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21 Lewis & Clark L. Rev. 791 (2017)
Phone and Television Scams in the Age of the Internet

handle is hein.journals/lewclr21 and id is 823 raw text is: NOTES & COMMENTS PHONE AND TELEVISION SCAMS IN THE AGE OF THE INTERNET by Kevin Crosman * While threats of online identity theft, email phishing scams, and other internet cons seem to dominate our world view of scams these days, a more traditional way of scamming people still exists and thrives: the tele- phone. Some may think it quaint in this age of the internet that anyone falls for telephone scams, or even uses a phone for anything more than texting and web surfing, but estimates put phone fraud at close to a $10 billion annual cost for consumers. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), in its role as consumer protector, has done a great job of provid- ing educational resources to try to combat the phone fraud, yet the prob- lem remains. Get-rich-quick television infomercials have also defrauded consumers of hundreds of millions of dollars over the years, with their phony promises of making money in a proven system. For the most part, the FTC has cleared the airwaves of these late-night scams. However, it is not as sim- ple to suggest the FTC should take the same approach with phone scams as it did with television. Phone fraud is a more elusive threat and takes a more robust approach to fight. Perhaps if the FTC went beyond education and fines, and started pursuing tougher criminal penalties, then the specter of phone fraud may finally be diminished. INTRODUCTION ....................................................... 792 I. A (VERY) BRIEF REVIEW OF SCAMS IN AMERICA AND BEYOND..... 794 J.D. 2017, Lewis & Clark Law School; B.A. University of Oregon. Author wishes to thank Professor Samir Parikh for his Epic Corporate Scandals Seminar, which was the initial inspiration for this Note. 791

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