Task Force Warns Seniors About Telemarketing Fraud

In an effort to warn senior citizens about telemarketing fraud, the American Assn. of Retired Persons and a law enforcement task force began a two-day operation Wednesday aimed at notifying the public of how to guard against such schemes, officials said.

A “reverse boiler room” operation will continue today as FBI agents and U.S. postal inspectors, aided by volunteers, telephone potential victims whose names were on a list obtained through raids of illegal boiler room operations, said Pamela Prince of AARP.

“The reverse boiler room concept derives from the criminal activities of con artists who operate from ‘boiler rooms’ where they make their unlawful calls,” Prince said.

“Illegal telemarketing schemes are becoming more complex than the typical ‘prize’ scams of years past, with Americans losing an estimated $40 billion a year to fraudulent telemarketers,” said Prince, who added that this was the first such operation in Los Angeles County.