Ftc goes after those behind robocalls and fake charities

A Utah man who used illegal robocalls to urge people to donate cars, boats and other valuables to his phony charities for veterans will be sanctioned by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC),

which on Tuesday announced a crackdown against operations that the agency says have made billions of the unwanted calls. According to the FTC, the Utah defendant, Travis Deloy Peterson, was

responsible for millions of those calls. He asked for donations for a host of sham charities — including a group he called Veterans of America — illegally collecting more than $500,000 from

his schemes, the FTC states. The robocalls, or prerecorded telemarketing calls, falsely claimed that the donations of automobiles, watercraft, real estate and time-shares would be

tax-deductible gifts to support veterans charities. In reality, Peterson sold donated items “for his own benefit,” the FTC reports. Other fake-charity names Peterson used in the sham were

Vehicles for Veterans LLC, Saving Our Soldiers, Donate Your Car, Donate That Car LLC, Act of Valor and Medal of Honor, the agency says. Listen to a robocall from a sham group, “Veterans of

America.” _Audio from Federal Trade Commission_ A proposed order to settle Peterson’s case would impose a judgment of more than $500,000 against the defendant, but the judgment will be

suspended once he turns over significant assets, including 88 vehicles, to the FTC. The proposed order, which awaits a federal judge’s approval in Utah, also permanently bans Peterson from

soliciting charitable contributions and prohibits him from deceptive and abusive telemarketing. Defendants do not need to admit liability in settlement orders with the FTC, an agency

spokesman said, but they and their lawyers sign them. The other cases involved vast numbers of robocalls that pitched auto warranties, debt-relief services and home security systems .