New Hotline To Stop Scams

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

July 6, 1999 / 10:59 AM EDT / CBS

Even a sophisticated consumer can be taken in by a scam artist. But now consumers who suspect they've been targeted have a new resource to turn to, a toll-free hotline run by the Federal Trade Commission. CBS This Morning Co-Anchor Mark McEwen interviews the director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, Jodie Bernstein.

Swindlers who pad your phone bill with unauthorized fees. 'Too good to be true' advertisements with a fine-print catch. Sweepstakes offers that cost you money. The list of fraudulent schemes appears to be endless.

By calling the new hotline, consumers can report complaints and get valuable information about what steps to take to remedy the situation.

"We want to hear from you so we can spot the trend that your experience may be a part of and we can go after them with our law enforcement tools and hopefully get money back to consumers like you," says Bernstein.

As consumers call the line, the FTC will analyze the complaints, identify where the scams are operating from and begin mobilizing law enforcement campaigns to quickly shut down the operations.

"There will be many, many cops on the beat so that as soon as we spot that fraudulent operator, we can organize ourselves and our colleagues, the other law enforcers, and get after that fraudulent operator, put them out of business, and hopefully, shut him down forever and get the money back," Bernstein says.

Before the existence of this toll free hotline, the FTC said it logged about 60,000 complaint calls a year. Since the consumer hotline has been opened, they've taken roughly 20,000 calls each month.

Bernstein says that many of those fraudulent businesses are moving quickly to the Internet. "The Internet is a new, very fertile place for fraudulent operators to move. It is cheap. It is easy;" she says.

In the four years that the FTC has been monitoring the Internet, she adds, scams have blossomed. "Luckily, so have we," says Bernstein.

The FTC has now tested its hotline for its ability to handle a volume of calls, and is launching a publicity campaign to raise awareness of the service. The toll-free number is 877-FTC-HELP.