Telemarketer Settles FTC Scam Charges

A telemarketer based in Santa Rosa, Calif., has settled Federal Trade Commission charges that he misled customers in the U.S. and abroad who signed up for discounted Florida-to-Bahamas cruise vacations, the FTC said.

Collot Guerard at the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection in Washington, D.C., alleged that “thousands of customers were injured” in $25 million worth of sales orchestrated by Roger Dolgin, owner of Design Travel. Under the settlement, he agreed to pay $125,000 to inform and compensate consumers and is barred from marketing travel packages in the future.

The FTC accused Dolgin of misrepresenting a ferry ride as a “cruise,” booking vermin-infested hotels and misrepresenting the price of the vacations. Dolgin’s firm was among 20 companies targeted in March 1997 in “Operation Trip Up,” a nationwide crackdown on alleged travel scams.