Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon has sued 27 companies believed to have sent deceptive direct mail pieces into Missouri.
The 27 cease-and-desist orders are a result of Senior Sting, a project Nixon launched last year to stop fraud by mail with the help of hundreds of senior volunteers.
In Senior Sting 2006, more than 300 Missouri seniors volunteered to keep all their junk mail received during one month, then send it to the Attorney General's Office. In all, more than 8,000 pieces of mail were collected during the program.
Nixon says investigations continue into more than 20 other companies that sent suspicious-looking mail collected during Senior Sting.
"Clearly these companies have Missouri seniors in their sights," Nixon said. "In Senior Sting, our volunteers turned the tables on the scam artists, resulting in the nearly 300 legal actions my office has taken so far to stop fraudulent mailings."
Nixon says the companies receiving the cease-and-desist orders were involved in fraudulent sweepstakes and foreign lotteries.
The orders require the companies to immediately cease violations of Missouri consumer protection laws, which includes making sure future solicitations in Missouri are not fraudulent or deceptive. Violations of the order may result in felony criminal charges.
In September, Nixon announced 248 legal actions against companies snared in the first round of crackdowns from Senior Sting. Those companies included pyramid scheme operators, foreign lottery scams and charity solicitors who were not registered with the Attorney General as required by Missouri law.
"We conducted Senior Sting because we believe many con artists have gone 'old-school,' returning to the mail," Nixon said. "The success of our No Call program has cut down on telemarketing fraud, and consumers are suspicious of spam, so the crooks have gone back to the mail."
Nixon reminds consumers they can opt out of receiving many direct mail solicitations by visiting dmaconsumers.org or writing to:
DMA Mail Preference Service
PO Box 643
Carmel, NY, 10512.
Opt out is available for pre-approved credit card offers by visiting optoutprescreen.com or calling 1-888-5OPTOUT.
Companies receiving cease and desist orders:
• AEZ Global Marketing (New York)
• Advance Promotions Cash Prize headquarters (New York)
• Allocation Services International (Canada)
• Card Benefits Services (Georgia)
• Cash Prize Headquarters (New York)
• Centennial Assurance (Canada)
• Century Facilitation International (Canada)
• Certified Allocation Assignment Offices (Netherlands)
• DMI (Texas)
• Entitlement Disposition Associates (Canada)
• Federated Inter-Advisory (Canada)
• Gold Wining International (Netherlands)
• Income Payment Guarantee Processing Department (Netherlands)
• International Property Transfer (Canada)
• International Ticketing Office (Netherlands)
• Meridian Security international (Canada)
• National Funds Reporting Center (Canada)
• National Magazine Exchange (Florida)
• Northeastern Entitlement Assurance (Canada)
• Office of Disbursement Documents (Nevada)
• Payment Access Services, Ltd. (Nevada)
• Payments Disclosure Bureau (Canada)
• Payment Documentation Service (Canada)
• Perpetual Charter International (Australia)
• Prize America (New York)
• Research Department (Australia)
• World Wide Award Group (New York)
