An
FTC settlement permanently
bans a sweepstakes operator from direct mail marketing and holds the outfit
liable for a $9.5 million judgment, in part, for running a sweepstakes scam
that violated a previous court order. In April 2007, Crystal
Ewing and other defendants were banned from prize promotions and settled
FTC charges that they deceptively enticed people to send money to collect large
cash prizes that, in fact, did not exist. Ewing now admits to violating the
2007 court order through her work with another FTC defendant, Glen Burke, and a
prize promotions company, Puzzles Unlimited LLC, that duped people with the
illusory promise of sweepstakes winnings in exchange for fees.
The FTC and 10 state attorneys general – from Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Washington – have taken action against a cruise line company and seven other companies that assisted a massive telemarketing campaign responsible for billions of robocalls. The FTC and state partners allege that that the companies illegally made millions for the cruise line when they sold vacations by using political survey robocalls that incorporated a sales pitch. The complaint also charges a group of five interrelated companies, and their owner, Fred Accuardi, with facilitating the illegal cruise calls. These defendants gave robocallers hundreds of phone numbers for placing calls, made it possible for robocallers to choose and change the names that would appear on recipients’ caller ID devices, and hid the robocallers’ identities from authorities.
The
Nevada Department of Business and Industry will soon share its complaint data
with CSN. In addition, the Scam Detector app now refers complaints to the FTC
online complaint website. Does your office gather consumer complaint data? You
can help fellow Consumer Sentinel members boost their law enforcement
capabilities by sharing those complaints with us. Contact [email protected]
for details.
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