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EverydayWealth Consumer Advocate Updates
Consumer Alert
EverydayWealth Radio
O--------------------------------------------------O
Scammers Steal from Elderly Consumers' Bank Accounts and Threaten
Consumers with Loss of Social Security Benefits
A Canadian enterprise has been charged with illegal business
practices by the Federal Trade Commission*. According to the FTC,
Xtel Marketing, Inc. has targeted elderly consumers, duped them into
revealing their bank account information and then debited hundreds
of dollars from their accounts. Calling consumers across the United
States, they and their principals have been masquerading as Social
Security or Medicare representatives and telling consumers that they
must provide bank account information or risk losing their Social
Security payments.
According to the FTC, Xtel Marketing has been pulling off this scam
since at least 2002. The company makes cold calls to elderly
consumers and claims that, due to a Social Security Administration
computer failure, their personal information has been erased from
the system. They then tell consumers that they must provide their
bank account and routing information to remedy the problem.
Consumers who are reluctant to provide the information are often
threatened with delays or complete loss of their Social Security
benefit payments.
According to the FTC, Xtel Marketing also tells consumers they will
enroll them in a new Medicare insurance program that will give them
discounts on medication purchases and eyeglasses, for an enrollment
fee of $299 (debited from consumers' bank accounts). But consumers
receive nothing in return. According to papers filed with the court,
consumers lost approximately $1 million in this scam.
Your consumer advocate, EverydayWealth, encourages you to warn
Social Security recipients about this scam. If you have elderly
parents, talk to them about monitoring their accounts with the
EverydayWealth Wealth Monitor. Better safe than…ripped off!
*Read the press release at
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2004/11/millineum.htm.
Consumer Alert
EverydayWealth Radio
O--------------------------------------------------O
Scammers Steal from Elderly Consumers' Bank Accounts and Threaten
Consumers with Loss of Social Security Benefits
A Canadian enterprise has been charged with illegal business
practices by the Federal Trade Commission*. According to the FTC,
Xtel Marketing, Inc. has targeted elderly consumers, duped them into
revealing their bank account information and then debited hundreds
of dollars from their accounts. Calling consumers across the United
States, they and their principals have been masquerading as Social
Security or Medicare representatives and telling consumers that they
must provide bank account information or risk losing their Social
Security payments.
According to the FTC, Xtel Marketing has been pulling off this scam
since at least 2002. The company makes cold calls to elderly
consumers and claims that, due to a Social Security Administration
computer failure, their personal information has been erased from
the system. They then tell consumers that they must provide their
bank account and routing information to remedy the problem.
Consumers who are reluctant to provide the information are often
threatened with delays or complete loss of their Social Security
benefit payments.
According to the FTC, Xtel Marketing also tells consumers they will
enroll them in a new Medicare insurance program that will give them
discounts on medication purchases and eyeglasses, for an enrollment
fee of $299 (debited from consumers' bank accounts). But consumers
receive nothing in return. According to papers filed with the court,
consumers lost approximately $1 million in this scam.
Your consumer advocate, EverydayWealth, encourages you to warn
Social Security recipients about this scam. If you have elderly
parents, talk to them about monitoring their accounts with the
EverydayWealth Wealth Monitor. Better safe than…ripped off!
*Read the press release at
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2004/11/millineum.htm.
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