Telemarketing Software Featured Article

The Federal Trade Commission has made some changes to its Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR (News - Alert)) to attempt to protect consumers from fraud, according to the Imperial Valley News.

The biggest change is the prohibition of telemarketers from using certain payment methods favored by scammers, such as remotely created check, remotely created payment order and reloadable prepaid debit cards.

These payment methods have become staples of scam calls such as people claiming to be IRS agents collecting unpaid taxes. Other particularly nasty malware programs can hold people’s hard drives ransom unless they pay or face having their data encrypted.

These scams often target elderly people or immigrants who are used to paying bribes when dealing with government officials.

“The payment methods prohibited in the revised TSR are all slightly different, but they have a few things in common: 1) they aren’t subject to federal laws that protect consumers when paying by credit or debit card; and 2) they’re difficult to reverse, which is why scammers like them,” Lesley Fair of the FTC (News - Alert) wrote.

These changes will likely not affect most legitimate businesses, as they use standard payment methods such as credit cards and checks. Most of these scammers targeting Americans operate outside the U.S., so there’s not much the FTC can do to stop them.

The FTC is also tightening its rules regarding the Do Not Call registry. Businesses will have to demonstrate some kind of pre-existing relationship before calling a number on the registry or obtain a written agreement. Political canvassers and debt collectors are still exempt from the rule.

It’s also more clearly defined the kinds of burdens that illegally interfere with a person being placed on the registry.

If a seller doesn’t get the required information to place a number on their entity-specific do not call list, the seller is disqualified from FTC’s safe harbor. This means that a telemarketer could get in serious trouble if they call someone on the registry.

Sellers are also barred from splitting the costs of accessing the DNC registry.

All of this means that businesses will have to do their due diligence to make sure that they’re still in compliance with all the laws regarding telemarketing before making calls.