BOSTON -- With unemployment in double digits, millions of people are struggling to pay their bills.

Team 5 Investigates Susan Wornick reported that offers to help reduce credit card debt can be tantalizing, but may not be legitimate.

Pat Sullivan got a call promising to lower her 13 percent credit card interest rate by half. Before she knew it, the fast talker on the other end had her credit card number -- then the bombshell: It would cost nearly $800.

"I said to her, 'That's not acceptable,' and she said, 'Well give me a minute. Stay by your phone, and I'll call you back.' That was it," Sullivan said. " I never heard from her again."

Two weeks later Sullivan got a packet of information, including copies of all her accounts, but nothing about lowering her interest rates.

She called her credit card company and discovered she'd been charged $798 by a company in Florida.

Team 5 Investigates called the number on Sullivan's bill, but despite leaving several messages, no one ever called back.

Team 5 called the Florida attorney general, who's now opened an investigation.

"I think it's outrageous, and in this economic climate, this is a horrible scam," said Barbara Anthony, undersecretary of the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation.

Anthony, formerly with the FTC, said any promise to lower your interest rate is illegal unless it comes directly from your credit card company.

"They're guaranteeing it. That's a false statement, and you can't make false statements to consumers," Anthony said.

But while the FTC has sued several companies, it's impossible for investigators to stop them all.

"Just as law enforcement may get a beat on where this company may be located, they're gone. They change the name and move on," Anthony said.

Sullivan's credit card company removed the $798 fee while she works with the Florida attorney general's office in their investigation. Experts said this is another reminder not to ever give a caller your private financial information.