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An annoying telemarketing scam
pjohns:
Do others here have the same problem we do with telemarketers? They annoy us contunually, frequently calling at very inopportune moments--and this, even though we are on the national Do Not Call Registry and a similar registry in Tennessee.
Today, I e-mailed the Attorney General about this, as follows:
"Why cannot someone put a stop to these ubiquitous telephone solicitations from 'Rachel' at 'Cardholders' Services'? We receive about two every week, on average; and have been receiving these calls for the past two or three years now.
"Presumably, this is a classical phishing scam: These folks are searching for credit-card numbers that they can either use, themselves, or sell to a third party.
"But these phone calls are enormously annoying. Sometimes they come at very inconvenient times. They should cease. Immediately.
"We are on both the national Do Not Call registry and Tennessee's similar registry, which preceded its national counterpart. But it really does not seem to matter to these scammers.
"Since they have (obvious) contempt for the law, why doesn't somebody shut down their boiler-room operation?
"This is starting to become more than a little frustrating..."
Of course, I will probably never hear back from anyone at Eric Holder's office; or, if I do, it will doubtless be in the form of a canned response. (The man is far too busy suing those states that attempt to control their borders or who require proper identification for the purpose of voting, to have any time left over for a little thing like enforcing the law against those who cavalierly ignore the Do Not Call Registry.)
About a week or ten days ago, I saw a story featured by MSNBC on this matter. It seems that many are openly ignoring this list. Some are halfway around the world--in, say, the Phillipines or India--so they may feel immune to American law. But others are right here, in the US.
Has anyone here had similar experiences?
ABX:
I get at least 4 calls a week from 'Rachael' but worse is one I get at least twice per day, even on my cell phone, which is the 'complete this political survey and win a cruise' scam.
pjohns:
--- Quote from: Abaraxas on May 13, 2012, 12:21:15 am ---I get at least 4 calls a week from 'Rachael' but worse is one I get at least twice per day, even on my cell phone, which is the 'complete this political survey and win a cruise' scam.
--- End quote ---
We sometimes get telephone surveys, too--frequently prefaced by the semi-reassuring words that the call "is not a telephone solicitation"--but we simply inform the caller that we do not accept this type of phone call, and then hang up.
Atomic Cow:
My cell phone gets about 6 a day from one of two scammers.
The most common is "Account Services" who are the idiots trying to get your credit card and/or bank information. They always claim to want to "lower your rates".
The newest one, and even more annoying is someone, usually named "Tom," from "Home Security," trying to sell a home security system. Of course, what they want is your personal info.
I continually block their phone numbers, but within a day or two, they have a new one. I never answer, just look up the number if I don't recognize it and it's always these two groups.
The way they are constantly changing numbers is because they're not using a traditional phone system. They are using an IP based phone system and there are countless programs out there which will allow you to spoof your phone number when using IP phones. Many of these scammers are overseas, but their number still appears to be US based.
There isn't much that anyone can really do to stop them since they change numbers and likely locations on a regular basis. When all you have to move is a laptop, a few phones, and yourself, it isn't hard to stay one step ahead of the law. I doubt most in law enforcement has the ability to track these people, so unless the NSA or CIA looked for them, it isn't going to stop anytime soon.
TheMom:
This is why I love caller ID. If I do not recognize the number calling, I don't answer. After a few attempts, they don't call again.
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