The Madison Police Department has received complaints from local residents who have received calls from solicitors pretending to be police officers, Crime Prevention Officer Mary Ann Thurber said.

Numerous fraudulent telemarketing incidents have occurred within the past year.

In 2003, the top 10 scams involved credit card offers, prizes and sweepstakes, work-at-home plans, magazine sales scams, advance fee loans, lotteries, lottery clubs, buyers clubs, vacations, telephone slamming and business opportunities, according to the National Fraud Information Center.

Telephone scams cost Americans more than $600,000 in 2003, according to the National Fraud Information Center.

Due to the Federal Trade Commission’s telemarketing rules, state law enforcement officers can prosecute fraudulent telemarketers across state lines.

When soliciting, telemarketers must follow rules laid out by the FTC. Telemarketers need to tell phone recipients if the call is a sales call and for what organization they are representing. It is illegal for a solicitor to call after a person has previously asked not to be called, and calls must be made between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m.

It is illegal for telemarketers to misrepresent information, so if a solicitor exaggerates the truth, he could be convicted.

To avoid being trapped by telephone scammers, students should never give a credit card number or any other payment to solicitors unless absolutely positive they are credible. The solicitors should send information in writing upon request, and if they refuse, it is a good sign they are fraudulent, according to the National Fraud Information Center.

Thurber says scammers often alter their practices, so such guidelines are not always concrete.

“Telephone scams vary from time to time,” Thurber said.

In order to ensure the validity of a charity organization, contributors can check with the Federal Business Bureau to see how much of a donation goes toward administrative causes versus the amount given to the cause itself, said Joan Kinney, Internship Coordinator for the Consumer Science Department.

If more than 12 percent is invested in administrative causes, the organization should be questioned, Kinney said.

Instead of contributing over the phone, students should go straight to the organization that they are looking to help.

“If you want to give to the police department, give to them directly instead of giving to telemarketers,” Kinney said.

After a person is scammed, he has a greater chance of being scammed again because operators continue to contact people who have already been scammed.

“Once you get on a suckers list, you are more likely to be on another list,” Kinney said. “If it is too good to be true, chances are, it is not true.”

If people are careful and ask the right questions, falling victim to a scam is not likely, she said.