The Federal Trade Commission has sued three telemarketers for allegedly making hundreds of thousands of pre-recorded robocalls to consumers promoting worthless credit-card interest-rate reduction programs for upfront fees as high as $1,495.
Named as defendants were Economic Relief Technologies, LLC, Dynamic Financial Group (U.S.A.) Inc., and JPM Accelerated Services (JPM) and others, according to the FTC.
The FTC alleges the defendants broke the law by making illegal robocalls to consumers, and that their deceptive sales pitches violated the FTC Act and the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule.
Additional charges include calling consumers whose phone numbers are on the National Do Not Call Registry; calling consumers who had previously asked not to be called; failing to transmit their caller ID information, as required; “spoofing” or masking their caller ID information; failing to promptly identify themselves, the purpose of their call, and/or the nature of the goods or services they were selling; improperly abandoning calls and failing to make required disclosures in their robocalls, according to the FTC.
The robocalls allegedly claimed the defendants’ services could lower the interest rate on consumers’ credit cards. In each case, consumers who pressed 1 after hearing the automated call were transferred to live telemarketers who allegedly misrepresented that consumers could dramatically lower the rates on their credit card, the FTC continued.
The telemarketers also allegedly said consumers would save thousands of dollars in a short period of time by lowering their interest rates and would be able to pay off their debts faster – for an upfront fee ranging from $495 to $1,495, according to the FTC.
The defendants then falsely stated that if consumers did not save a “guaranteed” amount – typically $2,500 or more – they could get a full refund of the up-front fee. However, after securing the fee, the defendants allegedly did not negotiate lower rates on behalf of consumers and provided few refunds to those who were dissatisfied with the service, according to the FTC.
In addition, the Economic Relief Technologies defendants also allegedly operated a related scam: using names like “Auto Protection Center” and “Warranty Services,” they allegedly tricked consumers into believing they were affiliated with their vehicle manufacturer or dealership, and falsely stated that the consumers’ vehicles’ warranties were about to expire, the FTC continued.
