Attorney general warns of no-call-registry scam

Friday, September 20th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Maxine Waters slammed down the phone after a female caller asked her for financial information to withdraw a monthly service charge to participate in Oklahoma's new no-call telemarketing registry.

``Think of how many people will be taken advantage of by them,'' said Waters of Oklahoma City. ``She sounded so efficient, not at all like a usual telemarketer.''

State officials said Waters was the apparent victim of a new con involving Oklahoma's Telemarketer Restriction Act, the second such scam reported since the law was passed in April.

Attorney General Drew Edmondson said participation in the registry is free and that the attorney general's office will not be calling anyone's home to sign them up for the list.

Edmondson's office kicked off registration for the no-call registry on Monday. By Thursday, more than 112,000 people had registered their telephone numbers on the list.

In May, Edmondson warned of another do-not-call scam in which a female caller asked for a $500 fee to register for the list and said it could be charged to credit cards. She even offered an early sign-up discount of $200.

Edmondson said consumers should hang up on callers who pitch the scams. Consumers with caller ID should make a notation of the caller's number.

Edmondson said his office recommends not giving personal information to any caller. Waters said she learned her lesson the hard way.

``I was scammed a few months ago and had to change my bank accounts,'' she said. ``I don't want that to happen to anyone else.''

The don't call program, modeled after popular programs in Missouri and other states, goes into effect Jan. 1.

The deadline for placing a phone number on the first quarterly list is in December.

Telemarketers will have 30 days from the program's effective date to stop calling number on the don't call list. Telemarketers are subject to fines and even jail time if they disregard the list.