New Limits on Telemarketers and How to Avoid Fraud

With People with disabilities, and seniors a favorite target of telemarketers, and scammers, we are sharing the this updated federal protection, we hope. You may be aware of your protections under the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), which include the National Do Not Call Registry and regulations on when telemarketers can call you and what they must tell you. But, did you know that changes to the Rule place new restrictions on telemarketers? It’s now illegal for them to ask you to pay using methods commonly used by scammers. 

The Federal Trade commission posted the following on  June 27, 2016.

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New limits on telemarketers

Scammers want your money, but they don’t want to get caught taking it. That’s why fraudulent telemarketers ask people to pay with systems that deliver a quick, anonymous cash payout like cash-to-cash transfers or cash reload card PINs. However, it’s now illegal for telemarketers to ask for payment by:

• cash-to-cash money transfers — like those from MoneyGram and Western Union
• PINs from cash reload cards like MoneyPak and Vanilla Reload

The FTC amended the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) to ban these practices starting June 13, 2016. If a telemarketer asks you to use one of these payment methods, he’s breaking the law.

The amended Rule also bans telemarketers from calling to ask for your bank account information and using it to create a ‘remotely created check’ that you never see, or sign. If a telemarketer you haven’t done business with calls to ask for your bank account number for any purpose, say ‘No’ and hang up.

You have other protections under the Rule, including:

• limits on when telemarketers can call and what they must tell you
• limits on “hang-up” calls and rules about transmitting caller ID
• limits on robocalls
• the National Do Not Call Registry

If you hear from telemarketers who don’t follow the rules, hang up and report them to the FTC.