Colorado Telemarketing Fraud Laws

Code Sections

COL. REV. STAT. §6-1-301, et seq.

What is Required or Prohibited?

COL. REV. STAT. §6-1-303: Commercial telephone sellers must register with the attorney general. Each registration is valid for one year.

COL. REV. STAT. §6-1-304: The following are unlawful telemarketing practices:

• Conducting business as a commercial telephone seller without having registered with the attorney general;
• Failure to allow the purchaser in any telephone sales transaction to cancel any purchase or agreement to purchase goods, services, or property at any time before the expiration of three business days after the purchaser's receipt of such goods, services, or property;
• Failure to refund all payments made by any purchaser in any telephone sales transaction within thirty days after the commercial telephone seller receives notice of cancellation from the purchaser;
• Failure to disclose to the purchaser during a telephone solicitation that the purchaser has the cancellation rights;
• Misrepresenting to any person that the person has won a contest, sweepstakes, or drawing, or that the person will receive free goods, services, or property;
• Representing that the seller's goods, services, or property are "free" if the commercial telephone seller charges or collects a fee from the purchaser in exchange for providing or delivering such goods, services, or property;
• Engaging in any deceptive trade practice;
• Listing a cellular telephone number in a directory for a commercial purpose unless the person whose number has been listed has given affirmative consent, through written, oral, or electronic means, to such listing; or
• Using a scanning device or other electronic means to identify a cellular telephone number and to make a commercial telephone solicitation to a cellular telephone.

Penalty

COL. REV. STAT. §6-1-305: Violating telemarketing laws is a Class 1 Misdemeanor, punishable by up to 18 months in jail, a $5,000 fine, or both.

Civil Case

A person who engages in any unlawful telemarketing practice as listed above is liable in a private civil action.