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Preserving the Financial Resources and Health of Louisiana Residents

Preserving the Financial Resources and Health of Louisiana Residents. Louisiana Attorney General Consumer Protection and Unfair Trade Practices. Who we are and what we do. Enforcement of Consumer Protection & Unfair Trade Practices Act

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Preserving the Financial Resources and Health of Louisiana Residents

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  1. Preserving the Financial Resources and Health ofLouisiana Residents Louisiana Attorney General Consumer Protection and Unfair Trade Practices

  2. Who we are and what we do • Enforcement of Consumer Protection & Unfair Trade Practices Act • States passed “mini FTC acts” vesting a state with authority to enforce deceptive practices laws • Prohibits unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive practices in the conduct of trade or commerce

  3. ExemptionsR.S. 51:1406 • Cannot bring an action on any transaction subject to the jurisdiction of the: Public Service Commission or any other utility regulatory body, Commissioner of Financial Institutions Commissioner of Insurance

  4. Threats to Financial Health • Scams that target those in financial stress • Mortgage Foreclosure Rescue Scams • Debt Relief and Credit Repair Scams • Sweepstakes Scams • Debt Collection Scams • Internet Payday Loans

  5. Mortgage Foreclosure Relief • Target the most desperate – those at risk of losing their home • Promise to reduce • monthly payments • Interest rate • Late fees or penalties Even if you have a bad credit history or have filed for bankruptcy!

  6. Mortgage Foreclosure Scams • Take expensive upfront fees thereby reducing homeowners resources • Take time away from the possibility of real solutions with legitimate counselors • Result in homeowner falling further behind in payments and increasing penalties

  7. Debt Free America • Operating in Baton Rouge and surrounding area • Represented they were “operating in conjunction with the Government Economic Stimulus Act of 2008-2009” • No credit check • No Closing Costs • No Qualifying

  8. TELEMARKETING FRAUD • Consumers lose an estimated $40 billion each year to fraudulent telemarketers • The top two telemarketing scams: • Fake Check Scams and Prizes/Sweepstakes • Con artists usually target elderly citizens. Why? • Expendable income, polite and home the majority of the day.

  9. SWEEPSTAKES & LOTTERIES • They will ask you to pay an upfront fee for processing, insurance, or taxes before claiming your prize. • Foreign lotteries are illegal in the United States. • Ask you for personal and financial information. • High pressure sales tactics—Act now or forfeit winnings! • If they send a check, they will ask you to send a small portion of the check back to them for taxes or financial fees. • They may ask you to keep your winnings confidential for “security reasons.”

  10. Sweepstakes

  11. Foreign Lottery

  12. Foreign Lottery

  13. Foreign Lottery

  14. FAKE CHECK SCAMS • A check will be mailed to you with a letter that asks you to send a small portion of the check back to them for taxes or financial fees. • Fake checks usually are from “banks” located in another country—Canada, Spain, Nigeria, India etc. • The checks will look so real—they even fool bank tellers. • Consumers are liable for any fraudulent funds/checks submitted to the bank.

  15. TELEMARKETING TIPS • NEVER give out personal information to an unsolicited letter, fax, email or telephone call. • You do not have to pay a fee to claim a prize or purchase a product to increase your chances of winning. This is illegal! • Resist high-pressure sales tactics & threats. • If you don’t remember entering a sweepstakes or lottery, don’t take the bait. • If you “play,” you will lose. It’s very hard to track down a con artist in another country.

  16. This dispute began on Friday March 4th, 2011, when my daughter,, received an unsolicited phone call from a “Bob”, who identified himself as being in the upper echelon of a company representing MasterCard, Visa, American Express and Discover Card named Custom Merchant Services. She told him that someone had already called her a couple of weeks ago from this company who said she could make lots of money just by obtaining a Merchant ID license program and going door to door finding which small or medium sized businesses might need a merchant card machine .

  17. She had just started working door to door with another business called HelpBank, which specialized in Search Engine Optimization and advertising for small to medium sized businesses, so this sounded like a great thing to do with very little to no investment on her part. The Merchant ID would initially cost her $495.00 dollars but James promised to send a Visa card loaded with $500.00 to offset the $495.00 for the Merchant ID so it would cost her nothing.

  18. About a week later came a call from “Bob”. He went on to discredit the first deal she had made with “James”. Bob knew of the fact that she had purchased a Merchant ID program and she thought he was from the same company. “Bob” was saying that she couldn’t make any real money unless she purchased a better program - $19,000 worth of Dunn and Bradstreet leads and email blasts.

  19. She explained that she had been ill and was unemployed and had just begun her self-employed advertising business. After many phone calls and promises that the program could not fail , she agreed to max out two credit cards and purchase the program. Needless to say, neither James or Bob answer the phone and no one can locate the principals

  20. Sent: Monday, September 12, 2011 1:36 PMTo: WebMasterSubject: Question regarding a business transaction gone sour. I wired someone $900,000 to an American bank account to purchase a large order of cars for me... However after doing this they vanished and didn’t speak with me again. They had previously bought cars for me in the past with no problems, but now I have a very large problem. I honestly don’t know if this is criminal or civil. The thing that concerns me is this was someone I knew and trusted, so I do not have any sort of contract with them at all. I simply wired the money to his bank account as usual, and now I have not clue where he is.

  21. The notes on the wire said loan proceeds for fleet purchase. Clearly he has not actually bought the fleet of vehicles I requested, however I have no contract with him. Should I sue him, or should I press charges? Do I not have enough to make a case against him being that I do not have any contract and its sort of a my word is my bond deal? I feel really stupid for having no contract, but I guess its too late for that.  I am not saying I’m ready to open the case today, but I do want to know which way you think I should go with this?

  22. DO NOT CALL REGISTRY • National Do Not Call Registry • (888) 382-1222 or www.donotcall.gov • Free • Good for five years • Must call from home phone or email access • Louisiana Do Not Call Program • Separate from National Program • Free and good for five years • https://lpsc.louisiana.gov/dncprogram.asp • (877) 676-0773

  23. OTHER PREVENTION TOOLS • Direct Marketing Association (eliminate junk mail) Mail Preference Service PO Box 643 Carmel, NY 10512 www.the-dma.org • Opt-Out (pre-approved credit card offers) • (888) 567-8688 • Opt-out for 2 years or permanently

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