Telemarketing fraud is a crime. Criminals use the phone to commit many different types of fraud, including sweepstakes and lottery frauds, loan fraud, buying club memberships, and credit card scams.

Telephone scammers are good at what they do. They say anything and target everyone to try to cheat people out of money. They may call you and imply that they work for a company you trust, or they may send direct mail or place ads to convince you to call them.

The Federal Trade Commission’s public education campaign – “Who's Calling?” - explains several deceptive telemarketing schemes, and how you can protect yourself against them. In short, you can: