Border-Line
Scams Are The Real Thing
Thousands of
Americans are losing money every day to scam artists operating
beyond the boundaries of the United States. In many cases, these
international crooks are sitting across the border in Canada - just
far enough away from U.S. laws and jurisdiction to reduce the
chances that American victims will ever recover their money.
Foreign lottery ticket resales lure Americans to buy phony
"low-risk" chances in supposed high-stakes lotteries. Victims of
these scams not only lose their money, but also risk violating
federal law, which generally prohibits playing lotteries by phone or
mail. Through telemarketing and print ads, cross-border scam artists
also offer advance-fee loans, lucrative sounding investment
opportunities, and bogus prize promotions.
Cross-border scams seem to be a growth industry. According to the
Federal Trade Commission's consumer complaint database, Ontario,
Quebec and British Columbia rank fourth, sixth and 20th among states
and provinces as a geographic source of fraudulent telemarketing
activity.
Although the FTC and state governments have joined forces to present
a united front in the fight against telephone fraud by sharing
information and resources, consumers still are in the best position
to spot - and stop - these kinds of scams. Identifying cross-border
fraud can be daunting. The reasons: con artists based in Canada
often give a "mail drop" address in a U.S. city. In addition, Canada
and most Caribbean island nations use telephone area codes that are
integrated with the U.S. phone system and accessible by direct
dialing, without long, cumbersome, and obvious foreign
"country-codes."
Here's how you can stop telephone fraud, whether it's cross-border
or cross-town:
-
Ignore offers to buy tickets in a foreign-based lottery, no matter
how tempting they are. Except for legitimate state lotteries, it is
a violation of U.S. law to participate in foreign lotteries by phone
or mail.
-
Don't fall for a promise. Telephone solicitations that require an
up-front fee for advance-fee loans, unidentified investment
opportunities or prize promotions are against U.S. law.
-
Keep your credit card and bank account numbers to yourself. Don't
give them to anyone who asks during an unsolicited sales pitch.
-
If you don't recognize a telephone area code, check it out in your
telephone directory. Keep this list of Canadian and Caribbean area
codes near your telephone book for reference.
- Canada
- 604
250
- 403
- 306
- 204
- 519
- 807
705
- 905
- 416
- 613
- 819
- 418
- 514
- 506
- 709
- 902
|
- British Columbia
- British Columbia
Alberta
- Saskatchewan
- Manitoba
Ontario-Windsor/London
- Ontario-Ft William
/Thunder Bay
Ontario-North Bay
/Sault Ste. Marie
- Ontario-Hamilton/Missisauga
- Toronto
- Ottawa/Kingston
- Quebec-Sherbrooke
/trois-Rivieres
- Quebec City
- Montreal
- New Brunswick
- Newfoundland
- Nova Scotia & Prince Edward Island
|
|
- Caribbean
- 809
|
- Bermuda, Puerto Rico,
Virgin Islands, and other Caribbean islands
|
|
The FTC works for the consumer to
prevent fraudulent, deceptive and unfair business practices in the
marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop and
avoid them. To file a
complaint or to get free information
on consumer issues, visit
www.ftc.gov or
call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The
FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft and other fraud-related
complaints into
Consumer Sentinel, a
secure, online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law
enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.
|
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION |
FOR THE CONSUMER |
1-877-FTC-HELP |
www.ftc.gov |
|
August 2002 |