SAN FRANCISCO -- Tom Davis has been searching for work for four months now. And like many people looking for a new job, he happened upon an ad for federal jobs that caught his eye.

"When I saw that ad, I was actually hoping it was true, to find government jobs, because they're hard to come by," Davis said.

But when he called, Davis discovered that he wasn't contacting a government agency as he had hoped. Instead, he had dialed into a telemarketer's boiler room that sells information about government jobs-- information you can get for free on Uncle Sam's own job seekers' web site.

"Bottom line, the federal government does not hire third parties to advertise for them," said Gregory Ashe, a lawyer with the Federal Trade Commission. "You can get this information for free, if you want a job with the postal service. Go to the local post office as if they're hiring. If they don't know, then they're not hiring in your area."

Officials at the FTC, which is now cracking down on these telemarketers, say the ads are often scams that mislead people into thinking they're dealing with a government agency, and that they must pay to get government jobs. The telemarketers sell job seekers test taking manuals for government job exams, job descriptions, and contacts-- information officials say is usually wrong, or out of date.

"It makes you feel bad like the market is just not going to give you a break, and it was very frustrating finding out what it was, which was nothing basically," Davis said.

The federal government is trying to get newspapers to stop publishing the ads. But officials say they are having a tough time because, while the ads are misleading, they may not technically be illegal.

You can obtain free information about the government jobs, including job listings, at USAjobs.com