A Federal Trade Commission official announced that Twitter users will be able block personal data from being shared with third-party websites.
The Federal Communications Commission approved new rules Wednesday to further limit automatically dialed or prerecorded calls know as "robocalls" and automated text messages.
The Federal Trade Commission has filed suit against three companies that allegedly served as fronts for scams, including fraudulent promises to help customers earn $10,000 a month from lucrative Internet businesses.
Is the future of online advertising one of incredibly targeted advertising based on your interests, online activities and Facebook "likes," or is it one dictated by robust privacy controls that keep those details out of the hands of marketers?
Following increased pressure from the FTC, Google and Mozilla are introducing opt-out features to their Chrome and Firefox browsers.
Many companies that charge big upfront fees to consumers drowning in debt are skirting new federal rules that ban abusive debt-settlement practices, according to consumer advocates and government officials.
Landlords who won't exterminate roach-infested apartments. Debt collectors' harassing phone calls. Companies that sell timeshares for a fee -- then disappear with the money.
Starting today, many "robocalls" from telemarketers will be illegal. But there are lots of other ways that telemarketers can get to you. Here is how you can tune out and reduce the solicitations.
Starting Tuesday, many "robocalls" from telemarketers will be illegal.
I got my first SMS spam message last week and it infuriated me.
The Federal Trade Commission is attempting to shut down three companies that the agency alleges have bombarded millions of consumers since 2007 with deceptive "robocalls" to sell them phony extensions to their original vehicle warranties.
The Better Business Bureau is assuring individuals who recently received a check from a federal court in Pennsylvania that the checks are legitimate and part of a settlement agreement with Wachovia Bank related to telemarketing fraud.
When Black Line Group, a Minneapolis accounting firm, wanted to drum up business, it hired telemarketers - lots of them. The effort was a bust, says Black Line marketing chief Scott Schmidt, largely because "so many companies have gate-keepers between the decision-maker and you."
The Federal Trade Commission unfurled Tuesday results of an enormous telemarketing fraud sweep, saying it had filed more than 180 cases that represent thousands of alleged victims and millions of dollars in losses.
Here are some tips on how to gracefully and painlessly remove yourself from sticky social situations.
A hand shoots up in the back of the room.
A bogus e-mail warning consumers that cell phone numbers will soon be released to telemarketers is making the rounds again
The cherished dinner hour void of telemarketers could vanish next year for millions of people when phone numbers begin dropping off the national Do Not Call list
The cherished dinner hour void of telemarketers could vanish next year for millions of people when phone numbers begin dropping off the national Do Not Call list.
ON A FEBRUARY DAY IN 2005, Tom Mitchell received a panicked phone call from his dad and stepmom in Columbiana, Ohio. Len, 82, and Ruth, 64, told him that their entire $100,000 retirement savings wa...
"Hello, Jim, my name is Scott Vincent Borba. I'm the CEO and founder of Borba. You probably don't know who I am or what my company is, so let me quickly tell you."
On a February day in 2005, Tom Mitchell received a panicked phone call from his dad and stepmom in Columbiana, Ohio.
As the scandal involving Red Cross workers and Katrina donations shows, you can never be completely sure your money is safe when making donations to charity.
Officials announced a $5.34 million settlement Tuesday with satellite TV provider DirecTV over alleged violations of the Do Not Call rule, the largest civil penalty ever obtained by the Federal Trade Commission in a consumer protection enforcement case.
Ask someone in your office to give a speech to colleagues, and he might get the jitters. But dare him to pick up the phone and pitch a business deal to a total stranger, and he'll probably go into ...
Even before Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast, scammers were hard at work trying to get your charity dollars.
Tens of thousands of children are going to starve to death in the West African Nation of Niger unless they get aid. In fact, 1.2 million people are starving. It's a crisis that could have been avoided, according to the United Nations. But it seems no one was listening to the warnings last year.
We're all subject to life's little frustrations. Take, for example, those annoying subscription cards that fall out of magazines. It's enough to drive you batty.
Every year an estimated 25 million people, or one out of every 10 Americans, are the victims of consumer fraud. Their collective losses: some $40 billion from telemarketing scams alone. Widespread ...
Every year an estimated 25 million people, or one out of every 10 Americans, are the victims of consumer fraud. Their collective losses: some $40 billion from telemarketing scams alone.
If you have the sort of friends I do (the sort who forward really important e-mails), chances are you've recently gotten a message that read: "In a few weeks, cell-phone numbers are being released ...
Who was looking out for your wallet last year? Who was gunning for it? Buried in the fine print of our financial lives—and lurking behind the curtain of any financial story—are people and organizat...
Once you've identified the causes that matter most to you, find the specific charities that best fit your giving goals.
For Michael and Martha Hogan, giving to charity is not just a tradition—it's a passion. The St. Louis couple, both 51, donate regularly to some two dozen nonprofits, ranging from major groups like ...
'Tis the season for giving. And, for many people that means more than just buying presents for friends and family -- it means giving to charity.
"Directory assistance. What city and state, please?"
Not all telemarketers have gotten the hint that consumers really don't want to take their calls.
We probably all know these nuggets of common sense consumer wisdom, but here are 12 good ones, in case you need a refresher.
The Federal Trade Commission has filed a complaint against National Consumer Council (NCC), alleging the debt negotiation program violated telemarketing rules by calling consumers on the national do-not-call registry, the agency said Wednesday.
Like many small companies, J.B. Racing of Taveres, Fla., depends heavily on its local-area computer network to manage its operations. Earlier this year Dennis King, head of sales and marketing and ...
Hate telemarketers? Then you're gonna like this. One company is offering consumers the opportunity to make money every time they listen to a pre-recorded sales pitch in the middle of dinner.
Last summer Sally Mikolajczyk received one of those ubiquitous sweepstakes offers in the mail. A retired social worker with the City of New York, the 86-year-old says she had "nothing better to do"...
You may get more telemarketing calls: The Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association is partnering with the nation's largest carriers to start a wireless-number 4-1-1 directory next year....
The most striking spontaneous mass phenomenon of the past year isn't Howard Dean's out-of-nowhere support or even the baffling rise of Net-powered flash mobs. Overlooked but more important is Ameri...
These days it's easy for smart women to get an MBA--it's the Mrs. degree that's proving elusive. So argues marketing expert Rachel Greenwald. In her new book, Find a Husband After 35 Using What I L...
The Federal Do-Not-Call Registry has signed up nearly 30 million phone numbers since its June launch (register at donotcall.gov). But it won't stop every obtrusive marketer from invading your priva...
Telemarketers hold a special place in our national consciousness, somewhere between ambulance-chasing lawyers and Bernie Ebbers. That's why most of us are celebrating the upcoming introduction of t...
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES Deloitte vs. Deloitte
For the 31,147 angry consumers who filed telemarketing-related complaints with the Federal Trade Commission last year, help is on the way: The agency has proposed the creation of a national "do not...
ADMINE.COM Got ads? Before you launch that expensive new campaign, try Admine.com, a site where you can search for used advertisements for print, radio, or television. Search premade ads that have ...
A few nights back, I got a "courtesy" call from AT&T, my long-distance provider. The rep wanted to know if the company could do anything else to help me.
Bo Corby couldn't believe his eyes: Looking through the telephone bills of his ten-person business, Simulator Training Inc. in Seattle, he found charges from a mysterious outfit in Minnesota called...
This is what the Too-Much-Information Economy has come to: Americans are now shelling out more than $10 a month for their phones not to ring.
While most people just chuck credit card offers into the trash, some salivate at the thought of low "teaser" interest rates. Are you addicted to credit cards? Take FORTUNE's test to find out. Give ...
Pam Kraft thought it was her ex-husband who was calling all the time and hanging up. The divorce, after all, had been messy. "I thought it was him," she says. "I felt threatened." But it wasn't him...
You know the symptoms of this electronic-age database-driven plague: a mailbox bursting with junk mail, incessant phone solicitations, surprises on your phone bill and computer-crashing e-mails, al...
Are you too polite to hang up on cold-calling telemarketers? Help has arrived. It's Easy Hang Up (Hello Direct, $19.95; 800-444-3556), a pillbox-size gadget that plugs into your phone. Next time a ...
Under extreme pressure to meet their commission goals, stockbrokers don't always do what's best for their clients. That, at least, is the view of Mark Dempsey, 33, who spent almost three years sell...
CALLERS TO OUR NATIONAL RADIO SHOW AS WELL as securities regulators we've recently interviewed reveal the same thing: Americans are losing hundreds of millions of dollars in three growing investmen...
Mary Schapiro, 40, the first president of the new regulatory arm of the National Association of Securities Dealers, plans to take strong steps to rein in bad brokers and the firms that hire them. S...
Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole promised to get the telecommunications deregulation bill, which would let cable TV operators and local and long-distance telephone companies duke it out in the marketplac...
WHEN SHIRLEY HINTON LEARNED OF the double murder of her aunt Hazel Gleese and Hazel's husband Leo early this year, she suspected their preacher. "He promised to check on them every single day," she...
YOU'RE SCANNING YOUR CREDIT-CARD BILL and you notice a charge for an item you can't remember having purchased. Sure, a couple of weeks ago, a telemarketer tried to sell you something over the phone...
Last year consumers were swindled out of an estimated $40 billion by telemarketing frauds alone. In all, dishonest scammers now rake in $100 billion annually, and lately con artists are using techn...
Who among us, forkful of dinner in midair, has not answered the phone only to be greeted by someone trying to sell swampland in Florida or a plutonium credit card?
SMALL DISHES SERVE SOFA SPUDS--AT A COST
If you think O.J.-free television is hard to find, try going an evening without bumping into the biggest, baddest advertising war in memory--the scramble for your long- distance dollars. The pitche...
Telephone con artists are moving into the charity-scam business in a big way. "Telemarketers who used to peddle nonexistent oil leases or 'rare' coins are turning to fake charity solicitations and ...
Nine out of 10 Americans have been targeted through the mail by con artists, according to a 1992 Louis Harris & Associates survey. Worse yet, a third of them -- 53.6 million people -- fell for it. ...
BREATHES THERE an American of economic substance who has not answered the phone and heard words like these? Is this Henry Longfellow? Henry! Nice to talk to you this evening. This is Arthur Steele ...
After snoozing through much of the 1980s, the Federal Trade Commission seems to have recently stepped up efforts to protect consumers against fraudulent and misleading advertising and marketing cla...
Intelligence always had been Paul Collins' strongest asset. Until his retirement in 1985, he served as superintendent of a California public school system. He also helped found two colleges and the...
A broker I didn't know called the other day offering me a ''hot new issue.'' It was one of five calls in two days from a single securities firm. And it was one of a steady succession of calls I get...
VITTORIO CASSONI sometimes lies awake at night worrying that orders for AT&T's computers aren't piling up fast enough. Small wonder. When the fashionably tailored native of Parma, Italy, arrives at...
© 2013 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
|