The Federal Trade Commission said yesterday that U.S. court action was taken against two groups of Canadian-based defendants, each accused in widespread cross-border fraud schemes.
In FTC vs. Centurion Financial Benefits, the commission alleged that the defendants placed unsolicited outbound telemarketing calls to U.S. consumers, falsely offering them pre-approved MasterCard and Visa credit cards for an advance fee of $249.
In FTC vs. Pacific Liberty Benefits, the commission accused these defendants of the same type of fraud, with the company's telemarketers promising credit cards and complimentary gifts for $319.
In neither case did consumers receive the credit cards or other goods they were promised, and in each case U.S. consumers lost millions of dollars, the FTC alleged.
The commission contends each set of defendants violated Section 5 of the FTC Act and the Telemarketing Sales Rule, as amended. Judges in U.S. District Court in Chicago issued temporary restraining orders barring the conduct and freezing the assets of defendants.
In each case, Canadian law enforcement agencies executed criminal search warrants and made arrests.
Melissa Campanelli covers postal news, CRM and database marketing for DM News and DMNews.com. To keep up with the latest developments in these areas, subscribe to our daily and weekly e-mail newsletters by visiting www.dmnews.com/newsletters
