
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 16, 1991                   TAG: 9104160466
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SAN FRANCISCO                                LENGTH: Short

MASTERCARD, VISA SUE TELEMARKETERS

Visa and MasterCard said Monday in a lawsuit that a huge telemarketing scam has cheated consumers and banks out of millions of dollars through bogus offers of low-interest credit cards.

The federal suit seeks $95 million in damages for alleged trademark violations, fraud and racketeering.

The companies also want a judge to shut down the alleged "boiler-room" operations.

"This injunction should put these scam artists out of business," said William Neumann, senior vice president of Visa's Risk Management & Security Division.

Listworld Inc., one of 18 companies and individuals named, said they have yet to see the suit but that they run a legitimate business.

"It really surprises us. We provide direct-mail services. We sell mailing lists and we do mail and somehow it's been misconstrued. We'll look at the suit and at that time we'll be in a better position to comment," said Bob Crooks, general manager of the Huntsville, Ala., company.

The suit alleges the defendants used mail-order fraud and high-pressure sales to lure thousands of cardholders and people inquiring about cards into paying inflated sums on the false promise they would obtain low-interest bank credit cards.

The companies only provide booklets listing names of a few banks that offer low-interest credit cards, Visa and Mastercard spokesmen said.

by CNB