telemarketing

For help if you are a scam victim, contact:

Consumer Protection Division
Office of the Attorney General
200 St. Paul Place, 16^th Floor
Baltimore , MD 21202

Telephone:                  (410) 576-6550
Complaint hotline:     (410) 528-8662
(toll-free):                   1-888-743-0023

Website: http://www.oag.state.md.us/Consumer/ind

Comments: Most victims of telemarketing scams need to resolve their complaints in the small claims court for their counties. The Maryland Attorney General’s office can help you decide how to proceed if you feel you are victim of a telemarketing scam. The Attorney General’s office will also be able to tell you if they know of a class action suit being brought against the company that has been responsible for the fraud against you. The Office of the Attorney General has branch offices in Western Maryland, Southern Maryland and on the Eastern Shore. Contact information for branch offices is available at http://www.oag.state.md.us/Consumer/offices.htm.

Howard County Office of Consumer Affairs

6751 Colonial Gateway Drive

Columbia, MD 21046

Phone: (410) 313-6420

Link to website

Montgomery County Division of Consumer Affairs

100 Maryland Avenue, Suite 330

Rockville, MD 20850

Attn: New Complaint Department

Phone: (240) 777-3636

Link to website

Comments: Both Howard and Montgomery County have Consumer Affairs Divisions which accept and try to resolve complaints from county residents or from any consumers who have complaints about businesses in their jurisdictions. They will provide information about local businesses.

Federal Communications Commission

Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau
Complaints

445 12^th Street , SW

Washington, DC 20554

Telephone 1-888-CALL-FCC

(1-888-835-5322) TTY

Website: www.fcc.gov

Comments: Consumers may also want to report telemarketing fraud to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC will not award monetary damages to consumers, but it can issue citations and fine companies violating the Telephone Customer Protection Act or other FCC rules.

Federal Trade Commission

CRC-240

Washington , D.C. 20580

Telephone 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357)

1-866-653-4261 TTY

Website: www.ftc.gov

Comments: Additionally, consumers might want to forward their complaints to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC tracks Internet, telemarketing, identity theft and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a database used by law-enforcement officials on all levels (national, state, and county) in the U.S. and available to international law enforcement agencies as well. Counselors staff the FTC help line from 9 AM - 8 PM Eastern Time every weekday.

Comments: In July 2003, the FTC started a national "Do Not Call" list. For information about the national list, check the FTC's website. After consumers are placed on the national "Do Not Call" list, it is illegal for most telemarketers to contact them. Consumers can register online or by phone, and the list is available to businesses and marketers. For information about the list, check the website: http://www.donotcall.gov/.

Comments: The Direct Marketing Association, the trade association for businesses interested in interactive and database marketing, will delete your name from their lists after they receive a request from you in writing. The DMA sends out updated list four times a year to participating companies so it may take up to three months before you notice a decreased volume in mail soliciatations. You can also request to have your name removed from telemarketing lists. Just substitute "Telephone Preference Service" for "Mail Preference Service" in the address above.

Many more tips and ideas about stopping junk mail and telemarketing calls can be found at www.junkbusters.com. The site supplies sample form letters to send, and even has tones you can download to put on your answering machine and stop telemarketing calls.