Attorney General Chris Koster today sued a wealthy Missouri developer and two Florida companies for allegedly calling Missouri consumers whose numbers are listed on the state’s do-not-call registry.

In a press release, Koster’s office said the companies — Summer Bay Sales &…

A California couple will pay $35,000 to settle a suit alleging their companies — Smart Funding Corporation and Ariant Solutions — cold-called Missourians who had registered their phone numbers on the Do-Not-Call Registry, Attorney General Chris Koster’s office announced Wednesday.

Madhulika and…

UPDATED at 5:30 p.m. Thursday to include more from legal settlement.

Two St. Louis-area telemarketers will pay Missouri a total of $35,000 for violating the state’s no-call law, officials announced today.

As reported in this blog in May, Missouri Attorney General Chris…

Consumer scams involving debt collection and predatory lending topped the list of the 10 most common consumer complaints in 2008, the National Association of Attorneys General announced this week.

“With the recession and increased foreclosure rates, consumers need to be on high…

Charles Papenfus, the Ohio man accused of making a terrorist threat against a St. Louis auto service-contract broker, was released from custody over the weekend. A lot of readers have been posing questions about the strange case, and many want…

A lot of readers have been calling and e-mailing me about the case of Charles Papenfus, the Ohio man who was indicted for making a terrorist threat against a St. Louis broker of extended auto-service contracts. Many of them want…

In this blog back in April, I wrote about a federal lawsuit that AT&T Mobility filed against several “John Doe” companies that allegedly cold-called its cell-phone customers in order to sell them extended auto-service contracts.

AT&T Mobility alleges that the defendants…

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster announced today suits against two area mortgage-refinancing companies that allegedly called consumers who have placed their telephone numbers on the state’s Do-Not-Call registry.

Koster’s office says in a press release that the suit is part of…

I wrote a story in today’s Business section about the Federal Trade Commission suing two Florida firms over allegations that they violated telemarketing and consumer-protection laws when they cold-called consumers to sell them extended auto-service contracts. The FTC is seeking a restraining…

Indiana officials say some bad apples of the service-contract industry broke what ought to be the No. 1 rule in any telemarketing boiler room: don’t make an unsolicited sales call to the state attorney general’s cell phone — especially after…