Although Chicago would like to make itself a friendly place for businesses, there are some types of businesses that will never be welcomed here. One of them is telemarketing fraud, an infringement on consumer protection laws. This offense has gotten the attention of legislative bodies and the wider legal community because it affects communities in a big way. A particularly resourceful criminal can defraud a whole segment of the community and leave them in difficult circumstances. It is for this reason that the offense is recognized as being serious and attracts prosecutorial interest whenever the facts are proven. Underpinning the law is the expectation that businesses will follow a code of ethics. Unfortunately, there are some industries that do not abide by such a code.
The self-regulation model has failed in a world of cutthroat competition. Those who play by the rules end up being priced out of the market whilst those who are taking consumers for a ride are given an expressway to seemingly insurmountable success. The law is clear about the obligations to sell in an honest manner, regardless of the temptation to take competition to its zenith. The victims are typically trusting and vulnerable. These have always been aggravating features in virtually any crime that you can think of in Chicago. The courts have continued the tradition of punishing those offenders who target the most vulnerable.
Reporting and Gathering Evidence
Chicago Criminal Lawyer Blog
On January 17, a man from Winnetka was given a five-year federal prison sentence for fraud.
