The Federal Trade Commission is going after those obnoxious extended car warranty scams bothering everyone for years. The commission has found such scams contributed to millions of dollars worth of fraud just this year alone and is determined to ban anyone conducting such scams from outbound telemarketing businesses and from selling any extended car warranties for life.
The Federal Trade Commission has already caught a couple of groups, calling out Kole Consulting Group and American Vehicle Protection (AVP) specifically in a recent announcement.
“Kole and AVP blasted consumers with illegal calls and made bogus claims about bumper-to-bumper warranties,” said Samuel Levine, Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Today’s order bans Kole and his company from the extended auto warranty industry and imposes a monetary judgment of $6.6 million, continuing the Commission’s aggressive crackdown on telemarketing fraud.”
Kole Consulting Group has stated it is unable to pay the entire fine, so a temporary suspension has been put in place. For now, the group has been ordered to pay $500,000 but this could change. If Kole Consulting Group is discovered to have misled the Federal Trade Commission in this regard, the company would be required to pay the full amount immediately.
In addition to mass calling consumers about fake “bumper to bumper” warranties, American Vehicle Protection was also found to have called a “large number” of people on the Do Not Call List. If you’re not already on the list, you can register online. Calls should ease up within 31 days.
Regardless of if you’re on the Do Not Call List or not, you can report telemarketing fraud and robocalls to the Federal Trade Commission. The Commission has already found dozens of sources of telemarketing scams and actively trying to shut down a number of agencies.