FTC Stops Elaborate Telemarketing Scam

This week, the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") obtained final judgments against various defendants involved in an elaborate telemarketing operation which the FTC claimed swindled victims out of more than $7 million. The judgments, obtained in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, imposed monetary sanctions of $7.3 million, as well as bans on selling business or work-at-home opportunities and other misconduct alleged by the FTC to have violated the FTC Act and the Telemarketing Sales Rule, respectively.

What was the scam that drew the FTC's ire?

Through an elaborate and sophisticated network of interrelated companies, including various telemarketers and payment processors, the defendants contacted consumers to inform them about certain business opportunities which consumers could purchase. The defendants, claiming to work for a group of lenders that made loans to small businesses, sold business opportunities to consumers which falsely