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The National Fraud Information Center

WHAT TO REPORT

The NFIC accepts reports about attempts to defraud consumers on the telephone or the Internet.

Telemarketing fraud can involve companies calling consumers or consumers calling companies in response to a mailing or other form of advertising. It also includes telephone sales pitches to businesses.

Internet fraud can include promotions found on websites, in chat rooms, newsgroups and bulletin boards, as well as via email.

The NFIC does not accept reports about home improvement, auto sales, or other transactions that usually take place at consumers' homes or retail stores.

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HOW TO REPORT

The best way to report possible fraud to the NFIC is by calling our toll-free number, 1-800-876-7060, so that our counselors can ask for the information we need.

Another way to make a report is to use our Online Incident Report Form.

If you wish to ask a general question, please call our toll-free number.

If you want to write to the NFIC, the address is:

National Fraud Information Center
PO Box 65868
Washington, DC 20035


Generally, to process fraud reports, the NFIC needs the following information: name of company, names of people you dealt with at the company, company address (including website or email address if you are reporting Internet fraud), company phone number, description of what good or service was offered, amount of money the company requested, the amount of money you actually paid, how the payment was made, date of first contact with company, date of payment, your name, address and phone number, and a short description of what happened. Please have this information readily available when you call. If you chose to write, please include all of the information in your correspondence. You may also use the Online Incident Report Form as a guide for your letter.

The NFIC does not take information such as consumers' credit card numbers or bank account numbers. Please do not include this information in your report.

The NFIC would like to know how you made your payment to the company -- by giving your credit card or bank account information over the phone of Internet, by wiring money, sending it by a private courier service (please provide the name of service), by U.S. mail, or by other means.

If you are mailing information to the NFIC, do not include the originals of any materials. You may need them later. Please send photocopies.

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WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO YOUR REPORT


We will enter the information in our state-of-the-art incident report system.

We will relay your report to the appropriate federal, state or local law enforcement agencies.

Your report will be transmitted to the National Fraud Database, maintained by the Federal Trade Commission and the National Association of Attorneys General. This information is available 24 hours a day to law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and Canada.

Information you provide informs federal and state regulators of possible illegal telemarketing or Internet activities. While there is no guarantee that you will recover money lost to fraud, you can at least help stop fraud and punish wrong-doers.

FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT PERSONNEL ONLY:
Our Law Enforcement Assistance Line is 202-835-0618. This line is for law enforcement personnel only. Please, do not call this number unless you are a law enforcement officer. [Don't try to impersonate a police officer. It's against the law.]


Contacting the National Fraud Information Center

How to Outmaneuver Tailgaters

How to Outmaneuver Tailgaters:
Drivers May Become Targets of Carjacking, Assaults

June 1, 2000

By Michael Carpenter

When another car is tailgating you for a long period of time, what is the safest and best way to stop to it?

You need to get rid of them. The occupants are probably anxious to pass you, but they could also have other motives. If the people behind you want to pass, then give them plenty of opportunities. Put on your turn signal, slow down and pull to the right as far as you can. Hopefully they'll get the message and pass you.

If the car doesn't pass you, then you have even more reason to get rid of the tailgaters.

Sometimes tailgating is a game people play to see how rattled you will get. This is often done to women who are driving alone, or to elderly drivers. The best thing to do is find a place to pull off the road that is busy and well-lighted, like a fast-food restaurant or a retail business, and let the car pass. If the tailgaters do not pass, then you should go into the business and call the police.

Sometimes tailgating can be the beginning of a vehicle-related crime. One game that's played is to find a vulnerable target, such as a woman driver in a rural area, then "accidentally" bump the car. When the driver stops to talk to the tailgater, the driver is either robbed, carjacked or assaulted.

One of the best precautions that drivers can take, especially those who are high-risk targets, is to carry a cellular phone. It is cheap insurance and can provide peace of mind in situations like the one you mentioned.

I was mistakenly pulled over by federal undercover narcotics agents who mistook my car for a perpetrators' car. We were both driving the same type of car. I was in possession of illegal contraband. Even though I was not the intended target, can I still be charged with possession, or is there a technicality somewhere in there?

I think you should talk to a lawyer. Based on the limited information you've given me, the "technicality" is that you were in the wrong place at the wrong time carrying the wrong stuff. The basis for stopping your car was probably legal. This would be considered a "good faith" stop based on probable cause.

Assuming your illegal drugs were obtained by the federal officers through legal means, such as a consent search, plain view search or warrant, then the evidence could be used against you at trial.

It's very coincidental that you would be in the middle of an undercover federal narcotics investigation, driving the same type of car as the perpetrator, and be caught carrying illegal narcotics.

I would like to be a police officer, but I got a discharge from the military similar to someone who has mental problems. I am in excellent physical and mental health. Can this affect me if I apply to become a police officer?

Yes. Every police department you apply to will inquire about your military background. The standard question is: Did you receive less than an honorable discharge from the service? I know there are several variations of discharges from the military, but it sounds like you will have problems with this question. The problem this causes for police departments is that you become a liability to them.

Police departments can be sued for negligent hiring. Basically, this means that the police department becomes liable if you are sued as a police officer because they knew you had some problems with your background. The department cannot take a chance.

I suggest you try another option. See what can be done to modify your discharge papers. If you can upgrade your discharge to honorable, it would open employment opportunities for you.

I was recently stopped at the door of a business and was asked by two gentlemen to come back to the office while they called the police. I hadn't paid for some pens that I had put in my pocket -- I was in the store so long that I forgot about them. My questions are: Should the security guards have given me a chance to pay for the $1.99 pens, and should the security guards have identified themselves by more than a stern voice and a baseball cap that said "Security" on it?

No. The security guard should not have given you the chance to pay for the items. Once you go beyond a certain point -- often it's past the registers or through the front door -- in a store without paying for an item, it is considered shoplifting or retail theft.

Almost every person who gets stopped for shoplifting claims they "forgot" or would offer to pay for the items. Literally millions of dollars a year are lost by merchants to people who "forgot" to pay.

It's not up to the security guard or police to make a determination what your intentions were in this case. It's possible you did forget and that you put the items in your pocket in an innocent and natural manner, but perhaps the videotape of the incident or the observations of the security officer would indicate otherwise.

Be warned that the wording of the laws dealing with shoplifting do not address situations when a person accidentally puts something in his or her pockets and forgets to pay for it. When there is a difference of opinion related to criminal law violations, our system allows for a judge to make a determination.

I was recently arrested for a Class B misdemeanor but was never read my rights at any point. I was promptly released on an appearance ticket, but am curious how not being read my rights could influence my case.

If you were questioned about your involvement in the case, you should have been read your rights. Any time a person is in custodial interrogation, they should be read Miranda rights. A person can be arrested without having to be read their rights, and a person can be interrogated by the police without having to be read their rights. However, when custody and interrogation is involved, Miranda rights should be read.

If you were not read Miranda rights and made incriminating statements to the police, it is possible that these statements would not be admissible in court. Not being read Miranda rights would not affect the legality of the arrest or any other evidence that the police may have gathered in this case.

Pay attention to the actions of the U.S. Supreme Court. They are deciding on what could be a major criminal justice case that specifically relates to Miranda rights. These justices will make a ruling, probably in June, whether Miranda warnings need to be read at all when people are in custodial interrogation situations.


Michael J. Carpenter, a veteran of 24 years in law enforcement, is an assistant professor with the Criminal Justice Department at Adirondack Community College in Queensbury, N.Y. He is a former officer with the Vermont State Police and the Glen Falls, N.Y., Police Department and also served as a police specialist with the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services in Albany, N.Y.


ASK THE POLICE EXPERT: A Weekly Advice Column


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Have Fun at the Expense of Junk Mailers &Telemarketers!

If they want to loan you money, tell them you just filed for bankruptcy and you sure could use some money.

If they start out with, "How are you today?" say, "Why do you want to know?"

Alternately, you can tell them, "I am so glad you asked, because no one these days seems to care, and I have all these problems; my arthritis is acting up, my eyelashes are sore, my dog just died..." When they try to get to the sell, just keep talking about your problems.

If they say they're John Doe from XYZ Company, ask them to spell their name. Then ask them to spell the company name. Then ask them where it is located. Continue asking them personal questions or questions about their company for as long as necessary.

This works great if you are male: telemarketer: "Hi, my name is
Judy and I'm with XYZ Company..." You: Wait for a second and with a real husky voice ask, "What are you wearing?"

Cry out in surprise, "Judy! Is that you? Oh my God! Judy, how have you been?" Hopefully, this will give Judy a few brief moments of terror as she tries to figure out where the hell she could know you from.

Say "No", over and over. Be sure to vary the sound of each one, and keep a rhythmic tempo, even as they are trying to speak.

This is most fun if you can do it until they hang up.

If MCI calls trying to get you to sign up for the Family and Friends Plan, reply, in as SINISTER a voice as you can, "I don't have any friends...
would you be my friend?"

Insist that the caller is really your buddy Leon, playing a joke. Come on Leon, cut it out! Seriously, Leon, How's your momma?"

After the Telemarketer gives their spiel, ask him/her to marry you. When they get all flustered, tell them that you could not just give your credit card number to a complete stranger.

Tell the Telemarketer that you work for the same company; they often can't sell to employees.

Answer the phone. As soon as you realize it is a Telemarketer, set the receiver down, shout or scream "Oh my God!!! And then hang up.

Tell the Telemarketer you are busy at the moment and ask them if they will give you their HOME phone number so you can call them back. When the telemarketer explains that they cannot give out their HOME number, you say "I guess you don't want anyone bothering you at home, right?" The telemarketer will agree and you say, "Now you know how I feel!" Hang up. (thanks to Jerry Seinfeld & his show for this one)

Ask them to repeat everything they say, several times.

Tell them it is dinnertime, BUT ask if they would please hold. Put them on your speakerphone while you continue to eat at your leisure. Smack your food loudly and continue with your dinner conversation.

Tell the telemarketer you are on "home incarceration" and ask if they could bring you some beer.

Ask them to fax the information to you, and make up a number.

Tell them to talk VERY SLOWLY, because you want to write down EVERY WORD !

Easy Ways to Mess With Telemarketers

Stop Junk Mail

When you get ads in your phone or utility bill, include them with the payment. Let them throw it away.

When you get those pre approved letters in the mail for everything from credit cards to 2nd mortgages and junk like that, most of them come with postage paid return envelopes, right?

Well, why not get rid of some of your other junk mail and put it in these cool little envelopes!

Send an ad for your local dry cleaner to American Express. Or a pizza coupon to Citibank. (I especially liked this!) If you didn't get anything else that day, then just send them their application back!

If you want to remain anonymous, just make sure your name isn't on anything you send them.

You can send it back empty if you want to just to keep them guessing!

Eventually, the banks and credit card companies will begin getting all their junk back in the mail.

Let's let them know what it's like to get junk mail, and best of all THEY'RE paying for it! Twice!

Let's help keep our postal service busy since they say e-mail is cutting into their business, and that's why they need to increase postage again!

Send this to a friend or two or fifty!

~ Author Unknown ~

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