December 14, 2018

A debt-relief telemarketing operator has been permanently banned from both industries and ordered to pay over $23 million to the FTC and State of Florida for violating the Federal Trade Commission Act, Telemarketing Sales Rule, and Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. Under the guise of multiple shell companies, Kevin Guice and his associates sold fraudulent debt relief services to more than 10,000 unsuspecting consumers, often by calling phone numbers on the FTC’s National Do Not Call Registry. In one scheme, telemarketers falsely claimed to be able to substantially and permanently lower credit card interest rates in exchange for an upfront fee of between $500 to $5,000. In another scheme, telemarketers again falsely claimed to be able to access non-existent government funds to pay off credit card debt in exchange for another upfront fee of between $2,500 to $26,000. Proceeds from the $23 million judgment will be used to pay restitution to consumers harmed by these fraudulent schemes. FTC; FL AG

Tagged in: Financial and Investment Fraud, Misrepresentations,