International Telemarketing Network Defendants Banned from Telemarketing

Officers of a company that directed an international telemarketing network that defrauded hundreds of thousands of consumers through the deceptive telemarketing of bogus advance-fee credit cards are banned from telemarketing for life as part of federal court orders settling Federal Trade Commission charges. Another alleged leader of this massive scam, who has a prior history involving telemarketing fraud, also agreed to a lifetime telemarketing ban.

The Assail Telemarketing Network engaged in more than $100 million in deceptive telemarketing sales, including the sale of hundreds of thousands of fraudulent advance-fee credit card packages using names such as Advantage Capital, Capital First, and Premier One. The FTC alleged in its complaint that the defendants operated the advance-fee credit card scam through a network of telemarketing boiler rooms, Canadian front men, and outsourced fulfillment and customer service centers. The FTC alleged that the defendants? telemarketers contacted consumers with poor credit records and told them that they were guaranteed to receive a MasterCard for an advance fee. Consumers, however, did not receive a MasterCard or any other legitimate payment device. The FTC?s complaint alleged that the defendants maintained their own telemarketing boiler rooms and also kept contract boiler rooms in the United States, Canada, India, and the Caribbean.