WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The Federal Trade Commission has send refunds of over $11 million to consumers who lost money to a bogus credit card interest rate reduction scheme operated by E.M. Systems & Services.
More than 11,000 consumers will receive full refunds, averaging $995 each. Consumers who receive checks should deposit or cash their checks within 90 days.
The funds for refund came from the FTC's case against First Data Merchant Services, the company that processed credit card payments for the defendants in this case.
According to the FTC, First Data allegedly ignored repeated warnings from employees, banks, and others that they were processing payments for companies that were breaking the law. First Data agreed to pay $40 million to settle the FTC's charges.
The FTC and the State of Florida alleged that E.M. Systems & Services' owners, Steven Short and Karissa Dyar, used a variety of phony business names with associated websites, cold-called consumers with credit card debt and falsely promised to save them thousands of dollars by reducing their credit card interest rates.
The FTC says that the defendants charged an up-front fee between $695 and $1,495, and falsely promised to provide refunds to consumers if they failed to reduce the interest rates.
According to the complaint, the telemarketers identified themselves as 'card services,' 'credit services,' and 'card member services,' or used one of the defendants' phony business names.
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