FTC Bombs Massive Robocall Operation 154
coondoggie writes "The Federal Trade Commission today had a federal court in Chicago halt a major telemarketing operation that made at least 370 million illegal phone calls pitching worthless extended auto warranties and credit card interest rate-reduction programs. According to the FTC, one telephone service provider told the FTC that during a single day in April 2009 the defendants — SBN Peripherals — sent 2.4 million calls to consumers — more than 27 calls per second."
I got several of these calls (Score:4, Interesting)
I returned one of them (they give you a number to call) and asked why my cell was getting spammed. The "professional" got very abusive.
I immediately filed a report. I am glad something actually happens after that. Restores a smidgen of faith in government.
It will restore more if they castrate everyone involved in this scheme.
Re:It's One of Those Days (Score:5, Interesting)
I saw this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oh4EPcOpSy8 [youtube.com] (How to torment telemarketers with one word ).
Didn't seem to torment the telemarketer much. Plus the telemarketer has him on the record as being a moron :D. and I think that was one experienced telemarketer (might have dealt with speaking to bots before - I'm sure someone must have set up a telemarketer handling bot ;) ).
FWIW, I think automated "Hold on, the baby's ...", and similar "please wait" type responses would waste more time.
But if you don't want to tie up your line maybe something like this would help: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_information_tones [wikipedia.org]
Three tones, then "The number you have dialed is not for telemarketing, please wait if you are someone I would like to speak to".
Re: Simple solution (Score:4, Interesting)
I have one phone (mobile) and I use Google Voice for all calls.
If I get a call and don't recognize the number or if caller ID is blocked then I don't answer.
If they leave a voicemail I will decide if it is someone I want to talk to or not. If the answer is yes I add them to the address book and call them back. If the answer is no I mark the number as spam and never get bother by it ever again.
I got a cell phone for emergency use, have never given out the phone number or made a call on it, but I get calls and texts all the time.
Now I just delete off the phone and let the stuff in the voice box rot - the UI makes it too much trouble to delete messages.
Back when I first got it and listened to some of the messages in the voice box, about half of them were prefixed with a recording saying that the call was coming from the state pen. (Especially on holidays - do they get extra phone time or something?) So I wonder if I got a number that formerly belonged to a delivery boy, or if inmates just call random numbers hoping to start some sh*t with someone.
Re: I remember them (Score:5, Interesting)
They would call and tell me my car warranty was about to expire. I thanked one of them and asked which of my two cars had the warranty problem... and the guy couldn't answer and hung up.
When robocalls get a hit there is a 2-3 second delay while they connect you to a salesjerk. You almost never get this delay when it's a human caller; they respond to your hello at normal conversational reaction time.
So when I'm feeling surly I just lie the (landline) phone down when I hear the pause, rather than hanging up. I figure if they're willing to waste my time I might as well waste theirs.
I also read somewhere that robocalling software remembers useless numbers and skips over them, so I turned off my answering machine when I was going to be away from the phone for a couple of weeks, and sure 'nough, I get a lot less telespam than I used to.
What About the RespOrgs? (Score:4, Interesting)
In short, its great that the FTC shut down a robocalling enterprise. However in the grand scheme of robocalling and spam-calling, the action is a knee-jerk reaction that isn't worth much of anything - at least as long as there is no way for consumers to find out who is really harrassing them.
Re:It's One of Those Days (Score:5, Interesting)
I worked for our local Telecommunications company a few summers ago. Just a temp job, between semesters.
I applied for call center work, and they basically had 2 options: Sales and 411. In Sales, you'd be calling various customers with offers the telecom had available, and in 411 you'd be recieving calls requesting phone number or address info. While sales isn't as bad* as regular telemarketting, I still didn't and still don't think I could do it, knowing that I'd be basically harassing people. I chose 411, which was definately one of the most interesting jobs I've had. The Drunks on Fridays and Saturdays looking for a Cab are usually very social and hilarious. Anyways. What were we talking about again?
Right. People operating as telemarketers. Should they be strung up along with the big fish? I don't know. Often times it's the only "job" people can get that isn't in the restaurant business. I mean should the cook at McDonalds be put in Jail because he knows he's poisoning civilians with fatty food and giving them diabetes? Should the Factory worker @ Intel be fined x amount of dollars if the CEO's collude and price fix the processors?
I mean, in all those cases, the small fish pretty much knows whats going on but can't really do anything about it.
If anything, its the Marijuana situation that needs to change. They should just make it like hash bars in Amsterdam, or at least how they define them in Pulp Fiction. Legal to own, Legal to buy. If you are the proprieter of a bar, it's legal to sell. But you can only light it up in those bars.
*They're the biggest Telecom in the country so they probably adhere to federal guidelines pretty well.
Re:It's One of Those Days (Score:2, Interesting)
This kind of changes the meaning of...
Nato warns of strike against cyber attackers [timesonline.co.uk]
I suppose telemarketing and attempting to sell fake products is now considered an attack
Makes sense, since the whole notion of "cyber war" is really kind of fuzzy.
Including the definition of what "an attack" is or means.
By bombing them in the physical world, they avoid any ambiguity... the US is obviously at war with telemarketers.
Now, my next question is.... since when did the FTC's duties include use of munitions, and since when did they have authority to go out on their own and start bombing companie headquarters?
I guess the law that provides for it must be hidden somewhere deep in the pages of the health care bill, or some other secret law congress passed some time ago..
UGH! (Score:3, Interesting)
I actually got one of those damned calls today. I went ahead and pressed 9 to talk to a real human about "Lowing my Credit Card Rates". My first question "What is the name of your company?" "Asdfsdlkfsd and sdfsdlkjfls working for Visa and Mastercard" is pretty much all I heard. I ask her to repeat it and she simply says "Have a nice day" then hangs up! The goal was to get them to remove me from their list.
Looked up the number and it sounds like it might be a number Skype is using to route calls. (615-724-7999). Talked to ATT (my carrier) and asked if there was any way to trace the origin of that call but that was a fruitless search.
Anyone out there having better luck about being proactive towards putting an end to this nonsense? I don't want their services or their good and I sure as hell don't want to give them any of my time.
Re: I remember them (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.xs4all.nl/~egbg/counterscript.html can be fun to try if you have some time to waste.
A trick I've used with "success" is to be very interested but need to nip out for a second. Something like "ooh yes, I've been looking for a new mobile phone deal, could you hold while I go turn the pans off in the kitchen?". Don't be too eager or they'll smell a rat. Once you have them waiting, nip off and do something else for a while. I've had cold callers wait for my return (according to my phone's call log) for ten minutes or more before now.
Want to get rid of them a little more quickly? Try answering with something like "Hello, you are through to the North Yorkshire Emergency Response Centre, what is your current location?" and role-play from there as much as is needed. They usually appologise and ring off in short order. If tey don't ramp it up with "this is an emergency number, you could be endangering lives by holding it open". Obviously don't do this on a line you get business calls on as you have to jump in before knowing who is calling for it to be convincing - my home landline only exists so I can get ADSL based internet down the line, so I know that any call I get down there is a junk call (everyone else calls my mobile).
Re:what I hate most (Score:5, Interesting)
You're describing the recent trend of Debt Collection Scam. Two of the worst are Allied Interstate and NCO Financial. Now truth be told, those two companies probably do have some legitimate business in collections, but just do a Google search on their company names. Their track record is horrible, and abuse of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is rampant. It doesn't matter if you owe or not to them, as they're not interested in playing fair -- they are scammers through and through. Got your number on "Do Not Call" registry? They don't care. They're just like spammers looking for that one sucker out of thousands that will pay something they don't owe, and thus, validate their raison d'etre.
In my case, somehow both have gotten a hold of my cell phone number, and are calling at least 1-2x per week. It's always an automated dialer, leaving me a message to call them back at so-and-so number. Never, ever is there a live person, either if I pick up right away, or let it go to voicemail.
Here's the kicker though -- when they first started, I got worried that I might have been the victim of identity theft, so I pulled all 3 of my credit reports. All 3 are clean as a whistle and have been for years, and there are no unexpected accounts or credit inquiries. So, as mentioned above, they're trolling for suckers, and seeing who will return the call and then will harass the caller into paying something they don't owe.
The scambusters website has a lot more good information on this growing scam. Go here --> http://www.scambusters.org/debt.html [scambusters.org]
FWIW -- I've recently filed complaints with the FTC. We'll see where that goes.
Re:i've been screwing with these people.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Sometimes I'll answer these calls by saying "911, what's your emergency?".
Nothing will get you on their do not call list faster than if they think that they direct dialed an emergency serices center. Don't be afraid to chastise them for doing so and threaten fines and jailtime for added effect.
Re:i've been screwing with these people.... (Score:2, Interesting)
impersonate a 911 dispatcher
impersonate a firefighter
impersonate a journalist