A local consumer contacted BBB to inform us that Robocalls offering to lower credit card interest rates are happening again. He’s been receiving these automated calls and believes are coming from a call center located in another country. The live representative that picks up the line starts the sales pitch by asking if the consumer is interested in lowering his credit card interest rates from 9% to 4.5% and gives the impression that the representative is calling from his credit card company, Chase Bank.
After the representative verifies the consumer’s name, phone and address, the representative then asks for the consumer’s credit card number. The consumer, who is savvy enough to know that if this truly was a call from his credit card company the representative would already have his credit card number on file, refused to provide the numbers. That’s when the sales call got ugly. The representative used extremely foul language and then hung up on the consumer.
BBB warns these kinds of calls generally begin with recorded messages that include statements like: “There are no problems currently with your account, however it is urgent that you contact us concerning your eligibility for lowering your interest rates to as little as 6 point 9 per cent.” or, “This is our final attempt to reach you since you’ve not responded to our other calls to discuss your credit card debt.” The automated message invariably does not include the name of the company, but may claim to be with Card Services or Card Holder Services. Consumers often note to BBB that they believe the calls were designed to deceive them into thinking their credit card company was contacting them.
After the initial recorded message, consumers must dial another number to be connected to a live person. The live “operator” usually starts the sales pitch by asking for the consumer’s credit card number and whether the consumer is interested in lowering their interest rates. From there, representatives begin closing the sale, asking if the consumer is willing to pay – usually from $700 to $1,000 – to have their firm contact the credit card company and negotiate lower rates.
The ‘negotiation’ undertaken by these companies can be as simple as calling the customer service number listed on the back of the consumer’s credit card and asking a customer service representative to lower the interest rate. Consumers are fully capable of talking to credit card companies on their own, for free, and getting similar results. Consumers simply don’t need to pay any company a thousand dollars to negotiate lower rates on their behalf.
BBB offers the following advice for consumers who receive calls from companies offering to lower their interest rate:
- Never give personal information, including Social Security, bank or credit card numbers, over the phone to an unknown telemarketer. Always research the company first by reviewing its Reliability Report at www.bbb.org.
- When considering any company offering any type of financial assistance, insist on getting a contract in which all terms and conditions are clearly explained before signing up or providing credit card or other payment information.
- U.S. consumers can place their home phone number on the federal Do Not Call list by visiting www.donotcall.gov. If the consumer’s number is already on the list but continues to receive telemarketing calls—or is receiving robocalls on a cell phone—he or she can use the same Web site to report the incident to the FTC.
I have received several robo phone calls offering to lower my credit card interest rates. Next time it happens, I’ll know how to proceed. Thanks for presenting this relevant info on your web site.
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Why can’t we be more direct at stopping these calls?
According to FTC, the people behind all this are: Jeanie B. Robertson, Brook Robertson, Ivan X. Estrella, Jamie M. Hawley, Kimberly Nelson, Paige Dent, Alexander J. Dent, Micha S. Romano, and Ashley M. Westbrook.
BBB database confirms that they are perpetual scammers. You know to communicate this to us. Consumers would appreciate to know exactly who are the criminals hiding behind the robocalls.
http://www.ftc.gov/os/caselist/0923190/index.shtm
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Two words: Labor camp
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Received one of these calls yesterday. Pressed 1 to speak to someone. I asked what I had to do to have my number placed on their do not call list. The man said “get on your knees,” then hung up on me. I was not amused.
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I don’t understand, given the number of years this has been going on and the number of complaints, why these calls cannot be stopped? Yes, we continue getting these calls almost everyday. I’ve reported to donotcall registry without anything happening.
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I have reported them to the FTC and for a while they offered an opt out. It is now Feb 2013 and I still get them calling me up to 5 times a day. I have no credit card debt and I would like to have them stop calling me, They start at 7 in the morning and will call until 10:30 at night. has anyone has any success at getting off this list
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I have been getting these calls for a long while, but I have been getting deluged for the past month. I also get about five calls a day. Always from a different number. Sadly there is nothing you can do. I have made dozens of complaints to the do not call list, I have played the game with the callers and have asked off of the list and I have even called my cell phone company, Sprint to complain. They have no answer either and claim they have no way of tracing the actual number where the call comes from.
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We’ve been receiving these calls for about a year now (about 3 times a week on each phone), and the robo calls always say that it’s our last chance to lower the interest rates.
WARNING: One call came to my cell. At the end of the message, it said that I could put my phone on the DO NOT CALL LIST and it prompted me to enter my phone number.
Then it asked for a 2nd phone number.
Then it asked for a third.
The 3rd was my husband’s cell, on which no calls had been received previously. Now that cell is getting calls from Bank Card Services. I suspect that this DO NOT CALL LIST is just a way for these scammers to get more phone numbers.
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QUESTION: There are no caller ID numbers when they call. How can we report this without a phone number?
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Right. No number appears on caller ID.
(3.0262) hemnsti
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They are still calling after here. Something needs to be done. The FTC should work with the phone co to track them down. if they are operating outside the US then the excange for the call center involved should be banned from connecting to the US phone system. If we have to ban the entire country of india to force india to police its call centers then it should be done.
The gov can stop this they need to do a better job.
The FTC could also work with the phone co to stop incomming calls that have no return # and can not be traced back to a source.
also see
http://www.idahopress.com/blogs/business_to_business/dale_dixon_-_better_business_bureau/ftc-cracks-down-on-lower-your-interest-rate-calls/article_2b3c0ebe-9086-11e0-8620-001cc4c03286.html?success=1
The just took acton against AMS, Rapid Reduction, and PDMI but the calls are still comming.
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I have made probably 30 complaints against this company. I get these robo calls at least once a week on my cell. I think the \do not call list\ is a farce.I have had all our phones on it for a while and it certainly doesn’t stop anything from calling my phone.
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I just received another one of these ROBO calls an hour ago, and I’ve been on the donotcall list for years!? Why has the FBI and/or the FTC not done anything about these scammers?
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I received one of these call this morning and again a few minutes ago at 3:30 PM. I’ve received them in the past, but they are getting more frequent now. I pressed 1 and the woman asked me if I was interested in lowering my interest rates. I asked to whom I was speaking and she hung up. I agree with the other posts. I have been on the do not call list since it’s inception. Why can’t these calls be stopped. The sad part is that they are many elderly people that fall for these scams. Let’s protect people. STOP THESE CALLS!!! ARREST THOSE RESPONSIBLE!!!
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PS. The number was 800-742-5877
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Disregard that number. Just called it and its a UPS number….???? I didn’t call UPS.
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I keep receiving these calls and when I continue through the message and ask them to take my name off the list, they just hang up on me. I’ve had my number on the Do Not Call list for years, yet still I get these calls.
The most recent one came from: 971-295-9768 (Oregon). I also get calls from 303-202-1132 (Miami) and 801-647-0293 (Utah).
Can someone please check into these numbers and shut down this scam operation?
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I just receive the latest call on from this company again. This time from 905-333-0000 Burlington ON.
They always have a different number. I always diligently try to get an operator on the line to tell them to remove me. Today he argued for quite a while and continued his pitch. After about the third time of asking him to remove me, he finally hung up.
After each call, I continue to file the complaint on the do not call registry website. I personally feel annoyed by the calls, but more so, I worry for the people who might be in desperate enough situations to actually trust these clearly deceptive people.
I was excited when I saw that in the news FTC was going to crack down on robo-calls. However, I’m getting depressed that after all this time, the calls keep coming in. I’m pretty disheartened that the FTC cannot enforce their rules with such a well documented violator.
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If enough people simply allow themselves to be transferred to the operator, and tell that operator “Get a real job”, it will eventually work.
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Received one of these calls today. It wasn’t pitched by someone over seas but it was definitely someone claiming to work on the behalf of “the 100 top banks”. Claimed he had to first gather some info, then runa check with the bank to confirm my last deposits with my bank and I would then be put through to someone who could finalize the rate. Said everything was dependent on me being eligible, and said determining that was the reason for the info gathering.
I asked the same question posed in the above article, if you work for a bank why wouldn’t you already have that info. He said he didnt work for the bank but instead worked on behalf the bank. Told him I’d just go talk to my bank and hung up.
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These people continue to call even though my number is unlisted and I reported the calls to the Do not call registry, frankly I don’t think anyone wants or can even do anything to the idiots behind this scam. Every night they call with some robot recording and then some fool gets on the phone looking to scam me.
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Been getting these calls for a long time and have been on no call list since it’s inception. They don’t care because apparently our government doesn’t care. I tried asking them to remove my number from their call list. One time when I told the guy I was on the no-call list, he laughed and said \so how’s that workin’ out for ya?\ and hung up. Anymore, I always press 1 and see how much of their time I can waste before they hang up. It’s becoming a sport for me. Sometimes I get 2 and 3 a day.
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I have been receiving these calls on both my home & cell. Both numbers are & have been on the DO NOT CALL list for years, yet because the rbo calls from from multiple #s there is no good way to report them or block them. I hae calledmy BBB & state AG’s office, the office of Cunsumer Affairs for my state & my local & state reps. Ther have been times where both phones were ringing at once! I have had as many as 15 calls in one day. How can we make this stop?
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I have received robo calls from Ann with Account Services but every time I ask to speak to a live agent they hang up on me. I have even went far enough to sound like I was interested in lowering my credit card interest rates sarcastically (thankfully, I’m not in debt) and the guy proceeded to ask for the last 4 digits of my credit card and I had asked him why, what was his name and who does he work for? He began to back out of the call immediately! Even after I offered to give him some (fake) information which ended in him hanging up on me after his last statment. “We will make sure your number is removed from our system” *dial tone*. There has been seven other calls made from the same robo call at least twice a week! How can YOU & I make this stop?
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We also receive repeated calls offering to lower our interest rate a couple times a week and get the same hang up response if I get far enough to speak to a live person. I voice the concerns as all the others posting – why have these people not been stopped. Seemingly useless to have numbers registered on the Do Not Call List if there’s no stopping the abusers. Where can we find any reports of what is being done to investigate? This has been going on for far too long!
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My husband and I get at least 5 calls a week on both our cell phones and home phone. This has been going on for at least 6 months. We have repeatedly asked (nicely) to be taken off their list – we have NO credit card debt! I have resorted to an air horn (I got at the dollar store) blasted in their ear just to tick them off. We continue to get calls but at least I get a little satisfaction out of doing it!
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Maybe the real criminals here are the phone companies such as AT&T. No one should be able to call you without proper ID. Why are we paying extra for caller id service when anyone can call themselves anything such as TOLL FREE CALL, INCOMING CALL, OUT OF STATE CALL, CALIFORNIA CALL.
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It is all useless. I am on the federal and state no call list. I have filled a report every time I was contacted by this lot. I stopped counting at 43. The state and feds don’t do a thing about it. These people don’t care that they are operating illegally.
Great government we have, we have to pay the system. but get nothing in return for our payment.
Hey, got some letters from the Fed no call list telling me they don’t pursue cases on an individual matter. But my info is in a database. Whoopie. The feds are probably selling our info to these people so they can bother us. I am fed up and sick of it.
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Why doesn’t the BBB have a handle on these companies yet? They’ve been calling me for years.
There are 2 companies operating out of Orlando, FL and Atlanta, GA. The agents are highly trained not to give out any information because they know they are breaking the law. If I ever identify them I will publish it all over the web so consumers can sue them.
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Illegally calling numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry;
Failing to honor consumers’ requests not to be called again; and
Making pre-recorded telemarketing calls to consumers without their express written consent.
Repeat, repeat, repeat over and over.
The FTC and the Do Not Call list is a major joke, they do nothing but side with business crooked or not. IMHO; They are not protecting the citizens at all.
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I, too, am sick of these calls. I’ve tried everything to get them to stop, including telling them we are on the do not call list. When the attempts didn’t stop the calls, I decided to try something else, which has been working, and wasting THEIR time! I give them false information from the start, and when they ask for the phone number on the back of our card, I put the receiver down right next to our stereo speaker and let it sit there until I am sure that they’ve hung up! I get SO much pleasure out of doing this. PLUS I know that this waste of time means that they can’t call anyone else why they are waiting for me to “get my card”!!!
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I spoke to about four of these people. I told them my number was on the do not call list and they said that they are a nonprofit origination so they can call. Since nonprofit origination are excluded from the no call list. That is how they are getting around the calling.. I ask them to take my number off and they say yes, then in a few days they call again. I have caller ID and seen how many times they call a week and its about three to four times. I don’t delete the the caller ID. Its so funny that my family will even say oh guess whose call.. Hope one day we can get this to stop.. Have fun every one!!!
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I get at the very least 5 calls a week, I was getting them as much as 4 calls a day, in the morning, afternoon, and night. They all come to my cell phone. Several different numbers show on my cell, but none of them are real numbers. I save it in my contacts under “do not answer” every time I get a new one. I few of the numbers I have give my cell company to block, but there are just so many and blocking there fake number does not seem to help. Several of their numbers have the same area code as where I live (360) WARNING, do not press 1, all that does is increase the phone calls. I have one of the representative laugh and then say, “Now we are going to call you every day!” They have used foul language when I have asked to be removed. I told them I do not have or want credit cards. I am on the “do not call list” but this is a scam, so of course they don’t care if you are on a do not call list. I have even considered changing my number, but instead I just keep adding new ring tones so at least I can enjoy a good song when they call
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I just got one of these calls, and the numbers typically do show up on my caller ID, often with a Washington or Texas number. The number I was just called from was 832-377-3059. Every once in awhile it will say something like “press 9 to be removed from this list”. Which obviously does nothing.
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My wife answered on of these calls from “Card Services” after a brief conversation she was told she qualified for 0% interest on her cards. She was then transferrred to Orlando Brown and Paul Murphy of Western GPS. She was sucked in and gave out her cc info and SSN over the phone. I started listening and became suspicious. Checking online it became obvious this was a scam and these were not legitimate companies. I asked to see the offer in writing and was disconnected.. I got bad feeling and my wife and I started calling the cc companies. We found that Western GPS had already charged one of her cards for $995.00 within minutes. It is a shame that these people prey upon people who are already in debt and looking for a way out. Be Careful!
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Here is their company information:
Key One Solutions
7650 S. McClintock Dr. #103-119 (Ups Store)
Tempe, AZ 85284
Telephone: (888)599-7112
The woman on the phone said they used the “Ann from financial services” recording for robocalls.
I asked them politely for them to remove me from their list.
We’ll see if that works.
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Peter, did it work?
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Here is a better way to deter robo callers: Waste as much of their time as possable!
Tell them that you ARE interested. Tell them exactly what they want to hear. Give them a credit card number but give them the WRONG NUMBER mix up a digit or 2 or 3. Keep them on the phone as long as possable. Make robo calling very UNPROFITABLE for them. Then they will stop.
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The telephone company is the problem. They have opened up their system to people like this and the only way to fix t is to restore some of the privacy rules that were in effect when we had real telephone companies, back before the government destroyed them. You want cheap, this is the cost of cheap.
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I have gotten three of these in the last week: two on my landline and one on my cell and both numbers are on the do not call list.
I got calls last winter and then they stopped. I always hang up because their initial pitch when you answer is fishy.
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here are some number been calling me 786-358-9772 1417-800-2301
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write your senators and congressmen. This is becoming a significant enough problem as to warrant government intervention. If we all write our congressmen and senators and legislators (national) and demand solutions, we are all likely to make more progress. If we are going to take the time to write here…we could spend that time being more productive. If they get enough responses, it will get attention and subsequent action.
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I’ve been getting these for years, and I want to see these people arrested.
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Like everyone they would leave a message on my machine. I didn’t care much until I had a baby and am staying home with my newborn. It’s very frustrating when the phone rings and it’s them and the phone wakes her up. I know I should probably just unplug the phone, but, why should I? What if I am getting an important call? I’m on the national and state DNC list. I have been since it’s inception and I am very annoyed and frustrated with this.
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What we need to do is actually find the building where calls are coming from. Then the options of stopping them are endless. Make they’re life miserable and bring national attention to what they’re doing. The government doesn’t care, heck they probably pay off gov officials so nothing happens to them. The call I made to the FCC was just as bad as the solicitors. They were mean and angry and didn’t care. Lets personally make them stop!
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Had the same call on the 23rd. Dinner time, had to leave and gut sucked into promises that did not happen. They had said that if all worked out, they would charge my card $595.00 once I had received written confirmation off the low rates. Today, the 25th, called my CC company and found out that they had already charged my card $595.00 and under a different company name that what they had said. It was under GNC Tax services instead of Vivolo. Called my CC company who told me that the funds had yet to be released to them but wanted nothing to do about holding them. They did not believe that these assholes were pro’s and would just not listen to me. Funds had to be released so that a dispute could be filed??? Hello!!!!!
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I’ve been getting these calls for years, and block the existing number they use at the time. Problem is, they seem to have their own Voip System, and use a Number generating program to appear to come from a new number whenever they wish. When I block 10, my maximum, then I erase and start from scratch when they call again. The do not call list is a joke, I believe they have only prosecuted 3 or 4 companies since it started, so what do sale people have to fear? I’m going to put on a number lock system (I don’t pay for it now) that only shows to the police, but it should at least Identify the country of origin.
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After getting these calls for years, I play with them if I have time. I go along, and give them invalid credit card numbers. I had one guy on the phone for 30 minutes. I kept telling him I had to run upstairs to find the credit card. Another time, I started baiting the woman and then had to go. So, I said, “Awe, I’m just playing with you to see how long I can keep you on the phone.” She said, “I don’t care. I get paid by the hour. I’m going to start calling you every day so I can waste your time and I still get paid.” I have to admit I’m surprised at how brashly this outfit defies the law. The real criminals here are the credit card companies who allow these crooks to have merchant accounts. I’m surprised there aren’t enough credit charge disputes to make it clear. But, I suppose if people are paying the charges the cc companies are happy with the whole scam. Ulitimately, we have blame stupid consumers for this sort of thing. The morons who get these calls and give out their credit card numbers are the one perpetuating this. After 30 days of no responses from suckers, these guys will stop calling us and go back to stealing social security checks from widows in wheelchairs.
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When you get the robocall, punch through to talk to the caller and set the phone in front of the radio or TV. Let him be irritated about having to answer and getting the TV or radio instead of a person!
Imagine if every recipient of those calls did the same
Spread the word
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I am so Sick of the “this is Ann scam” … I know they are some place in the US.
Most are very rude when you punch 1 to talk to them. One day I punched 1 and spoke to a guy who apologized … he said that they must have been sold a bad list. So, it sounds like there are small private companies that obtain phone lists from people. I don’t know. today’s prank had a different robo voice on it. It sounded like the woman was recorded from a Cell Phone. Really bad stuff.
I will personally drive or fly to wherever these people are and beat the heck out of them. Just tell me where they are!
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I remember a while back I used the telezaper for my home line and it cleared up all of the calls. It leaves a series of tones that indicated your number has been disconnected every time you pick up your phone or the answering machine picks up. Just about every marketing call was zapped in a couple of months..enjoyed all the peice and quite from that point forward.
for these guys nowadays its a little different. They are calling cell phones and since there was no cell phone telezapper, I created my own but holding the phone to a set of speakers and played the three tone system, then recorded my greeting. I did this about 3-4 weeks ago and the calls from the scammer are starting to thin out. They have not stopped completley but I think they are getting weeded out slowly as I have only recieved a call from these clowns a couple of times during the last 3-4 weeks.
You should try this and see if it works for you.
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I think the solution is simple. Find just ONE of these crooks, try them, and send them to federal prison labor camp for one day for each fraud call their company sent. Let the national news go interview them once or twice a month to see how they’re holding up. Then find a couple of the poor slobs who work for them. Do the same. BUT seriously, they wouldn’t keep doing this if there wasn’t some financial benefit. Do our fellow citizens really give them information?? Why, how are they getting something of value from this scam?
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I just received a robo call offering lowering the interests on my credit cards. I requested to be removed from their list; the man on the other line told me to stay on the line so he could remove my number, then he asked my name and after I told him my name he told me that he was NOT going to remove my number. Then I asked his name and asked to talk to a supervisor and he replied by saying that his name was “daniel” and he said that he would give me his cellular phone number so I could call him at midnight, he then started saying sexual obscenities…of course I hung up. I used my phone company trace service but without any results since it was listed as an unknown number. I am listed in the “Do not call” list and I do not have any debts with anybody. How can I stop these calls. I am afraid I could be a victim of a fraud, now they have my name and phone number. How is it possible these people can get away with all this? Where can I report this?
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For all my friends who also keep getting those “We are calling you about your credit card account” scammer Robo calls, here’s a tactic to get them to stop: Press whatever # they say to get a live person, and then KEEP THAT PERSON ON THE LINE FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE! it’s easy, just give them completely bogus/fake info about your balances and card interest rates, etc… but keep them on the line! They will try and get your C card info, so of course do not give it, but chat it up with them, tell them you have $50k in credit card debt at 22% interest, whenever it takes! They are NOT going to stop calling you on thier own, and you can have some fun (at thier expense) if you drag out the converstation for as long as possible with thier Rep!
Every minute you stay on the phone with that person tying them up, you have saved antoher 5-10x other folks because they cannot answer. Additionally, if enough folks do this, the economics of this tactic will bankrupt them when they eat up their call rep hours and costs, with zero dollars to show for it.
As an added bonus, you get the last laugh since you will inevitably have to tell them at the end – YOU ARE SCAMMING THEM — They will hang up right away (because they have to answer another call) but you should be laughing at that point.
They ‘should’ eventually stop calling you because you are placed on THIER “Do not call” list due to the fact you ate up so many minutes of thier time having your own fun! Enjoy!
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Yeah its still going on 2 years later after repeatedly putting our numbers on what is now a permanent list of do not call. With all the technology we have concerning the internet and phone system an the US government has not stepped on this yet. I find it appauling its still going on. Its basically a slow dial DDOS on our hard and cell lines now. These people need a cruise missle right into they’re call center. Their profits need to be be requisitioned. Think of the elderly that fought for your freedom getting bothered repeatedly by these @holes.
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“their” call center also the woman that did the original recording if its computer generated should tracked down and prosecuted too.
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Has any body ever listened to them through their whole sales pitch? You are all blaming the wrong people! How do u think they got your number? Your name? And what your last payment was? Your credit card company sold them the database with this information! We are making a complaint with the credit card company, they are the root cause!,
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