Plaintiff, the Federal Trade Commission, is an independent agency of the United States Government created by statute. 15 U.S.C. 41 et seq . The Commission is authorized to initiate federal district court proceedings, by its own attorneys, to enjoin violations of the FTC Act and violations of the Telemarketing Sales Rule, in order to secure such equitable relief as may be appropriate in each case, and to obtain consumer redress.
Defendant resides and transacts or has transacted business in the Northern District of Georgia.
Since at least May 1996 and continuing until approximately August 1996, the defendant, in cooperation with others, engaged in the deceptive telemarketing of advance fee credit cards. In the course of numerous calls to consumers, the defendant obtained consumers' bank account information and then provided such information to CCC who then debited the accounts of the consumers by means of demand drafts. Numerous consumers whose bank accounts have been debited never received a credit card. In numerous instances, in connection with telemarketing offers to provide credit cards to consumers for a fee, defendant has represented, expressly or by implication, that consumers will receive a credit card in return for the payment of a fee. In truth and in fact, in numerous instances, consumers do not receive a credit card in return for payment of a fee.