If the Deal Sounds Unbelievable, Don’t Believe It : Phone scams: National Consumers League offers help in dealing with suspicious solicitations.

The stories abound.

Last March, an Indianapolis woman receives a postcard stating that she has been “specially selected” to buy vouchers costing $79.90 each, redeemable for round-trip flights to Honolulu without any specific airline cited. Eager to cash in, she calls the phone number on the postcard, in Chicago, supplies her credit card number to the outfit offering the deal, and promptly buys 10 vouchers for use by her and other family members.

Soon after, the vouchers arrive in the mail with instructions to exchange them at a specific travel agency in Chicago for her airline tickets. But eight weeks later, when she calls the agency to claim her tickets, the agency phone has been disconnected. As a result, the woman has lost $799, which was charged against her credit card by the fraudulent operators, who have now closed their operations and moved on.

“This is an example of the most common form of telemarketing fraud currently being used, and we get many complaints of this type,” said John Barker, a spokesman for the nonprofit, Washington-based National Consumers League. “Travel is one of the four biggest areas of telemarketing fraud, accounting for a minimum of $3 billion in consumer losses annually.”

Low-cost vacations to destinations such as the Caribbean, Hawaii, Europe and Mexico are the standard lures used to get unsuspecting consumers to reveal their credit card numbers, as well as checking account and bank identification numbers, according to the National Consumers League.

Consumers should be aware, however, that there is a difference between a prosecutable offense that qualifies as telemarketing fraud, such as the example described earlier, and those misleading--but not illegal--travel promotions that some operators use to prey on consumer naivete. The latter, usually in the form of direct-mail or newspaper ads, typically advertise a low-cost holiday vacation, including round-trip air for one person and accommodations for two.

The catch is that you have to buy a second round-trip flight for the second person at higher prices than travelers could probably get on their own.

Consumers who believe they may have been the victims of travel-related fraud, or who simply have questions about a telemarketing call or suspicious piece of mail, now can call the National Fraud Information Center (800-876- 7060), which was opened in July by the National Consumers League. The NCL is a private, nonprofit membership organization dedicated to consumer advocacy.

“Consumers can ask questions about phone calls or materials they’ve received in the mail that they may be suspicious about, and (we’ll tell them) which law enforcement group to report cases to when they think they’ve been defrauded,” said Barker. “But we can’t advise people about a specific outfit.”

Information about potential telemarketing cases will also be funneled into the data base used by the Federal Trade Commission and various law-enforcement agencies. However, consumers should be aware that these agencies look for patterns of illicit activities, and are not inclined to act based on any individual consumer case.

Though creation of the new toll-free consumer hot line was in the works prior to a survey released last spring by Louis Harris & Associates, “Telephone-Based Fraud: A Survey of the American Public,” survey results bolstered the need for such a service, Barker said. He added that the survey covered a broad range of telephone-based fraud, of which travel is considered one of the primary categories affecting consumers.

According to the survey, which consisted of a national sampling of 1,255 adults 18 years and older taken between April 28 and May 7, telemarketing fraud has become so prevalent in the United States that 92% of Americans have received postcard prize schemes--many promoting “travel opportunities” and travel “prize winners” in the mail.

The current trend is for scam operators to use direct mail and/or print ads more often than phone calls as the first entree to their audience. And there is a greater reliance than ever on targeted audiences. For example, a travel scam artist could purchase a mailing list of consumers who have shown interest in receiving brochures on trips to Hawaii or other specific destinations.

Subsequently, consumers on these mailing lists receive a postcard or letter inviting them to call in and take advantage of the travel offers promoted in the mailings, at which point they are often asked for credit card numbers. Many times, these phone calls have to be made by using 900 telephone numbers, which can mean a charge of $2-$5 per call.

Experts say potential victims are much more likely to initiate a call themselves on the basis of an ad in a supermarket tabloid, after receiving a promotional postcard or other mailing, or after seeing a TV spot, probably on a cable channel.

A general finding of the survey was that 7% of past and present credit card holders have had at least one of their accounts fraudently misused. This means that scam artists, many using travel lures, have succeeded in obtaining the credit card numbers of consumers over the phone, and then running up unauthorized charges.

One bit of good news for consumers, as reported in the survey, is that scams in which consumers are persuaded to reveal their checking account numbers--enabling scam operators to make withdrawals from individual accounts through automatic debiting--have been effectively halted. Just 2% of adults with checking accounts have had funds withdrawn from their accounts without authorization, and almost all checking-account users knew to go to their bank or their state banking department with such a problem.

While there are many legitimate telemarketing operations, consumers should be alert to potential scams. Best advice to avoid being victimized is to never reveal credit card or checking account numbers over the phone--whether during a call you receive or one you make in response to a postcard or an ad. Other telltale signals: You are told you have been “specially selected” to win an “award”; you are promised some great travel “bargain” if you pay a processing/administrative fee, or you are urged to take immediate advantage of a “great opportunity” before the offer lapses. Some other measures consumers can take to protect themselves:

* If the offer sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t. This category includes those exceptionally low-priced offers.

* Avoid being pressured into an immediate decision. Legitimate businesses generally don’t expect instant decisions.

* Ask detailed questions, such as what the price does and doesn’t cover. Find out if there are other charges and, if so, when they will be levied. Get the names of specific airlines and hotels involved in the offer, and contact them to see if they are participating and what they think of the rates offered by the telemarketer. In addition, confirm any reservations. Ask the telemarketer about cancellation policies and refunds.

* Get all information on the program being offered in writing before making any agreement to buy travel arrangements. If a telemarketer doesn’t want to send material, or the deal is only available for such a limited amount of time that there is not sufficient time to send the material by mail, forget it. Once you do get any material through the mail, check it carefully to make sure it matches what you were told over the phone.

* Beware of the line that the telemarketer needs your credit card number for verification purposes only.

Many telemarketing schemes involve time delays between the point at which charges show up on your credit card and the delivery of the travel arrangements you’re supposed to receive. Typically, victims of travel scams are billed for supposed bargains quickly after surrendering their credit-card numbers. By the time consumers get suspicious and discover they are the victims of a scam, it may be too late.