Attachment 4

CONSUMER PROTECTION MISSION
ANTI-FRAUD LAW ENFORCEMENT SWEEPS

Since 1995, the Federal Trade Commission has joined with its partners in federal, state, and local government to bring 1,323 law enforcement actions in 49 sweeps against fraudulent operators. This includes 306 actions by the FTC that have prevented over $500 million in consumer injury. Each sweep is supported by an active and creative education program aimed at preventing future losses by the public.

FISCAL YEAR 2000

Operation S.O.S.

• Target: Fraudulent business opportunities
• Partners: DOJ, COBRA Task Force (Search Warrant), 8 Attorneys General (23 actions)
• FTC Cases: 12 Section 13(b) cases; 22 civil penalty cases referred to DOJ; to be filed beginning 2/2/00

Operation Misprint

• Target: Bogus office and maintenance supply telemarketing schemes targeting large and small businesses and nonprofit organizations.
• Partners: Illinois Attorney General's Office (2 actions)
• FTC cases: 13 cases; court orders ending these allegedly fraudulent operations were issued in 10 cases; 3 cases are not yet final

FISCAL YEAR 1999

Operation Auction Guides

• Target: Deceptive marketing of "how to" guides which made misrepresentations to induce consumers to pay for auction or business opportunity information
• Partners: U.S. Postal Inspection Service, California Attorney General, Tulare County, California District Attorney's Office (2 actions)
• FTC cases: 4 cases resulted in orders for over $18 million in consumer redress

Operation Missed Giving

• Target: Fraudulent solicitations for charitable donations
• Partners: 40 state charities enforcement agencies (34 actions)
• FTC cases: 5 cases resulted in orders for over $1.4 million in consumer redress

Operation Clean Sweep

• Target: Bogus business operators who ship unwanted and unordered cleaning and janitorial supplies to small organizations
• Partners: 2 Attorneys General and U.S. Postal Inspection Service (3 actions)
• FTC cases: 1 case resulted in a settlement requiring $110,000 in consumer redress

Operation New ID - Bad Idea I

• Target: Credit identity scams
• Partners: National Association of Attorneys General, state Attorneys General, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, and other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies (14 actions)
• FTC cases: 22 cases; 16 settlements obtained full consumer redress; remaining cases pending final disposition

Operation Advance Fee Loan

• Target: Advance fee loan scams

• Partners: 6 State Attorneys General, state banking officials (10 actions); Canadian law enforcement authorities brought several criminal actions against Canadian telemarketers
• FTC cases: 8 cases resulted in orders for close to $3.9 million in consumer redress

Internet Pyramid Schemes

• Target: Internet pyramid schemes; effort included a two-day Internet surf to identify sites that may be hosting illegal pyramid schemes
• Partners: North American Securities Administrators Association, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Securities and Exchange Commission, 27 state Attorneys General, other state and local law enforcers (32 actions)
• FTC cases: Filed 1 complaint; court issued an order halting the scam and freezing the defendant's assets; the case is in litigation

Operation New ID - Bad Idea II

• Target: Credit identity scams
• Partners: DOJ, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Attorneys General, other state and local law enforcers from 8 states (8 actions)
• FTC cases: Filed 8 complaints for consumer redress or civil penalties; cases are pending final disposition

Operation Cure.All

• Target: Deceptive health claims for products advertised on the Internet; identified targets in two Internet health claims surf days
• Partners: Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Canadian and Mexican organizations, other federal, state and local officials (50 actions)
• FTC cases: 4 cases resulted in settlements with companies identified in Internet surf

Small Business Sweep

• Target: Companies that cram purported web design charges onto the telephone bills of small businesses
• Partners: State Attorney General (1 action)
• FTC cases: Filed 5 complaints; negotiating settlements

Operation Trip Trap

• Target: Companies that misrepresented the vacation packages they sell through fraudulent telemarketing and other deceptive practices
• Partners: 21 state law enforcement authorities (47 actions)
• FTC cases: Filed 5 complaints seeking consumer redress; cases are pending final disposition

Operation Home Inequity

• Target: Subprime mortgage lenders using lending practices that violated various federal laws
• FTC cases: 7 cases resulted in settlements requiring payment of $572,500 in consumer redress or a ban from making certain loans

Credit Card Protection Sweep

• Target: Fraudulent telemarketers of credit card protection services
• Partners: 6 Attorneys General (3 actions); FTC initiated a major consumer education campaign designed to alert consumers of their credit card rights, including working with its public and private sector partners to distribute over one million educational bookmarks to college students
• FTC cases: Filed 2 complaints, not yet finally disposed of, and a settlement that includes payment of $100,000 in consumer redress

FISCAL YEAR 1998

Operation Loan Shark II

• Target: Telemarketers of advance fee loans; victims were U.S. military personnel and their families
• Partners: 2 Attorneys General, other state officials, Canadian law enforcement (3 actions)
• FTC cases: 9 cases resulted in orders for over $215,000 in consumer redress.

Foreign Lottery Tickets

• Target: Canadian firms targeting U.S. residents in foreign lottery schemes
• Partners: Attorney General (1 action)
• FTC cases: 4 cases resulted in orders for close to $1.4 million in consumer redress;

Postal Job Fraud

• Target: private companies that falsely promise postal service jobs
• Partners: U.S. Postal Service (8 actions)
• FTC cases: 3 cases resulted in orders for over $245,000 in consumer redress

Operation Money Pit

• Target: Fraudulent business opportunities promising returns of many times the cost of investments
• Partners: Attorneys General and law enforcement officials in 4 states (7 actions)
• FTC cases: 3 cases resulted in orders for $4.5 million in consumer redress

Operation Show Time

• Target: Seminar operators selling a variety of business and investment schemes
• Partners: Attorneys General, securities officials, and other law enforcement officials from 11 states (18 actions)

Campana Alerta II

• Target: false and unsubstantiated health claims directed to Spanish-speaking consumers
• Partners: Officials from the Mexican government and the FTC jointly produced a Public Service Announcement that was broadcast on major Spanish-language network affiliates across the United States and Mexico
• FTC cases: 3 cases resulted in settlements prohibiting unsubstantiated health claims

Operation Net Op

• Target: Get-rich-quick schemes using the Internet and hi-tech products to peddle fraudulent business opportunity and pyramid scams
• FTC cases: 6 cases resulted in orders for $4.9 million in consumer redress

Operation Eraser

• Target: Fraudulent credit repair companies that promise consumers that they can restore their creditworthiness for a fee
• Partners: State Attorneys General, DOJ (11 actions)
• FTC cases: 21 cases resulted in orders for close to $1.5 million in consumer redress

Project House Call

• Target: Sellers of medical billing business opportunities
• Partners: Florida state officials (1 action)
• FTC cases: 3 cases resulted in orders for $90,000 in consumer redress

Risky Business

• Target: Bogus entertainment and media-related investment opportunity scams
• •Partners: Securities and Exchange Commission and 20 members of the North American Securities Administrators Association (55 actions)
• FTC cases: 4 cases resulted in orders for over $36 million in consumer redress

Operation vEnd Up Broke

• Target: Vending machine fraud
• Partners: Attorneys General and other state officials from 10 states (36 actions)
• FTC cases: 4 cases resulted in orders for $565,000 in consumer redress and payment of an $11,000 civil penalty

FISCAL YEAR 1997

Operation Missed Fortune

• Target: Get-rich-quick self-employment schemes
• Partners: State security regulators, state Attorneys General, other consumer protection officials (64 actions)
• FTC cases 11 cases resulted in orders for close to $2 million in consumer redress.

Operation Trip-Up

• Target: Vacation scams
• Partners: 12 state Attorneys General (31 actions)
• FTC cases: 5 cases resulted in orders for close to $10.7 million in consumer redress

Operation Waistline

• Target: Misleading weight loss claims
• Partners: Weight-Control Information Network on educational issues
• FTC cases: 7 settlements requiring payment of $787,500 in consumer redress; letters and a media screening tip sheet sent to 80 publications that disseminated weight loss advertisements urging them to improve their screening

Operation False Alarm

• Target: Fraudulent fund raising done in the name of police, fire, and public safety groups
• Partners: 50 state Attorneys General, Secretaries of State, and other state charities regulators (54 actions); FTC launched nationwide public education campaign with the National Association of Attorneys General
• FTC cases: 3 cases resulted in court orders requiring $240,000 in consumer redress

Operation MagaScheme

• Target: Fraudulent telemarketers of magazine subscriptions who conned consumers with phony prize offers and "free" subscription promises
• FTC cases: 3 cases resulted in orders for over $1 million in consumer redress

Project Mousetrap

• Target: Invention promotion industry
• Partners: 2 state Attorneys General (2 actions)
• FTC cases: 5 cases resulted in orders for over $1.2 million in consumer redress

Field of Schemes

• Target: Investment-related telemarketing fraud
• Partners: Securities regulators from 21 states and 2 Canadian provinces, North American Securities Administrators Association, Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, FBI, and other law enforcement authorities (62 actions)
• FTC cases: 9 cases resulted in court orders for close to $72.5 million in consumer redress

Project Workout

• Target: Second phase of Operation Waistline targeting exaggerated advertising claims made by exercise equipment manufacturers
• Partners: Educational materials issued nationwide in conjunction with the American College of Sports Medicine, the American Council on Exercise, the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, and Shape Up America!
• FTC cases: 4 cases resulted in settlements prohibiting future misrepresentations

Campana Alerta

• Target: Deceptive advertisements directed at Spanish-speaking consumers
• Partners: Officials from the Mexican government, the Food and Drug Administration, and 7 state Attorneys General (10 actions)
• FTC cases: 4 cases resulted in settlements prohibiting unsubstantiated health claims

Peach Sweep

• Target: Georgia-based telemarketers
• Partners: 8 Attorneys General, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, FBI, U.S. Attorney's Office in Atlanta, local law enforcers, and consumer and civic organizations (23 actions)
• FTC cases: 3 cases resulted in orders for $1 million in consumer redress

Project Trade Name Games

• Target: Business opportunities to own and service in-store carousel racks that display products licensed by well known companies
• Partners: Attorneys General and other officials from 8 states (12 actions); educational component launched in coordination with industry members, including Disney and Warner Brothers, whose trade names were used by scam artists to sell the bogus business opportunities
• FTC cases: 6 cases resulted in orders for $29.4 million in consumer redress

Operation Yankee Trader

• Target: Fraudulent vending machine business opportunity firms
• Partners: Officials from 3 New England states (7 actions)
• FTC cases: Filed one complaint; preliminary injunction obtained

Project Mailbox

• Target: Direct mail scams that prey on senior citizens
• Partners: National Association of Attorneys General, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, state Attorneys General, local law enforcement officials, AARP (188 actions)
• FTC cases: 2 cases resulted in orders for $565,000 in consumer redress

FISCAL YEAR 1996

Operation Roadblock

• Target: Sellers of fraudulent high-tech investments
• Partners: 20 state securities regulators (77 actions)
• FTC cases: 8 cases resulted in orders for more than $12.6 million in consumer redress

Project Senior Sentinel

• Target: Sweepstakes, recovery rooms, and similar frauds that target senior citizens
• Partners: FTC participated in this sweep coordinated by DOJ the FBI
• FTC cases: 5 cases resulted in orders for close to $8.5 million in consumer redress

Operation Loan Shark I

• Target: U.S. and Canadian firms offering advance-fee loans
• Partners: 15 state Attorneys General, British Columbia law enforcers (8 actions)
• FTC cases: 5 cases resulted in orders for $2.5 million in consumer redress

Operation CopyCat

• Target: Office and cleaning supply fraud operations that targeted small businesses and not-for-profit organizations
• Partners: U.S. Postal Inspection Service, state Attorneys General, other state and local officials (12 actions)
• FTC cases: 5 cases resulted in orders for $13.7 million in consumer redress

Operation Payback

• Target: Fraudulent credit repair telemarketers
• Partners: 10 state Attorneys General (11 actions)
• FTC cases: 4 cases resulted in orders for close to $300,000 in consumer redress

Project Jackpot

• Target: Prize promotion schemes
• Partners: State Attorneys General; U.S. Postal Service (48 actions)
• FTC cases: 8 cases resulted in orders for $1.65 million in consumer redress

Project Career Sweep

• Target: Scam artists who falsely promised to obtain jobs for consumers in exchange for up-front fee
• FTC cases: 7 cases resulted in orders for over $3.2 million in consumer redress

Project $cholar$cam

• Target: Scams aimed at high school and college students seeking financial aid
• Partners: State Attorney General (1 action); massive education campaign in which the FTC, Sallie Mae, National Association of College Stores, and others distributed 2.9 million bookmarks, posters, and flyers, and posted warnings at several popular Web sites
• FTC cases: 7 cases resulted in court orders for close to $8.9 million in consumer redress

• Target: Traditional scams marketed on the Internet
• FTC cases: 9 cases resulted in 8 consent agreements and 1 settlement for $55,000 in consumer redress

• Target: 900-number business opportunity frauds
• FTC cases: 7 cases resulted in orders for approximately $15.5 million in consumer redress

• Target: Business opportunity scams
• Partners: DOJ, state securities regulators, state Attorneys General (58 actions)
• FTC cases: 34 cases resulted in orders requiring payment of more than $11.2 million in consumer redress and more than $200,000 in civil penalties

• Target: Telemarketers who misrepresent that they will recover all or a substantial portion of the money lost by consumers in previous scams
• FTC cases: 6 cases resulted in orders for over $540,000 in consumer redress