Colin Beasty - The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) revealed that it caught and charged telemarketers with financial penalties for scamming Hispanic consumers.

1) Call Center Express/Pro Line. The defendants ran TV ads on national Spanish-language TV networks, misrepresenting their cards as major credit cards. Consumers were charged fees from $149 to $299 to get the credit cards, and later discovered they could use the cards only to purchase merchandise form the defendants' catalogs or Web sites. Now required to pay almost $14 million to consumer.

2) FGH International - At-Home instructional. Telemarketers identified themselves as being affiliated with a government program that had selected the consumer to receive subsidized English-language or auto-mechanic training. Packages of videotapes, computer disks, and workbooks would arrive C.O.D. would cost between $150 and $300. Those consumers who refused the package would receive a call from a second telemarketer posing as an attorney who would then threaten legal action if the consumer did not pay. Defendants will pay $940,000 to settle FTC charges.

3) La Grana, marketers of a weight-loss product and a music collection, will pay $231,000 for making deceptive claims in infomercials shown on Spanish-language television stations. The defendants sold a weight-loss product for $179 under the brand names "Svelt Body Complete" and "Imagen Enlinea." The marketers claimed the product would cause substantial weight loss without diet or exercise.

4) Service Brokers Associates - Provider of credit-repair services, received payments from consumers before performing any services, not giving consumers a statement of their credit file rights and not supplying a cancellation rights notice on the contracts.