[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 4 (Monday, February 1, 1999)]
[Pages 151-152]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7164--National Consumer Protection Week, 1999

January 29, 1999

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Consumers are too often the target of unfair, deceptive, or 
fraudulent practices. Modern advances in telecommunications and 
marketing technology have dramatically increased both the sophistication 
and the potential threat of such practices. Perpetrators of fraud can 
reach consumers across the country through the Internet, on television, 
the telephone, or by direct mail, misrepresenting themselves as 
legitimate business people. Because their proposals appear legitimate, 
these unscrupulous operators frequently succeed in cheating vulnerable 
consumers out of hard-earned dollars.
    One of the most damaging fraudulent practices is credit fraud. 
Credit fraud--stealing credit cards or credit identities and cheating 
consumers through deceptive or abusive lending practices--can be 
difficult to recognize. Fraudulent credit transactions are often 
complicated and can occur when perpetrators hide or fail to disclose 
essential information to consumers. By stealing consumers' credit 
identities, criminals can run up huge debts and ruin their victims' 
credit records. And credit fraud costs all of us in higher interest 
rates and fees.
    The best defense we have against credit fraud is education. The 
Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the National Association of Consumer 
Agency Administrators, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the American 
Association of Retired Persons, the National Consumers League, the 
Consumer Federation of America, and the National Association of 
Attorneys General are working in partnership to inform Americans about 
the dangers of credit fraud. As part of this effort, the FTC and its 
partners offer information on-line, by telephone, and in writing to 
alert consumers about the warning signs of credit fraud and how to 
protect themselves against it. The FTC, in cooperation with State 
Attorneys General and the Internal Revenue Service, is also actively 
prosecuting credit fraud cases that target some of our most vulnerable 
citizens.
    I encourage all Americans to learn more about credit fraud, to read 
their credit reports carefully, to protect such personal information as 
their bank account, credit card, and Social Security numbers, and to 
know how to recognize the characteristics of fraudulent proposals. By 
using credit wisely and remaining alert to the possibility of credit 
fraud, we can better protect the well-being of our families and preserve 
our financial health and security.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the 
Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim 
January 31 through February 6, 1999, as National Consumer Protection 
Week. I call upon government officials, industry leaders, consumer 
advocates, and the American people to participate in programs that 
foster credit literacy and raise public awareness about the dangers of 
credit fraud and other deceptive and fraudulent practices.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-ninth 
day of January,

[[Page 152]]

in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-nine, and of the 
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-
third.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., February 2, 
1999]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on 
February 3.