The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday announced a major crackdown on companies that allegedly swindled consumers in get-rich-quick schemes and other bogus financial services.

The watchdog agency charges 15 firms as part of what it calls “Operation Short Change,” which also included 44 law-enforcement actions by federal agents and authorities in 13 states and the District of Columbia.

You can find detailed information about the crackdown on the FTC web site. Here are some of the agency’s most interesting allegations:

• John Beck/Mentoring of America bilked hundreds of thousands of consumers out of about $300 million through get-rich-quick schemes like “John Beck’s Free & Clear Real Estate System,” “John Alexander’s Real Estate Riches in 14 Days,” and “Jeff Paul’s Shortcuts to Internet Millions.” The defendants allegedly made false and unsubstantiated claims about potential earnings, often via infomercials. The FTC said some consumers also continued receiving unwanted sales calls after they told the defendants’ telemarketers to stop calling.
• Wagner Ramos Borges, through a host of front companies like “Job Safety USA,” targeted people seeking maintenance and cleaning work and tricked them into paying $98 for a worthless certification.
• Grants For You Now deceived consumers on its web sites — including grantsforyounow.com, grantoneday.org, and easygrantaccess.com — by promising them free government money they could use to pay off debt. According to the FTC complaint, after obtaining consumers’ credit or debit account information to process a $1.99 fee for grant information, the defendants failed to adequately disclose that consumers would be enrolled in a membership program that cost as much as $94.89 a month.
• The Cash Grant Institute used automated robocalls to mislead consumers into believing that they had qualified for grants from the government, private foundations, and wealthy individuals.
• Mutual Consolidated Savings also used robocalls to push a phony “Rapid Debt Reduction” program. As part of the scheme, the defendants convinced consumers to pay them $690 to $899 for the program by misrepresenting that it would reduce credit card interest rates, save thousands of dollars and enable consumers to pay off their debt three to five times faster than they could under their current payment schedule. T
• Google Money Tree misrepresented that they were affiliated with Google and lured consumers into divulging their financial account information by advertising a low-cost kit that they said would enable consumers to earn $100,000 in six months. Google Money Tree then failed to disclose that the fee for the kit would trigger monthly charges of $72.21.
• Penbrook Productions promoted a work-at-home scheme that charged $197 for the opportunity to become a “certified” rebate processor, earning as much as $225 per hour. According to the FTC complaint, after purchasing, consumers discovered that the work-at-home “opportunity” had nothing to do with processing rebates, but merely instructed the consumers about becoming an affiliate marketer.
• Classic Closeouts illegally made unauthorized charges and debits to the consumers’ accounts months or years after they bought low-cost clothing or household goods from classiccloseouts.com. The charges usually ranged from $59.99 to $79.99, and Classic Closeouts charged some consumers’ accounts multiple times.