Latest scam: Insurance for Internet credit card purchases

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Smack in the middle of the holiday season, the man on the other end of the telephone asked Elaine Foley whether she had bought anything with her credit card over the Internet.

Why yes, she said, she had.

Foley was at risk of being defrauded and would be wise to buy herself some credit card insurance "for a couple of dollars a month," the man said. That promise turned into a $329 charge on her Visa account.

The Braintree, Mass., resident is one of millions of Americans bilked every year out of $40 billion through fraudulent marketing, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

In court and on the Internet, the FTC and several states are cracking down on the practice with a Web site and lawsuits to help consumers "ditch the pitch."

The commission and North Carolina, Virginia, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Oregon and Illinois have charged a host of entities in civil suits of defrauding consumers by promising credit card loss insurance, loans and even protecting personal information from being used on the Internet.

The FTC said that American Card Services, which tangled with Foley, has since 1998 charged consumers hundreds of dollars for credit card insurance and debt consolidation loans and has targeted the elderly. An attorney representing the company could not immediately be reached for comment.

The agency and states also filed complaints against seven other companies.

In addition, the FTC unveiled a new Web site, titled Telemarketing Fraud: Ditch the Pitch, at www.ftc.gov/telemarketing.

From it, consumers can learn what information telemarketers are required to disclose and what schemes they are prohibited from using.

For example, they must make clear the cost of the transaction and any policy on returns. They may not charge a person without express authorization. Consumers, in turn, should be suspicious of a scam if they sense a push for immediate payment or a telemarketer who violates the law by calling before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m.

The site urges people who receive unwelcome calls to clearly state: "Please take me off your call list." The telemarketers are required to do so.