Telemarketing

Three telemarketing firms and their owner are being sued by the U.S. Justice Department for running a fraudulent operation that deceived consumers, peddled movies, solicited donations and called more than 16 million numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry. The Federal Trade Commission, which...

Scams targeting cash-strapped and unemployed Americans are on the rise, and the con artists are getting even more creative. Here's how to avoid becoming a victim.

Rude debt collectors brought in the top number of complaints to one Attorney General's office last year. Next on the list? Telemarketing scams, say BBB officials. The Better Business Bureau and Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster released a list of its top 10 scams for 2010, and most involved...

The Federal Trade Commission's telemarketing rules aim to protect consumers from debt-settlement companies that charge upfront fees or overpromise results. But some companies already have found ways to get around those rules, consumer groups warn.

Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson is suing Discover Financial Services, saying the credit-card issuer duped consumers into buying optional service plans without their knowledge. The Minnesota lawsuit alleges Discover made aggressive, misleading and deceptive telemarketing calls to customers...

If you can't stand telemarketers and want to give them a dose of their own medicine, we've got a recipe for how you can fight back and even profit from them overstepping boundaries. Thanks to attorney Steve Ostrow, who has won lawsuits against telemarketers for fun and profit, and is now the...

A Chicago telemarketer who blasted consumers last year with millions of robo-calls pushing auto warranties will pay $2.3 million to settle U.S. Federal Trade Commission charges that he and his two companies allegedly misled consumers, the FTC announced. The settlement resolves the FTC charges, but...

The National Do Not Call registry -- that list that stops telemarketers from interrupting dinner -- has now topped 200 million phone numbers, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced. Started in 2003, the registry blocks telemarketers from calling homes to hawk their wares and protects consumer...

The president of Georgia-based telemarketing company JAK Productions, Inc. must pay $300,000 to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that the company abandoned millions of telemarketing calls and also dialed thousands of consumers who didn't want to be bothered. JAK and its president, John...

Last week, WalletPop asked our Facebook community: Have you ever experienced a scam while job hunting? The response was overwhelming, and the discussion sparked our interest. Currently, many businesses are not hiring, wages are unattractive, and competition for the few available jobs is intense....