SEATTLE -- When you buy flowers for Mother's Day, be careful!

Even if you dial a "local" phone number, the company on the other end could be thousands of miles away.

KIRO 7 Consumer Investigator Amy Clancy has learned that could end up costing you more money.

We're not talking online or 1-800 numbers that you know are not local. We're talking about florists who may even share your area code -- at least it looks that way.

Florists Bob Crane of Lakewood and Linda Elliott of Redmond say their customers are being deceived -- not by reputable local florists, like themselves, but by companies that claim they're local, but aren't.

"Typically, they're not flower shops. They're just boiler room operations, and they're just taking the money," Crane said.

To warn consumers, the Federal Trade Commission issued an alert describing how the scheme works: A telemarketer buys a local phone number in either your phone book, or on-line directory. The customer sees the local number, perhaps even a local address, then orders flowers, thinking he's doing business directly with a florist in town. In fact, the call goes to an out-of-town operation.

The telemarketer takes the order, then sends it back to a real local florist, taking a percentage of the sale.

"Then they send it through FTD or Teleflora and charge people 20-bucks to do so -- just to make a phone call," Elliott said.

So when the flowers are delivered, a middleman the customer doesn't even know about has taken a sometimes sizable cut.

Elliott said many of her customers have fallen victim without her even knowing. Until they call, upset.

"He said, 'What's this?' 'Well, this is what your order called for, and the order was for a total of $35. And that includes my delivery,'" she said. "He said, 'I was charged $80 for this,' and I said, 'Oh my gosh, I did not get that order, what I got was a $35 order,' and I felt bad enough that I sent him up some more flowers just because it's my name."

Question: "So who kept that 40-dollars plus?"
Elliott: "Whoever sent me the order."

"So when they talk to grandma, and grandma's like, ‘Well it's like a dead arrangement or it was really puny,’ and you're like, ‘Well, I spent $50,’ or whatever the amount is, they come and yell at me."

Both Crane and Elliott said they'll work with their customers to make it right. But because the telemarketers often promise flowers at a price they can't deliver, "There's a potential there for you to lose some money."

If the customer complains to the telemarketer, they may be out of luck, says the FTC.

"If they turn out to be not what you ordered whereas, when you're dealing with a local florist you have some recourse," said Chuck Harwood, the Regional Director of the FTC.

The FTC says such deceptive advertising is illegal. And Attorneys General in other parts of the country have filed lawsuits. But not here.

So far, Bob Crane's complaint is the only one filed with the AG's office, even though dozens of local numbers are advertising local floral “shops” that don't really exist – such as so-called shops in Tacoma, Seattle, Sea-Tac and Tukwila that all claim to be located at 918 West Moreland.

So we went to the only street named Moreland in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties to check out this so-called floral operation. It's in Lakewood, but there's no 918 anywhere, no local flower shop.

"There's a state law that says you're not allowed to misrepresent your geographical location by address, phone number, etcetera," Crane said.

When we called the so-called "local" florists all claiming 918 West Moreland as an address, the same man answered.

Clancy: "Now I'm looking for Sea-Tac’s Best Florist. You sound like the same guy that was answering the Seattle’s Best Florist phone."

That man admitted his operation is out of town!

"So where are you located? Waukesha? Waukesha, Wisconsin? But it says Seattle's Best Florist!"

So how do you know if a shop is local or not?

"If you're on the phone with someone and you're not sure, just ask them. Where are you located in the area?" Harwood said.

"Even if you're cross-country, ask them, ‘Can I come by and look at them? You'll know if these people are really a florist," said Elliott.

If you feel you've been the victim of deceptive advertising by a so-called 'local' florist, you can file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission or the Attorney General's Office.

But the problem here may be that most people who receive flowers are just thrilled to have them. They might not ever know there could be a significant price difference between what was delivered and what was ordered.

In response to Amy's investigation, Dex said it was looking into this particular floral advertiser and whether its ads are deceptive.

And "Yellowbook" released this statement:

"A documented complaint will help to identify businesses that are misleading the public. Once those authorities notify us of the misleading information, there is a process in place to remove the listing for the next issue of the directory."