When the phone rings, do you just brace yourself for the sales pitch? If telemarketers have your number, remember: you have rights.
The Federal Trade Commission has given you an easy-to-use tool to stop such calls, says Esther Maddux. She's a financial management specialist with the University of Georgia Extension Service.
Telemarketing fraud costs consumers as much as $40 billion a year.
"Under the FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule, you can stop a telemarketer from calling simply by asking him not to phone again," Maddux says. "If he does, he's breaking the law."
You can report him to the Governor's Office of Consumer Affairs (1-800-869-1123).
The Telemarketing Sales Rule also stops telemarketers from calling before 8 a.m. and after 9 p.m.
"When they do call," Maddux says, "they must tell you they're trying to sell something before they make their pitch. Then, before you pay, the caller must state the total cost of the product or service and any restrictions on getting or using it."
The rule bans misrepresentations, too. It tightly limits telemarketing credit-repair and advance-fee loan services. And it forbids anyone to help fraudulent telemarketing behind the scenes.
The rule covers most types of calls. It includes calls to pitch goods, services, sweepstakes and prize-promotion and investment breaks.
"The FTC has brought dozens of law-enforcement actions over the years to halt telemarketing scams," Maddux says. "This rule adds the threat of heavy civil penalties to its enforcement arsenal."
State attorneys general can enforce the rule in federal court. They can now get nationwide injunctions to stop fraud operators, no matter where they are.
"This puts 50 more cops on the national telemarketing fraud beat," Maddux says.
The FTC offers a brochure called "Straight Talk about Telemarketing." It tells how scams work, how they get your name and number and the key parts of the FTC rules. For a copy, write the FTC's Public Reference Branch, Room 130, 6th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580.
The FTC urges people who feel they've been victims of telemarketing fraud to report the caller to a national hotline. Call 1-800-876-7060.
