State Moves Against Phone Sales Fraud

“Congratulations!” the man on the telephone said.

“Our computer has just chosen you as a winner of one of five prizes: a 50-inch color television set, a Chevrolet Cavalier, a trip for two around the world, a four-man boat with a motor approved by the Coast Guard and a lifetime free supply of film. . . .

“The least expensive prize is valued at over $2,000. In order to avoid a gift tax, we can give you one of these prizes with the purchase of a security system for your home for our cost of only $389.”

California Atty. Gen John K. Van de Kamp had a concise piece of advice Monday for anyone considering such an offer:

“Don’t do it.”

“As they say,” the attorney general added, “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

Van de Kamp told reporters in Los Angeles that his office is distributing a series of public service announcements for airing on radio and television stations throughout the state in an effort to stem a rising tide of telephone marketing frauds that are believed to cost American consumers more than $1 billion a year.

While most of the $20-billion-a-year telephone marketing operations are legitimate, he said, about 5% involve deceptive and unscrupulous high-pressure tactics designed to sell phony investments and overrated products to unsuspecting consumers.

In the case of the telephone call above--taken from the attorney general’s investigative files--the chances were virtually nil that any customer would actually receive the television set, the car or the trip, state officials said.

As for the other “gifts,” the officials said, the boat and motor were worth about $40 and the film offer was worth nothing, since the film was provided “free” only if the customer paid an inflated price for developing it. In any case, they said, the costs of the boat, motor and film were more than covered by the vastly inflated price being charged for the “security system”--actually a lock and door stop worth less than $20.