TELEMARKETING FRAUD

 

Hello friends, in this article I will explain about consumer awareness. First, what Is the meaning of consumer awareness? Consumer awareness is about making the consumer aware of his/her rights concerning available  products and services being marketed and sold. For easier to explain, I will focus on telemarketing fraud.

Telemarketing fraud is one of many ways that the criminal use for defraud the consumer with telephone. Identified by FTC, telemarketing fraud is one of the most persuasive deceptions. Types of telemarketing fraud are advance fee fraud, pyramid schemes, credit card fraud, overpayment fraud, charity fraud, cramming, summer jobs fraud, office supply scam, and magazine subscriptions scam. The one that the most happened in Indonesia is advance fee fraud. The criminal will typically require upfront payments in exchange for goods and services. This is also a popular technique used in lottery and student scholarships scams.

There are the best three tips how to avoid being a victim of telemarketing fraud. First, request written information about organization and product or investment. If you have written information, you can check it carefully, whether it’s fraud or not. Second, don’t buy anything on terms you don’t fully understand. As example, if you buy an apple and you don’t fully understand about the quality of apple, you will easily being a victim of fraud. The last and the most important is don’t provide any personal financial information. As additional, I suggest if you feel something strange when you talking with someone you don’t  know on telephone, hang up. What to do if you’re a victim of telemarketing fraud? You should report the telemarketing fraud quickly to police station. 

 

Better to prevent than to cure, I will give you some ways to protect yourself from telemarketing fraud. The first way is don’t call me. It means that you should ignore the incoming call that you don’t know. Second, give them nothing. The criminals are hunting for your information, especially financial information. Third, stay alert. Although you already sure that it isn’t a fraud, you should still search informations about the organization. Be part of the solution is the last way, you can help prevent it. If you've received a call, mailing or email you think might be from a scammer, report the incident to the FTC by calling its consumer hot line at 877-FTC-HELP (877-382-4357). (Cr. http://www.aarp.org)