Markets Wired

Experts are predicting that consumers will spend more online this holiday season than ever. Consumers can easily avoid crowds by shopping online, but if they’re not careful they may run into hackers, identity thieves, and other spammers. The Federal Trade Commission, together with the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), a non-profit organization devoted to cyber security education and awareness, is offering tips for safer and smarter online shopping this holiday season.

Check out the seller. If you’re thinking about shopping on a site with which you’re not familiar, do some independent research before you buy.

• If it’s your first time on an unfamiliar site, call the seller’s phone number, so you know you can reach them. If you can’t find a working phone number, take your business elsewhere.
• Type the site’s name into a search engine: if you find unfavorable reviews posted, you may be better off doing business with a different seller.
• Read the site’s privacy policy to learn how it uses and shares your personal information.
• Consider using a software toolbar that rates websites and warns you if a site has gotten unfavorable reports from experts and other Internet users. Some reputable companies provide free tools that may alert you if a website is a known phishing site or is used to distribute spyware.

Read return policies. Despite your best intentions, some gifts may need to be returned or exchanged. Before you buy, read the return policy. Some retailers give customers extra time so gifts can be returned or exchanged after the holidays; others give purchasers as little as a week — if they accept returns at all. A number of retailers offer shorter return windows for certain products and some charge “restocking” fees. Find out who covers the shipping cost — the customer or the merchant — on a return or exchange, and if your online purchase can be returned to a brick-and-mortar store.

Know what you’re getting. Read the seller’s product description closely. Name-brand items at greatly reduced prices could be counterfeit.

Don’t fall for a false email or pop-up. Legitimate companies don’t send unsolicited email messages asking for your password or login name, or your financial information. But scammers do. In fact, crooks often send emails that look just like they’re from legitimate companies — but direct you to click on a link, where they ask for your personal information. Delete these emails. They’re an attempt to get your information and to facilitate identity theft or other crimes. In addition, just clicking a link in a fraudulent email could install spyware on your computer.

Look for signs a site is safe. When you’re ready to buy something from a seller you trust, look for signs that the site is secure, such as a closed padlock on the browser’s status bar, before you enter your personal and financial information. When you’re asked to provide payment information, the beginning of the Web site’s URL address should change from http to shttp or https, indicating that the purchase is encrypted or secured.

Secure your computer. At a minimum, your computer should have anti-virus and anti-spyware software, and a firewall. Security software must be updated regularly to help protect against the latest threats. Set your security software and operating system (like Windows or Apple’s OS) to update automatically. Visit OnGuardOnline.gov and staysafeonline.org to learn more about security software, firewalls, and other ways to secure your computer.

Consider how you’ll pay. Credit cards generally are a safe option because they allow buyers to seek a credit from the issuer if the product isn’t delivered or isn’t what was ordered. Also, if your credit card number is stolen, you generally won’t be liable for more than $50 in charges. Don’t send cash or use a money-wiring service because you’ll have no recourse if something goes wrong.

Know the full price, and check out incentives. If you’re looking for the best deal, compare total costs, including shipping and handling. The holiday season is prime time for online retailers, and many are offering incentives like free shipping. But some “free” shipping deals may come with strings attached, such as requirements to spend a minimum amount or buy certain products. Consider whether one company offers a more generous return policy. If you use a price comparison site to find a bargain, enter the product’s model number, and be as specific as you can about its features.

Keep a paper trail. Print and save records of your online transactions, including the product description and price, the online receipt, and copies of any email you exchange with the seller. Read your credit card statements as soon as you get them to make sure there aren’t any unauthorized charges.

Turn your computer off when you’re finished shopping. Many people leave their computers running 24/7, the dream scenario for scammers who want to install malicious software on your machine and then control it remotely to commit cyber crime. To be extra safe, switch off your computer when you are not using it.

The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, click http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/complaint.shtm or call 1-877-382-4357. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 1,600 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. For free information on a variety of consumer topics, click http://ftc.gov/bcp/consumer.shtm.

OnGuardOnline.gov provides practical tips from the federal government and the technology industry to help you be on guard against Internet fraud, secure your computer, and protect your personal information.

Delivering the keynote address at the American Bar Association (ABA) Antitrust Section’s 2007 Fall Forum today, Federal Trade Commission Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras announced that the agency will host a one-day workshop in early February 2008 in Washington, DC, to examine the application of unilateral effects theory to mergers of firms that sell competing, but differentiated products.

Unilateral Effects Theory

“Unilateral effects” as a formal theory of competitive harm was added to the joint FTC/DOJ Horizontal Merger Guidelines in 1992. The theory recognizes that, in some instances, mergers may create or enhance market power by allowing the merged firm to profitably raise prices, without accommodation of other rival market incumbents. While section 2.2 of the Guidelines explains that unilateral competitive effects can arise in a variety of different settings, the most common application of the theory is in differentiated product markets, where the products sold by different market participants are imperfect substitutes for one another.

The Workshop Structure

In examining how unilateral effects may or may not lead to competitive harm following a merger, the February workshop will address the foundations of unilateral effects theory, the challenges of market definition in differentiated product cases, judicial perspectives on unilateral effects theory, and the practicalities of evidentiary production.

In the near-future, the Commission will provide more details about the workshop, including a preliminary agenda. Copies of the Chairman’s keynote address in which she announced the workshop can be found on the FTC’s Web site and as a link to this press release.

The FTC’s Bureau of Competition works with the Bureau of Economics to investigate alleged anticompetitive business practices and, when appropriate, recommends that the Commission take law enforcement action. To inform the Bureau about particular business practices, call 202-326-3300, send an e-mail to [email protected], or write to the Office of Policy and Coordination, Room 394, Bureau of Competition, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Ave, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. To learn more about the Bureau of Competition, read “Competition Counts” at http://www.ftc.gov/competitioncounts.

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras today presented the keynote address at the ABA Antitrust Section’s 2007 Fall Forum in Washington, DC. Entitled “Maintaining our Focus at the FTC: Recent Developments and Future Challenges in Protecting Consumers and Competition,” the Chairman’s address highlighted key aspects of the Commission’s competition agenda, focusing on industries that most directly affect consumers, such as health care, energy, technology, and retail and consumer goods.

The Chairman also announced several new initiatives that the FTC will undertake in 2008. Specifically, the Chairman announced a public workshop to be held on February 12, 2008, on unilateral effects analysis in merger review; a public event to focus on new health care models, their impact on competition, and the competitive and consumer protection issues they may raise; and that the FTC’s Internet Access Task Force will explore the competition and consumer protection issues raised by the transition of telephone service to Voice Over Internet Protocol. A copy of the keynote address can be found as a link to this press release on the FTC’s Web site.

Copies of the documents mentioned in this release are available from the FTC’s Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. Call toll-free: 1-877-FTC-HELP.

Issuance of Commission report: The Commission has authorized the staff to release publicly the FTC’s Performance and Accountability Report (PAR) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2007. In accordance with the Reports Consolidation Act of 2000, the PAR combines the Performance Report and the agency’s financial statements and audit opinion. This is the FTC’s fifth consolidated report prepared pursuant to the Accountability of Tax Dollars Act of 2002. The PAR compares and evaluates each year’s actual performance to the established measures and targets set forth in the FTC’s 2006-2011 Strategic Plan (www.ftc.gov/strategicplan) and the annual Government Performance and Results Act Performance Plan. The FY 2007 independent financial audit resulted in the FTC’s eleventh consecutive unqualified opinion, the highest audit opinion available.

The PAR begins with a “Message from the Chairman” and is presented in three parts: Part I contains management’s discussion and analysis of the agency’s performance and financial activities; Part II contains the Performance Report; and Part III contains the agency’s financial statements and independent audit results. The PAR can be viewed at www.ftc.gov/par. The Commission vote to release the Performance Report was 5-0. (FTC File No. P859900; the staff contact is Darlene Cossette, 202-326-3255.)

Copies of the documents mentioned in this release are available from the FTC’s Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. Call toll-free: 1-877-FTC-HELP.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Office of Public Affairs
202-326-2180

The Federal Trade Commission renewed its recommendation that Congress consider giving authority over cigarette testing to one of the federal government’s science-based public health agencies. In testimony presented today before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Commissioner William Kovacic discussed the FTC’s responsibilities in the area of tobacco advertising generally, and specifically explained cigarette testing and the promotion of cigarettes based on machine-measured tar and nicotine yields.

According to the testimony, “One of the most challenging issues concerning cigarette advertising and promotion is the topic of today’s hearing: the advertising and promotion of cigarettes based on their tar and nicotine yields as measured by the machine-based test methodology commonly referred to in the United States as ‘the FTC Method,’ although, as discussed below, the FTC stopped testing according to this method in 1987.” The testimony states that the test method, when first approved in 1967, “was intended to produce uniform, standardized data about the tar and nicotine yields of mainstream cigarette smoke, not to replicate actual human smoking.” According to the testimony, at the time, “most public health officials believed that reducing the amount of ‘tar’ in a cigarette could reduce a smoker’s risk of lung cancer; therefore, it was thought that giving consumers uniform and standardized information about the tar and nicotine yields of cigarettes would help smokers make informed decisions about the cigarettes they smoked.” However, in the following decades, research has shown that smokers change their smoking behavior to compensate for lower rated cigarettes, taking bigger, deeper, or more frequent puffs in order to achieve the dosage of nicotine they need, affecting the amount of tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide they get from any particular cigarette. The testimony noted that “[t]he Commission has been concerned for some time that the current test method may be misleading to individual consumers who rely on the ratings it produces as indicators of the amount of tar and nicotine they actually will get from their cigarettes.”

In a July 1999 report, and again in testimony given in 2003 and today, the FTC has recommended that Congress consider giving authority over cigarette testing to one of the federal government’s science-based public health agencies. The testimony states, “Although the Commission brings a strong, market-based expertise to its scrutiny of consumer protection matters, it does not have the specialized scientific expertise needed to design and evaluate scientific test methodologies.”

Kovacic also detailed other FTC responsibilities in the area of tobacco advertising, noting that the Commission has used its authority under Section 5 of the FTC Act “to prosecute a variety of unfair and deceptive cigarette advertising practices – including claims about tar and nicotine ratings for cigarettes.” The Commission also administers the Cigarette Act and administers and enforces the Comprehensive Smokeless Tobacco Health Education Act, which govern the health warnings on packaging and the ban on broadcasting smokeless tobacco advertisements on radio and television. The Commission also publishes periodic reports on sales and various categories of advertising and marketing expenditures for cigarettes and smokeless tobacco.

Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour issued a separate concurring statement, agreeing with the Commission’s recommendation that Congress consider giving authority over cigarette testing to one of the federal government’s science-based public health agencies. Harbour added that “I would also recommend that steps be taken to prohibit the use of any claims based on the Cambridge Filter Method – also known as “FTC Method” – for testing tar and nicotine.”

The Commission vote to approve the testimony was 5-0.

The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, click http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/complaint.shtm or call 1-877-382-4357. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 1,600 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. For free information on a variety of consumer topics, click http://ftc.gov/bcp/consumer.shtm.

Petition for approval of proposed divestiture: The Commission has received a petition from Kyphon, Inc. requesting approval of a proposed divestiture related to its recent acquisition of certain assets from Disc-O-Tech Medical Technologies, Ltd. and Discotech Orthopedic Technologies, Inc. (collectively Disc-O-Tech). The divestiture is required under an FTC decision and order announced in October 2007, alleging the transaction as proposed would substantially reduce competition in the U.S. market for minimally invasive vertebral compression fracture treatment products. As detailed in the petition, a public copy of which can be found on the FTC’s Web site as a link to this press release, Kyphon has requested approval to divest the Confidence Assets, as that term is defined in the decision and order, to DePuy Spine, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company.

The FTC is accepting public comments on the proposed divestiture for 30 days, until December 12, 2007, after which it will decide whether to approve it. Comments should be sent to: FTC, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20580. (FTC File No. 071-0101, Docket No. C-4201; the staff contact is Daniel P. Ducore, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-2526; see press release dated October 9, 2007.)

Copies of the documents mentioned in this release are available from the FTC’s Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. Call toll-free: 1-877-FTC-HELP.

On October 22, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a lower court’s judgment ordering a magazine subscription seller to pay a civil penalty of more than $5.4 million and give up more than $1.6 million of his ill-gotten gains for violating a 1996 Federal Trade Commission consent order and the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule.

The defendant, Richard L. Prochnow of Atlanta, had appealed a judgment entered against him on July 31, 2006, by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division. The court had found that he had violated the FTC consent order through his ownership and control of Direct Sales International (DSI), which either directly or through its dealers failed to disclose or misled consumers about the cost of magazine packages and individual magazines, and made weekly cost representations even though consumers could not make weekly payments for the packages. The court held Prochnow liable for, among other things, DSI’s failure to tell consumers that their credit cards would be billed for membership in a buying club unless they called within 30 days to cancel, and its failure to provide consumers with information that would enable them to cancel, in violation of the TSR.

The district court ordered that, with a few narrow exceptions, Prochnow may not own, control, manage, advise, or assist others engaged in a telemarketing business for five years. This ban does not apply to his ownership in Amerinet, a company that processes payments to telemarketers, and Hotdogger, an infomercial company, provided he does not exercise any control over the companies and places his interest in them in the custody and control of an independent third party approved by the court.

The FTC brought the case with assistance from the U.S. Department of Justice.

The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, click http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/complaint.shtm or call 1-877-382-4357. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 1,600 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. For free information on a variety of consumer topics, click http://ftc.gov/bcp/consumer.shtm.

The Federal Trade Commission today announced a law enforcement crackdown on companies and individuals accused of violating the requirements of the National Do Not Call (DNC) Registry, resulting in six settlements collectively imposing nearly $7.7 million in civil penalties, along with an additional complaint that will be filed in federal district court.

The actions, brought by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on the FTC’s behalf, are against companies ranging from adjustable bed seller Craftmatic Industries, Inc. (Craftmatic) to alarm-monitoring provider ADT Security Services (ADT) and lender Ameriquest Mortgage Company (Ameriquest), and bring to 34 the number of cases filed by the FTC to enforce the DNC Rule, which was implemented in 2003. To date, consumers have put more than 145 million numbers on the Registry, indicating they do not want to receive calls from telemarketers at home.

“Consumers have made clear that they greatly value the Do Not Call Registry, and they must be able to depend on its privacy protection,” said FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras. “By bringing enforcement actions, like those announced today, we will ensure that the small number of bad actors pay a price for not adhering to the law and respecting consumers’ privacy requests.”

Recognizing its importance to consumers, the Commission recently announced that it will not remove telephone numbers from the Registry, pending final Congressional or agency action regarding whether to make registration permanent.

The Complaints and Stipulated Orders

Each complaint and stipulated final order filed against the defendants named in the DNC enforcement sweep announced today is described below. In addition to the monetary relief, in
each case the FTC has obtained injunctive relief that will prohibit the defendants from engaging in similar Do Not Call violations in the future. Separately, the Commission is working with DOJ to file a federal district court complaint against Global Mortgage Funding.

Craftmatic. According to the FTC, Craftmatic and three of its subsidiaries worked with defendant Eric Krafstow to run sweepstakes promotions offering consumers who filled out an entry form the chance to win a prize – a Craftmatic bed. The sweepstakes form indicated that the consumers’ telephone number was their entry number as well. Using this information, Craftmatic allegedly placed tens of thousands of calls to consumers who entered the sweepstakes, even though the form did not indicate that by filling it out they would receive sales calls, and the company did not seek their express consent to call them. In addition, the Commission’s complaint charges Craftmatic with placing millions of abandoned calls to consumers. That is, the company did not connect consumers to a live representative within two seconds of when consumers said “hello,” leaving them to find only dead air upon answering. Finally, the FTC alleges Craftmatic ignored consumers’ requests to be placed on the company’s entity-specific do not call list. In settling the complaint, Craftmatic has agreed to pay a $4.4 million civil penalty – the second-largest ever for DNC-related violations.

ADT. The FTC charged ADT and two of its authorized dealers – Alarm King and Direct Security Services (DSS) – with violations similar to those alleged against DirecTV in 2005. ADT marketed its security systems directly to consumers and through authorized dealers, which used a variety of marketing techniques, including telemarketing. In telemarketing its services, ADT, Alarm King, and Direct Security Services each called consumers whose numbers were on the DNC Registry. While the authorized dealers used their own telemarketers, the FTC alleged that ADT is liable both for the sales calls it made, as well as those made by its dealers, to numbers on the Registry. In settling the separate complaints, ADT, Alarm King, and DSS have agreed to pay $2 million, $20,000, and $25,000, respectively.

Ameriquest. According to the complaint, Ameriquest’s telemarketers improperly called consumers on the Registry whose numbers had been obtained from third-party lead-generators. The lead generators enticed consumers to provide their contact information, including phone numbers, using Web sites that offered information on financial and other products. The FTC’s complaint states that because consumers whose numbers were on the lead lists were not reaching out to Ameriquest in particular, the company had not developed an “established business relationship” with them, making calls to registered numbers illegal. Ameriquest also allegedly also ignored consumers’ requests to be placed on its entity-specific do not call list.

In settling the charges, Ameriquest will pay a $1 million civil penalty and is required to ensure that any lead generators it uses disclose to consumers, before they provide their contact information, that they will receive a phone call, the maximum number of sellers who may contact them, and, if possible, the identity of any seller that might call them as a result of their inquiry.

Guardian Communications. The FTC charged Guardian, U.S. Voice Broadcasting, and their principal, Kevin Baker, with violating the Registry rules related to the use of pre-recorded
messages. Similar in theme to the case the Commission brought recently against The BroadcastTeam, the complaint alleges that Guardian “blasted” phone numbers with pre-recorded telemarketing pitches, immediately terminating calls when a live consumer answered, leaving “dead air”and giving them no opportunity to ask to be placed on the company’s entity-specific no-call list. The Commission also charged the Guardian defendants with failing to transmit accurate Caller ID information to consumers – instead transmitting the text “Cust Service,” “Services, Inc.,” “Card Services,” “DWC,” or “LTR” as the name of the caller – and placing calls on behalf of sellers that did not pay for access to the Registry. They will pay $150,000 to settle the FTC’s charges, with the remainder of the $7.8 million civil penalty judgment suspended based on their inability to pay.

Global Mortgage Funding. Acting on behalf of the FTC, the DOJ will pursue charges against Global Mortgage Funding and its officer, Damian Robert Kutzner, for making hundreds of thousands of calls to consumers on the DNC Registry in an attempt to sell financial products. The Commission’s complaint also charges the defendants with failing to transmit the required caller ID information, failing to pay the DNC Registry fees, and abandoning calls by failing to connect consumers to a representative within two seconds after they answered the phone.

The Commission votes authorizing the filing of complaints and stipulated final orders by the DOJ on the FTC’s behalf against Craftmatic; ADT and its authorized dealers Alarm King and Direct Security Services; Ameriquest; and Guardian Communications, U.S. Voice Blasting, and Kevin Baker were 5-0 each. The vote authorizing the filing of a complaint – to be pursued by DOJ – against defendants Global Mortgage Funding and Damian Robert Kutzner was 5-0.

DNC Enforcement History

Since the DNC Registry was established in 2003, the FTC and DOJ have filed 34 law enforcement actions against individuals and companies that allegedly have violated the Registry provisions. In total, the two agencies have collected more than $16 million in civil penalties – the largest of which was $5.3 million from satellite television provider DirectTV in 2005 – as well as $8 million for consumer restitution or disgorgement of ill-gotten gains. DNC enforcement actions are part of the Commission’s enforcement of the Telemarketing Sales Rule, under which the FTC has brought complaints and filed orders on behalf of consumers for more than 20 years.

NOTE: The Commission authorizes the filing of a complaint when it has “reason to believe” that the law has or is being violated, and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest. A complaint is not a finding or ruling that the defendants have actually violated the law.

NOTE: Stipulated final judgments are for settlement purposes only and do not constitute an admission by the defendants of a law violation. Stipulated judgments have the force of law when signed by the judge.

Copies of the Commission complaint and consent orders can be found as a link to this press release on the FTC’s Web site. The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent,
deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, click: http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/complaint.shtm or call 1-877-382-4357. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 1,600 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. For free information on a variety of consumer topics, click http://ftc.gov/bcp/consumer.shtm.

(FTC File Nos. 042-3094, 042-3091, 042-3082, 052-3166, and 062-3107)

(Civ. Nos. 07-CV-4652; 07-CV-81051-Zloch; EDCV 07-1467-VAP(JCRx); 07-CV-1343; SACV 07-1304-CJC(MLGx); 07-CV-4070; and 8:07-cv-01275)

Petition to reopen and modify order: The Commission has received a petition from Nine West Group, Inc. to reopen and modify a prior FTC order. As detailed in the petition, a copy of which can be found on the FTC’s Web site and as a link to this press release, Nine West has requested that the Commission reopen and modify a decision and order dated April 11, 2000, to allow the company to take actions to maintain resale prices, other than unilaterally terminating a retailer without prior notice.

As part of the 2000 order, Nine West was prohibited from fixing, controlling, or maintaining the retail price of women’s footwear, as well as from coercing or pressuring any dealers to maintain, adopt, or adhere to any resale price. According to the petition, the June, 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Leegin Creative Products, Inc. v. PSKS, Inc. 127 S. Ct. 2705 (2007) “constituted a dramatic change in antitrust law and requires that the order now be reexamined.” Nine West’s petition also states that “considerations of fairness and the public interest likewise necessitate” that the order be modified, and that the Leegin ruling has put it at an unfair competitive disadvantage because it is prohibited from entering into minimum resale price maintenance agreements now available to its competitors.

The Commission is accepting comments on the petition for 30 days, until December 6, 2007, after which it will decide whether to approve it. Comments should be sent to: FTC Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20580. (FTC File No. 981-0386; the staff contact is Roberta S. Baruch, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-2861; see press release dated March 6, 2000.)

Commission approval of final consent order: Following a public comment period, the Commission has approved a final consent order in the matter concerning Merck KGaA and Mylan Laboratories, Inc. The vote approving the final consent order was 5-0. (FTC File No. 061-0257; the staff contact is Kari A. Wallace, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-3085; see press release dated September 27, 2007.)

Copies of the documents mentioned in this release are available from the FTC’s Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. Call toll-free: 1-877-FTC-HELP.

The Federal Trade Commission has created a consumer hotline for consumers who purchased “debt reduction services” from Edge Solutions, Money Cares, the Debt Settlement Company, the Debt Elimination Center, and Pay Help Inc. The hotline is in addition to a letter that was recently sent to the customers of Edge Solutions and the other companies, notifying them that the companies were shutdown.

Consumers who call the FTC’s hotline at 202-326-2998 will be advised that on October 11, 2007, the Commission obtained a restraining order against these companies, which allegedly falsely claimed that they negotiate with creditors and begin paying creditors within weeks of consumers joining their program. The order appointed a temporary receiver to be in control of the companies, and froze the assets of the companies and their owners.

The companies are not operating now, so that automatic withdrawals of monthly fees from consumers’ bank accounts have ended. Affected consumers should verify with their financial institution that all automatic debits to any of the companies has ceased.

Consumers are strongly urged to take immediate action on their credit accounts to ensure that they pay any creditors with whom they have a payment plan, and to contact any other creditors as soon as possible to arrange payment on their accounts or take other steps to avoid further damage to their credit. Consumers also may want to inform creditors about the FTC case against the companies. (See press release dated October 3, 2007).

The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, click http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/complaint.shtm or call 1-877-382-4357. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 1,600 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. For free information on a variety of consumer topics, click http://ftc.gov/bcp/consumer.shtm.