FTC To Telemarketers: Cállate La Boca!

Commission alleges shady, sometimes threatening behavior toward Spanish-speakers

Los Abusos

The threats were the worst part, according to the Federal Trade Commision, which alleges that Spanish-speaking consumers throughout the United States were harassed by telemarketers who, in an escalating series of abusive phone calls, threatened to sue the consumers for fraud. Sometimes the callers threatened to sic the authorities on the consumers; sometimes they claimed that they would seize the consumers' passports and residency papers.

When they were through threatening one individual, they would begin making similar calls to the victim's relatives.

All this under the supposed aegis of a well-known and trusted organization or business – a government "help center," a Spanish-language radio station, or Walmart.