NCL statement on FTC Telemarketing Sales Rule amendment – National Consumers League

November 19, 2015

Contact: NCL Communications, Cindy Hoang, cindyh@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832

Washington, DC—The National Consumers League (NCL), the nation’s pioneering consumer and worker advocacy organization, applauds the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for its action to increase protections for consumers from telemarketing fraud. Via an amendment to its Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), the FTC today attacked a critical choke point that scammers have long used to defraud consumers: payment technology. By prohibiting the use of “remotely created checks,” “remotely created payment orders,” “cash to cash money transfers,” and “cash reload mechanisms,” the Commission’s action addresses key ways that con artists extract money from their victims.

The following statement is attributable to the National Consumers League’s Executive Director Sally Greenberg:

“Wire transfer, cash reload cards, and remotely created checks have long been the top ways, according to fraud victim complaint data collected by NCL’s Fraud.org, that scammers obtain their ill gotten gains. Today’s action by the FTC will not end the use of these payment mechanisms by scam artists, but it adds another tool to the FTC’s legal toolbox that the agency should use to go after fraudulent telemarketers. The FTC’s amendment to the TSR is a victory for consumers and a blow against scam artists in the fight against fraud.”

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About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our
mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the
United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.