Telemarketing scams get quick access to consumers’ money by going directly to their bank accounts. Now the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) wants to end that practice. It has proposed new regulations that would stop the use of payment methods that con artists use to take advantage.

New proposal

• Stop telemarketers from dipping directly into consumer bank accounts by using unsigned checks and “payment orders” that have been “remotely created.”  The FTC says this is the way telemarketers debit your account without your permission
• Bar telemarketers from getting paid with traditional “cash-to-cash” money transfers, as well as “cash reload” mechanisms, that scammers rely on to get money quickly and anonymously from consumer victims.
• Ban telemarketers from charging an advance fee for “recovering” money that consumers lost in previous scams.

Before the new rules can go into effect the FTC allows a period for the public to comment and that will last until July 29, 2013.

Tell us your experience with a telemarketer.  We want to investigate!