Page 59 - Book4E

FTC Warning (continued)
the home title while building equity as a renter. The homeowner avoids foreclosure but risks being evicted by the very firm that promised to save his home. A third way the scammer will work is to promise to help the homeowner avoid foreclosure for a fee, then disappear with the money.
The main problem with fraudulent telemarketing scams is that many of them are orchestrated from outside the country, with people set up in practically untraceable internet-cafes in Europe, Australia, Nigeria, and many middle eastern countries.
It is very important that you become familiar with possible types of telemarketing fraud scams so that when you receive one of these calls you are prepared. Telemarketing fraud and email phishing scams, as well as scammers waiting for new victims in internet chat rooms and dating sites are a growing problem in today's global neighborhood. They are good at what they do and will play any game necessary to cheat people out of their money. Learn how to protect yourself against them.
We recommend the following steps:
• Learn to recognize common telemarketing scams.
• Never give social security numbers, bank account numbers, passwords, or login information to callers. Your bank or lender will already have this infomation and doesn't need to ask you for it.
• Report phone fraud to the FTC.
• Register your phone number on the National Do Not Call Registry to limit the number of marketing calls you receive. http://www.donotcall.gov.
• If you are unsure that the offer is real, contact your financial institution and explain the problem. They may already have a record of similar fraudulent calls by scammers using their name.
The FTC has provided a consumer education campaign dubbed, "Who's Calling?" that aims to combat telemarketing scams. It can be found at http://www.ftc.gov/phonefraud/.
Using the Telephone Responsibly 49