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This from the WSJ

http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB119335472901272206.html

Marketers Use Trickery to Evade No-Call Lists

Mailings Fool Seniors Into Accepting Pitches;States Launch Charges

The technique is centered on a marketing tool called the lead card, and it became popular after the federal government created its Do Not Call Registry in 2003 to shield consumers from unwanted solicitors. Sent through the mail, the lead card invites the recipient to mail off an enclosed reply for free information about, say, estate planning.

But the cards fail to warn that by sending off replies, recipients are giving up their right to avoid telephone solicitations from the sender — even if their phone numbers are on the Do Not Call list.

This should come as no surprise to anyone who has tried to get a pesky solicitor off the phone during dinner. But what is surprising is the persistence of sales people to get around the intent of the list.

“When Naomi and Horace Williams got a postcard warning that estates of older Americans could be wiped out by taxes unless they moved quickly, they believed it came from AARP, the Washington-based lobbying group for older Americans, since it said that “AARP found” probate taxes were hurting seniors.

So the Williamses filled out a reply card that promised more information and mailed it to a post-office box in Washington, D.C. Soon after came a phone call from a man saying he wanted to drop by their North Carolina home to deliver the information they’d requested. It never occurred to the Williamses — who had registered on the Federal Trade Commission’s Do Not Call Registry — that the caller was a marketer. They assumed he was affiliated with AARP, they say.”

As it turned out, the actual sender of the card had been America’s Recommended Mailers Inc., a company housed in a Lewisville, Texas, strip mall that provides leads to insurance agents nationwide.

Soon after they mailed the reply, a living-trust marketer, and then an insurance agent, showed up at the couple’s Morganton, N.C., home, Mr. Williams said in an affidavit filed in state Superior Court in Raleigh. Mr. Williams, an 83-year-old retired factory worker, says the agent talked him into transferring much of the couple’s $179,000 nest egg into annuities that barred them from tapping the bulk of their money, unless they paid high penalties, until Mr. Williams was nearly 90.

The commission on such products is typically 9.5%.

Ouch!- That product might not be “suitable” & could create some problems for Mr Williams lifestyle.

More importantly, the regulators have rules in place to counter such fraudulent activities and protect investors, and their  remedies usually are “consumer friendly”

The marketer and the insurance agent worked for American Family Prepaid Legal Corp., an Irvine, Calif., living-trust provider, and its related insurance marketing company, which filed an affidavit generally denying wrongdoing as well as an affidavit from the living-trust salesman denying the Williamses’ claim.

The agent received his lead from the postcard reply, according to North Carolina court filings. Meanwhile, the Texas attorney general is suing America’s Recommended Mailers for alleged misrepresentations in its pitches. The company disputes the allegation, saying it merely quoted AARP.

Nonetheless, it says it is revising its cards. After hiring a lawyer and complaining, the Williams obtained the return of their nest egg.

Thankfully.

This and other cases of fraud are as old as mankind.

The common sense case is simple: Be proactive with your own finances, estate, insurance, any family issues… and hire trusted advisers yourself, on your own terms.

If someone is coming to you, out of the blue, stating they can solve any of your issues -esp., those relating to anything dealing with money, stop…it might even sound interesting, just stop!

See this as a warning sign, that you may not have done enough homework for yourself, relating to the solution being suggested.

Get informed on your terms, with trusted advisors recommended by people you trust. Even then, educate yourself on the basics of the issue. ( trust,estate,probate,investing,insurance) etc.

Seek out your own trusted advice, before an adviser seeks out you.