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01/01/2008
If you’ve ever locked yourself out of your car or home, you know what a hassle it can be. Your first thought is to get someone to help you out of your situation. If a family member or friend can’t deliver a spare set of keys, your next call might be to a local locksmith. But before you make that call, consider this: According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, some locksmiths advertising in your local telephone book may not be local at all. They may not have professional training. What’s more, some of them may use intimidating tactics and overcharge you.
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10/01/2007
Computer sellers - online and brick-and-mortar - inundate consumers with advertisements for "free" or low-cost computers. The offers usually involve rebates of several hundred dollars off the computer's purchase price - if the consumer commits to a long-term contract for Internet service. Some of the offers may be good deals for consumers, but they are likely to involve complicated transactions.
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10/01/2007
Introduction What are the Requirements Who Must Comply What Products are Covered How to Comply Requirements for All Cartons of Covered Lamp Products Shipped Within or Imported into the U.S. Requirements for Promotional Materials Displayed or Distributed at the Point of Sale Requirements for Catalogs Testing and Sampling Requirements Record Keeping Requirements Submission of Test Data Records Supplying Specimens for Testing By a Laboratory Designated by the FTC Questions and Answers Introduction
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10/01/2007
If you or someone you know is trying to get a green card — the right to live in the United States permanently — be on the lookout for unscrupulous businesses and attorneys. They’ll claim that, for a fee, they can make it easier to enter the U. S. State Department’s annual Diversity Visa (DV) lottery (also known as the “green card lottery”) or increase your chances of winning the DV lottery.
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10/01/2007
Protecting the privacy of consumer information held by "financial institutions" is at the heart of the financial privacy provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Modernization Act of 1999. The GLB Act requires companies to give consumers privacy notices that explain the institutions' information-sharing practices. In turn, consumers have the right to limit some - but not all - sharing of their information.
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10/01/2007
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is charged with preventing deception and unfairness in the marketplace. The FTC Act gives the Commission the power to bring law enforcement actions against false or misleading claims that a product is of U.S. origin.
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10/01/2007
Grocery shelves, hardware stores, card shops, and other retail operations are filled with products and packages announcing environmental features that may influence your purchasing decisions. But when it comes to products and packaging, what do claims like "environmentally safe," "recyclable," "degradable" or "ozone friendly" really mean? The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) want you to know.
The FTC, in cooperation with the EPA, has developed guidelines for adv
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10/01/2007
Advance Fee Loan Scams, Appliances, Automobiles, Charity Scams, Contractor Scams, Credit and Money, Damaged or Lost Documents, Debris Removal Scams, Door-To-Door Sale (Cooling Off Rule), Fake Disaster Officals, Flood Restoration, Foundation-Excavation-or-Waterproofing Work, Home Ownership Issues, Home Repair Scams, Identity Theft, Job Scams, Money and Credit, Pest Control, Rental Listing Scams, Utility Related Scams, Water Treatment or Purification Devices
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12/01/2006
This manual is intended as a businessperson's guide to the basic features of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, the federal law governing warranties on consumer products. The text provides citations to specific sections of the law—the Warranty Act itself, the Rules the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) adopted under the Act, and the FTC's Warranty Advertising Guides. For reference purposes, a supplement to this manual containing the Act, the Rules, and the Guides is available from the FTC's Consumer Response Center. See Additional Sources of Information.
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12/01/2006
It’s not hard to see why ads for business opportunities that promote the benefits of being your own boss and making money quickly are appealing. But the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the government agency that monitors advertising for deception, says that some ads for business opportunities feature empty promises and false claims that potential entrepreneurs could never realize.
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12/01/2006
Fraudulent claims can show up in ads for a wide variety of products and services. Most use similar terms and techniques to entice a reader, listener, or viewer to respond favorably to an ad. This publication includes general tips on how to screen ads effectively and particular tip-offs - "buzz words" or techniques - to help you identify some of the most common types of deceptions that are found in ads for get-rich-quick schemes, weight loss fraud, health fraud, credit repair and loan scams, travel fraud and product misrepresentations. By learning to spot the tell-tale signs of fraudulent advertising, you can protect your customers, your bottom line, your reputation, and the good name of your legitimate advertisers.
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12/01/2006
The Federal Trade Commission staff prepared this business booklet to help finance companies, retailers, and other creditors comply with the Credit Practices Rule, which went into effect March 1, 1985. This booklet tells you what the Credit Practices Rule requires, who must comply, and what transactions are covered. It also discusses liability for rule violations and how exemptions are granted.
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12/01/2006
It’s not hard to see why ads for business opportunities that promote the benefits of being your own boss and making money quickly are appealing. But the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the government agency that monitors advertising for deception, says that some ads for business opportunities feature empty promises and false claims that potential entrepreneurs could never realize.
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12/01/2006
For many consumers, electronic banking means 24-hour access to cash through an automated teller machine (ATM) or Direct Deposit of paychecks into checking or savings accounts. But electronic banking now involves many different types of transactions.
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08/01/2006
Voice over Internet Protocol — VoIP — is one way people are making and receiving telephone calls using a broadband Internet connection rather than a regular phone line. VoIP converts your phone call — actually, the voice signal from your phone — into a digital signal that travels through the Internet to the person you are calling. If you are calling a plain old telephone number, the signal is converted back at the other end. If you’re comfortable with new technology, you may want to learn more about VoIP. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, suggests that it’s smart to do some research on this technology before signing up for it.
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