Senator Bond says small businesses are being scammed out of a quarter billion dollars a year by fraudulent telemarketers. Bond chairs the US Senate Committee on Small Business, which is investigating deceptive marketing practices in the sale of toner and office supplies. He says the Federal Trade Commission recently filed complaints against 12 companies for alleged deceptive telemarketing of office supplies to small businesses. For example, one of the witnesses testifying before his committee received an invoice for 549-dollars for one toner cartridge, plus 60-dollars for shipping. The company typically bought four cartridges for 371 dollars.
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