Five robocalling companies that defrauded consumers of an estimated $30 million by promising to lower credit card interest rates in exchange for exorbitant fees have been shut down by the Federal Trade Commission, the agency said today.

The scam is a familiar one. It starts with a call like this: "Hello, this is Rachel at cardholder services, calling in reference to your current credit card account. There are no problems currently with your account. It is urgent that you contact us concerning your eligibility for lowering your interest rates. Your eligibility expires shortly, so please consider this your final notice. Please press the number '1' on your phone to talk with a live operator about lowering your interest rate. Or press the number '2' to discontinue further notices. Thank you, and have a great day."

Pressing "2," of course, rarely has any positive effect. But pressing "1" transfers the call's recipient to a telemarketing boiler room. Here, scammers try to convince their marks they can lower credit card interest rates to as low as 6.9 percent or even 0 percent in exchange for up-front payments of several hundred dollars to $3,000.

"To convince them to pay the fee, telemarketers often say that it will be more than offset by the money the consumer will save through the program," according to the FTC, which held a press conference in Chicago and released details on the lawsuits it has filed. In some cases, the FTC said, "consumers’ credit cards were charged even if they did not agree to pay for the service. In other cases, the defendants allegedly do not disclose a fee at all, or claim there will be no fee." Consumers were told they would save thousands of dollars in finance charges due to lower interest rates, that they would be able to pay off their debt two to three times more quickly, and that the up-front fee would be refunded if those promises weren't met. Of course, fees were rarely refunded.

Have you met Rachel?

"Rachel" herself is an elusive target, but her voice is widely known for a reason. While there are many companies performing the credit card scams, the FTC said they all rely on a smaller number of firms to actually do the computer-operated robocalling. In one case, a company called Asia Pacific Telecom was accused of making 2.6 billion pre-recorded calls over an 18-month period before getting shut down in July. That company's services were used both for credit card and auto insurance scams.

The five telemarketing companies detailed today, three in Florida and two in Arizona, are suspected of outsourcing the calls to companies like Asia Pacific. There is a relatively small number of companies with the technology to make these calls, and a somewhat larger number of wholesalers that connect those robocalling companies to an even bigger number of telemarketing scammers. In the case of Asia Pacific, the company had a legitimate business of sending out charitable and political robocalls (which are legal) to help mask its shady work, FTC Midwest Region Director Steven Baker told Ars in an interview after the press conference.

The FTC receives 200,000 complaints every month about these types of robocalls, and "Rachel" is the most-cited offender, agency officials said. They are effective—one boiler room got 4,500 calls a day from consumers who pressed "1."

The five companies—with the names Treasure Your Success, Ambrosia Web Design, A+ Financial Center, The Green Savers, and Key One Solutions—are facing criminal complaints in US District Court and have had all their assets frozen. The FTC said they violated several federal laws. For one, it's illegal for telemarketers to charge consumers money in advance while promising to reduce their debt. The FTC said they also ignored the Do Not Call list, and violated laws against robocalling and making deceptive sales claims.

Shutting down both the boiler rooms and the robodialers is difficult, but the FTC has some more tricks up its sleeve.

"We have full access to all of their business records and we're going to look at those and figure out who they're paying for dialing," Baker told Ars.

The dialing services, of course, use VoIP technology and caller ID spoofing to hide their identities. Going after the boiler rooms is easier and can have a more immediate positive impact on consumers. The scam targets aren't paying money to the dialers, they're paying money to the telemarketers—so the money trail is easier to identify. The FTC said all the money it collects from the companies whose assets have been frozen will be distributed to the people who were ripped off.

30,000 fooled, $30 million lost

The FTC still has only a rough estimate on the damage caused by these five companies. The estimate as of today is that they scammed more than 30,000 consumers and raked in roughly $30 million.

One of the victims is named Alyce Weisbach, an 84-year-old resident of Illinois who described her experience today at the FTC's press conference. Weisbach got the telemarketing call on October 19, 2011, at a time when she was struggling with credit card debt and had an interest rate of 25 percent on one of her cards.

"All I really remember from our conversation was that he kept promising me that Green Savers would lower my credit card debt and save me a lot of money," she said.

Weisbach ended up giving the telemarketer her credit card numbers, Social Security number, and her mother's maiden name. "As soon as I gave Green Savers my personal information, I regretted it and realized I had made a big mistake," she said.

Weisbach ended up being charged about $1,900. When she tried to get a refund from Green Savers, they claimed they had a legal, verbal contract and refused. FTC officials said the best way for people to get their money back is to dispute the charge with their credit card company, and that they should also file complaints with the FTC. Weisbach ultimately did get her money returned.

Even before today, the FTC had filed 12 cases against robocall operations, five of which were doing credit card scams. Today's announcements bring the total up to 17, and the agency is not done. The FTC is even offering a $50,000 cash prize to anyone capable of devising a technological solution to stop the robocallers in their tracks. "You have people hurting financially, struggling to stay afloat," Baker said. "They can't afford to be ripped off another $3,000," he noted—especially when that charge is going on the same credit card they were struggling to pay off in the first place.