 8 percent of overall payments; in 2003, this
was the most popular method of payment, with 37 percent of
telemarketing frauds being funded that way. In some cases,
consumers provide their bank account numbers to pay for
purchases but never receive the goods or services; in other
cases, consumers’ accounts are debited even though they never
agreed to the transactions.
“Consumers can dispute debits they
never authorized, but they don’t have the same legal dispute
rights as with credit cards in situations where they never get
what they were promised,” said Grant. Nonetheless, she suggests
that fraud victims contact their bank immediately to attempt to
get redress.
Elderly, Rural Populations Bear
the Brunt of Victimization
Older consumers—who are
particularly targeted by telemarketing frauds—reported a higher
percentage of complaints in 2003 than in 2002. Thirty-four
percent were age 60 or older, compared to 27 percent the
previous year. In some categories of fraud, this age group was
even higher; for example, 66 percent of reports of
prizes/sweepstakes fraud were from victims age 60+. Older
victims made up 59 percent of reports of lotteries/lottery clubs
scams, and 52 percent of magazine sales scams.
“Fraudulent telemarketers like
older victims because they’re home to take the calls, they have
saved money which can be robbed, and many are too polite to hang
up on them,” said Grant.
Rural
areas are also hit hard by telemarketing fraud. Historically,
heavily populated states such as Florida, New York, and
California have always appeared at the top of the list in terms
of numbers of victims. This is true of 2003 statistics as well.
However, for the first time since NCL began operating NFIC in
1992, the 2003 Telemarketing Fraud Report factors state
population into the calculation of the top victims’ locations.
Relative to the populations of their states, the highest numbers
of victims were in states such as Georgia, Mississippi, and
Montana.
“As
long as you’ve got a phone, you can be targeted by fraudulent
telemarketers no matter where you are,” said Grant.
For
more information about NFIC’s 2003 Telemarketing Fraud Report,
for information about how to avoid becoming a victim of
telemarketing scams, and to report suspected fraud, visit
www.fraud.org. |
