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Show A FREE VMM??yCr tfwMmWturCosrME?! ( I By Jennifer Peterson but not everyone is so aware. J. "One iady who had fallen for the scheme J U said the sales people had sounded so positive u (she would win big) that she went ahead and I; Schwab's general rule ' j of thumb is that if it v sounds too good to : ; be true, it is too ; good to be true. 5 fj purchased the product they were selling. When all they sent her was a cheap bracelet, j she was devastated," Schwab said. "I tried to f explain that it's their job to sound positive so you'll buy the stuff, but some people just never understand that." J p Schwab's genera! rule of thumb is that if 5 it sounds too good to be true, it is too good to be true. J; j "Generally, if you initiate the call, like if A J you call to order from a catalog, you're all J i right. But if someone else calls you and J '! requests your credit card number or a 5 ' ' checking account number v j ust for 5 A information, you can be pretty sure a '! withdrawal will be made shortly after the j; , call," Schwab explained. ( The Federal Trade Commission offers a $ series of Facts to Consumers that explain J fraudulent sales practices and several J 1 pointers for avoiding victimization J ! The commission suggests that J individuals be skeptical of "great deals" and j should ask detailed questions that should give clear answers. They also suggest that i consumers get offers in writing and check the details. Schwab agreed with Crist's description U of the scam which faced him: "It's really just J 4A a high pressure crock." S A e" 's tne woman of the ill! house in? " LJ So begin many lei ohone I I conversations as tl. ' 90's I I quickly become the .ge of telemarketing. More and more telemarketing con lanies seem to gain access to home phone n nbers selling everything from makeup to lome-building lome-building supplies to faux pearls. But how can the average person :ell when the call is just a scheme? When Neil Crist, a Bountiful i.sident and local attorney, received several phone calls in the past month informing him :hat he had won "valuable prizes," he started searching for answers. The choice of either a car or watches or $5,000 sounded just as good to Ciist as it would to any other individual caught unaware. But things became rather sketchy when he began asking questions. The catch to receive the prize, Crist would have had to purchase a $623 water purifier. "It's not appropriate for someone to make you buy something in order to get this really nifty gift that they say you've already won," Crist explained. Kathie Schwab of the Consumer Protection Division of the Federal Trade Commission said Crist is absolutely correct. "It is not legal for someone to tell you you've won a prize and then ask for the money before they'll give you the prize," Schwab said. "It's really just a high pressure crock." But scams like the one Crist a 'id other Utah residents have faced are not unusual. "Offering a prize is a real popular marketing technique," Schwab explained. "But if someone calls and tells you you've won something, there's almost always something else involved. Either $400 for vitamins or skin care products or water softeners or all kinds of other things," Schwab explained. When Crist's wife received the first call, she said the deal sounded so good she was ready to sell the house. But when she asked for the company's number so she could talk to her husband about the more than $600 purchase, she was told it was a once-in-a-lifetime offer and that she must answer immediately. "Most of the time there's no such thing as a once-in-a-lifetime offer. If a company tries to tell you that, just say forget it," Schwab suggested. Crist said that 20 minutes after his wife had turned down the offer, a "supervisor" called again to further press Mrs. Crist. This time, however, they got Mr. Crist. "He said he just didn't understand how I could turn down such a great offer," Crist recalled. "I told him I would gladly sign a contract that said I would purchase the water softener after I had received a prize worth $5,000. He just kept trying to get me off on another track by telling me how great the prize was and that he couldn't believe I was turning him down. When I told him again I would buy the softener after I received the prize he just hung up on me." Crist recalled the name of the company which had so desperately tried to persuade him to make the purchase. But upon calling one phone number given to him by 800 information, the business he reached under r the supposed name had not a clue what he was talking about. At a second number no one answered the phone and neither number was based in New York as the salesperson had told him. But Schwab said that was not unusual. "It's really hard to locate these companies sometimes because they can be spread over several different slates' Schwab explained. Crist had decided early inthe conversation he was being scammed, he said, ; ? . "Offering a prize is a real popular companies sometimes because they can be marketing technique," Schwab explained. spread over several different states," Schwab j g A "But if someone calls and tells you you've explained. I p jj Crist had decided early: in.-the IP A conversation he was being scammed, he said, .... r : ' I'-"-:.':;:-::".-:-:-.--- '' '- 1 .V.V." "V. " ' W -': 'A J ' '',v," ''ill AVHr m m m M kCp L - - f hEf T HL1 " hB Wr HL? j rVVVVVV mM LT - l j TpTTta m ff n " 1 m"m.m M J UP J- J - rraniVH M f ----- --, Page Design & Artwork by Jonathan Brown |