Prize Offers: You Don’t Have to Pay to Play!

Prize Offers: You Don’t Have to Pay to Play!:
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Telephone Solicitations

Telemarketers frequently use sweepstakes and prize contests to sell magazines or other goods and services. These telemarketers make an initial contact with consumers through 'cold calls,' or take calls from consumers who are responding to a solicitation they received by mail.

The Telemarketing Sales Rule helps protect consumers from fraudulent telemarketers who use prize promotions as a lure. In every telemarketing call involving a prize promotion, the law requires telemarketers to tell you:

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the odds of winning a prize. If the odds can't be determined in advance, the promoter must tell you the factors used to calculate the odds.
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that you don't have to pay a fee or buy something to win a prize or participate in the promotion.
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if you ask, how to participate in the contest without buying or paying anything.
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what you'll have to pay or the conditions you'll have to meet to receive or redeem a prize.

The Telemarketing Sales Rule prohibits telemarketers from misrepresenting any of these facts, as well as the nature or value of the prizes. It also requires telemarketers who call you to pitch a prize promotion to tell you before they describe the prize that you don't have to"