The newest trick to scam us

[aeromed202]

About once every two months for the last year or two I would get an automated call inviting me to lower my credit card rate. At the end of the recording I am asked to press 1 to speak to a representative. I always do because I want to harass these pathetic bottom feeders. When someone answers, I ask first their name, then if they don't hang up on that one I ask them to repeat the name of the company they work for, which usually gets the cold click and dial tone.

This is the new twist. When someone comes on the line after the recording, they ask 'did I press 1 to reduce my interest rate?'. I figure this is to get me to say the magic word yes, which they can then digitally use to make it seem as if I said yes to the offer and scam my bank account. DON'T FALL FOR IT! I got them again because my first words were, as always, 'can I get your name please?' She said 'what?'. I asked again and got 'Nikki'. I then asked what the name of the company was. 'What?' came the reply. Half way through asking again I got the satisfying cold click and dial tone. I just love messing with these crooks. Once I answered 'hold on just one minute please', and after about 30 seconds I said 'thanks for holding, I got the trace'. Another quick cold click and dial tone. I hope I at inconvenienced them by making them move to another hotel room.

 

[andersel]

aeromed - I wish I could shove my prosthetic leg through the airwaves and just kick these people! Usually, though, I just hang up and go about my business.

LA

 

[AndyG43]

Again I'll make the comment (for the final time). It may be different in the USA, but the person you are speaking to on the phone is just doing their job, however reprehensible you find it personally; it is a horrible, soul destroying job, usually not paying very well (certainly in the UK), but it may often be the only job available - they are not the one making the money, somebody else is doing that. I have worked in call centres, both as an agent, a team leader and on the admin side; I have lost count of the number of times I have seen somebody reduced to a sobbing heap because of the abuse they have received on the phone. If I don't want to talk to somebody on the phone I will politely, but firmly, tell them that then hang up.

OK, said my piece, won't say it again.

 

[aeromed202]

Very well said Andy, and I imagine your points are true all over the world where these outfits operate. I used to think that way too but I now side firmly with the sobbing and ruined victims more. My main point was to warn people about what I thought was a new angle and one that may catch people off guard. Otherwise my rant was maybe too much, especially the smiley. Thanks for reminding me of how many victims there really are in this scamming industry.

 

[oakfloor]

Again I'll make the comment (for the final time). It may be different in the USA, but the person you are speaking to on the phone is just doing their job, however reprehensible you find it personally; it is a horrible, soul destroying job, usually not paying very well (certainly in the UK), but it may often be the only job available - they are not the one making the money, somebody else is doing that. I have worked in call centres, both as an agent, a team leader and on the admin side; I have lost count of the number of times I have seen somebody reduced to a sobbing heap because of the abuse they have received on the phone. If I don't want to talk to somebody on the phone I will politely, but firmly, tell them that then hang up.

OK, said my piece, won't say it again.

Hogwash, I get too many calls from dawn till almost 9:00 at night. I have requested to be removed from there call list every time they call, and it never happins, maybe you think it's cool but I dont. There are other ways to make a living without calling me day and night. The same people have been calling for almost 3-6 months, and I say sue them if you can.

 

[av8erjm]

TELEMARKETEERS

Although I know some of you find this irrehensible, I've found a way to really cut down on the amount of these phone calls, whether it's reducing my interest rate which I don't have or trying to sell me something I don't need, don't want or couldn't use it if I had it. What I have is an aerasol can w/ an airhorn attachment, after pushing one for a rep I wait until they answer then give them a blast, funny thing as some believe the rep has no authority to remove you from said list, said phone calls have dropped sharply. Now having told you my secert, I will allow you to tell me what a despicable person I am

 

[AndyG43]

Hogwash, I get too many calls from dawn till almost 9:00 at night. I have requested to be removed from there call list every time they call, and it never happins, maybe you think it's cool but I dont. There are other ways to make a living without calling me day and night. The same people have been calling for almost 3-6 months, and I say sue them if you can.

Did I say it was cool? I'm happy that the global recession has left your part of the world untouched, but for many it is tough to find work; in fact I live in London, where you would think it easy to find work - well, after 3 months of unemployment it looks like I may be forced to take one of these roles. Frankly I am finding it demeaning and very depressing.

As I said, I can't talk for how you do things in the US, but here things are regulated. If people do not want to be called we will actively encourage them to opt out; if they keep receiving calls, or companies exceed the dreaded "silent calls" threshold then there are very serious financial penalties - a fine of £2 million will focus the minds of most senior executives. So yes, sue the company, threaten them with legal action, do all of that; but getting your jollies (even out of sheer frustration) by humiliating some poor sap who is doing a job that is destroying their soul on a day to day basis ... If you had a problem with the McDonalds Corporation, would you deal with that by going into the nearest outlet & haranguing the staff?

I won't be posting on this subject again, as I can see that whatever I say will make no difference to some people (Aeromed, you are the honourable exception, thank you), so continue finding increasingly clever ways to demean and upset people who are just trying to do their best to earn a living.

 

[GT182]

You can get on the US's National Do Not Call List and that should lessen calls from them...... 1-888-382-1222. For both landline and cell phones.

Once they have you on the line after ignoring your number on the list, ask for name and any company info you can get (if you're that lucky). Then tell them you are on the National Do Not Call List and will be seeking an attorney to sue them. If you are that lucky you can be awarded 2500.00 for each incident.

 

[oakfloor]

Although I know some of you find this irrehensible, I've found a way to really cut down on the amount of these phone calls, whether it's reducing my interest rate which I don't have or trying to sell me something I don't need, don't want or couldn't use it if I had it. What I have is an aerasol can w/ an airhorn attachment, after pushing one for a rep I wait until they answer then give them a blast, funny thing as some believe the rep has no authority to remove you from said list, said phone calls have dropped sharply. Now having told you my secert, I will allow you to tell me what a despicable person I am

What a terrible thing to do to those out of work folk, making money by calling you up, who think it's OK to call you any time they want, to sale you something you dont want, who hang up on you when you say take me off your list, ad nauseum. There like door to door salsman, useing a phone instead.

 

[gigabyte]

There are a couple of point lost in this discussion that folks need to consider;

1. There are outbound call centres that are legit and while they may only offer demining employment they do follow the rules and regulations, there are also what we always call "Boiler Room Scammers" these are the crooks and have no regard for any ruls regulations or laws of any type. The big problem is we can't tell which is on the other end of the line when our phone rings, things like asking them for a name or blasting an air horn will often get them to move on to the next target regardless so many resort to those tacticts. The fact is eventually your number will be removed from the legit callers databases as a non responsive target, however the Boiler room boy will just continue to call.
2. The Do Not Call Lists are only marginally effective in reducing calls, the big problem with these is (in Canada and the US anyway) is they have become prime target list for off shore call centres. It works like this, every company that makes telemarketing calls is required to register and they get a copy of the list, they must exclude all numbers on that list from their calls (sounds great right) the problem is the Canadian list is governed by the CRTC and Canadian Law, the US is controlled by the FTC I believe, what happens is those companies that are in Canada simply send the Do Not Call list to an offshore agent and they make the calls from outside the jurisdiction of Canadian Law, the same happens for the American list. This has been a huge boost for the telemarketing industry as they are no longer dialing in the dark like they used to they have a confirmed list of valid numbers they can dial and they know there is a live body at the other end. There have been meetings recently between Canada, the US and Austrila about setting up an international agreement to enforse the Do Not Call lists across jurisdictions, however as long as there are call centres in remote places that do not participate in the enforcement it will just mean the Boiler Room callers will simply move to where they can't be hassled by pesky laws.

I resisted registering fo rthe Do Not Call list and I am glad I did, I get few calls and for me it is fairly simple, most of the time I can't understand them and after I say "what, pardon me, sorry can you repeat that I am hard of hearing" a few times they hang up. For me the phone is a challenge regardless so I don't even have to try they give up on their own, another one of the side benifits of being deaf, that and being able to ignore the eife's nagging - she gives up after the second Huh, what did you want...lol

I do have some empathy for the front line workers in the call centres I know many who have held these jobs, they get plenty of abuse and very little prase every, the management and owners of some of the companies that abuse the Do Not Call lists and use sneek attack tacticts to get results now them . . . well I better not say what I deel about that lot...

 

[n4gix]

Did I say it was cool? I'm happy that the global recession has left your part of the world untouched, but for many it is tough to find work; in fact I live in London, where you would think it easy to find work - well, after 3 months of unemployment it looks like I may be forced to take one of these roles. Frankly I am finding it demeaning and very depressing.

I thank you for your thoughts. One thing everyone needs to keep in mind is that the actual "scammers" aren't the ones who're calling! Those crooks hire innocent folks who're desperate to have any kind of job, give them a script to follow and a list of numbers to call. They are also required to make a set number of calls each day.

The folks working in these telemarketing sweatshops have absolutely no idea whatever about the legitimacy of the pitch they're required to make. At one point a few years ago I found myself having to work in such an environment and can attest to the stresses involved. I absolutely hated having to make such calls, but it was either force myself to do so or face the very real prospect of being homeless. Fortunately for me, the company I worked for was legitimate (it was a toner/ink cartridge refill company).

After a few months of this misery, I managed to gain enough "seniority" to transfer to the inbound call center, where prospective or current customers called me to either place an order or listen willingly to the sales pitch. Gaining such seniority wasn't all that difficult since the turnover rate in the outbound call center was on the order of 95%...

As soon as I found another source of income (modeling and programming for FS!) I gladly quit!

 

[aeromed202]

Again, regardless of ones personal thoughts on this matter just don't answer the first thing that is said by the caller and think before you say anything. If they are legitimate they will happily tell you their name and company and will send you some literature before you agree to anything. If they are not, saying nothing is best so they will not get a recording of you.

 

[GypsyBaron]

There is nothing new about these types of calls and they aren't trying to get to your bank account,
at least directly. They want you to sign up for a service and once you are a client you will either
not receive services paid for or some other form of "paying extra".

These types of calls have been going on for a long time. It doesn't matter if you are on the "Do Not Call" list
as these people call you anyhow. What's more, the caller ID numbers, if they appear, are bogus.
The caller ID number MAY be that of a legitimate business which is NOT the people calling you. They
are simply spoofing the numbers.

There has been investigations of more than one person who used these types of calls to offer the "lower
your interest rate" business.

Just Google "Heather calls" and you will no doubt find more information. They were referred to by that name
since one of mass calling episodes opened with "Hello, this is Heather"... and went on to give the reduce
interest rate speech.

There doesn't seem to be much one can do about these. Complaints to the "Do Not Call" folks are useless as the
callers phone number is faked. Just hang up as soon as you hear the "Hello, this is ....." message. NEVER press "1"
to speak to anyone.

Paul

 

[flaminghotsauce]

When I get a "lower your interest rate on your credit card" call, I KNOW it's a scam. I DON'T HAVE credit cards. But I got a call on my cell phone the other day. This really ticked me off, BAD. I use a trakphone, so I pay minutes whether calling or receiving a call. I pushed one to talk to a "representative" and told him to take me off his list in NO HAPPY TONE OF VOICE. He merely started on his script. I told him I wanted to talk to his boss. He replied my continuing on the script. I told him that he's burning MY MONEY by calling my trakphone, and he continued on. I demanded to speak to his boss RIGHT NOW! RIGHT NOW! He continued on. THEN I got belligerent. THEN I got the silence of the disconnect.

Sorry, I have NO PATIENCE for people that are going to act like this. Had he been even slightly human, I would have not been so bitchy with him. But to totally ignore what I'm saying.....GRRRRRR!

Screw 'em. If they think that's a job worth having, KNOWING they're working for an illegitimate scammer, they deserve all the abuse heaped all upon their ignorant heads. I don't feel bad at all except for the minutes I had to pay for to curse and yell at them.

 

[n4gix]

Screw 'em. If they think that's a job worth having, KNOWING they're working for an illegitimate scammer, they deserve all the abuse heaped all upon their ignorant heads. I don't feel bad at all except for the minutes I had to pay for to curse and yell at them.

That's the point though. The vast majority of "them" don't know whether they are pitching a legitimate product or service!

 

[oakfloor]

That's the point though. The vast majority of "them" don't know whether they are pitching a legitimate product or service!

Um..no, wishful thinking at best.

 

[AndyG43]

Um..no, wishful thinking at best.

Again, I bow to your superior knowledge. Cold up in that ivory tower?

The level of nastiness in this thread is seriously making me question whether I want to continue visiting the Sim Outhouse.

 

[GypsyBaron]

That's the point though. The vast majority of "them" don't know whether they are pitching a legitimate product or service!

Oh they know alright. That is why when you ask for the company name, phone number or their name they disconnect.

Paul

 

[oakfloor]

Again, I bow to your superior knowledge. Cold up in that ivory tower?

The level of nastiness in this thread is seriously making me question whether I want to continue visiting the Sim Outhouse.

Judgmental we are today? why dont you field 5-10 calls a day at your work phone and see how cold your ivory tower gets? Im sorry your feelings are hurt, but Ive been out and out lied to by these folks you feel for. So if this is a level of nastyness you dont like, then blame the them not me. I said had my rant, so be it.

 

[oakfloor]

Oh they know alright. That is why when you ask for the company name, phone number or their name they disconnect.

Paul

Yes, they hang up on me every time also.