More on the account services scam
I recently posted about an “account services” scam, which turned out to be more widespread than I realized. There are people all over the country getting these, and some people have fallen for it. Yet the authorities can’t seem to track the criminals down.
The service Verizon offered me – blocking any callers that have chosen to block their phone number from displaying on Caller ID (see above link) – has not stopped this. I got another call a few days after setting it up. When I called to ask why it hadn’t worked, Verizon admitted this service doesn’t work 100%. I got the service for free – I don’t recommend paying for it. And it’s wrong that they don’t tell you up front it doesn’t work on every cell phone company, phone company, etc.
I have a suggestion which I haven’t had a chance to try yet. Next time the criminal calls, I’m going to pick option #1 to speak to him, then tell him I’m legally obligated to inform him I’m recording the call, and yes I’d really like to take advantage of his offer, and which of my credit cards is he calling about? I expect he’ll hang up before I can get half those words out. And maybe just maybe he’ll leave me off his list.
This is an old trick from the 80′s, when people were getting obscene or threatening phone calls and the police couldn’t do anything because no crime had actually been committed. They said that since anyone who records calls is legally obligated to inform the other party before they start talking, that’s a good way to scare them off – whether you’re recording or not.
But with answering machines, recording calls is easy for a lot of us, so feel free to actually record the calls. It’s perfectly legal as long as you inform the other party. Who knows? It might help law enforcement at some point as more people report this scam. At the very least, maybe it will get you off their call list.
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This company uses caller id spoofing which renders the call untraceable. Verizon can trace the call made at that time to its origin and not using caller id. You must call verizon and consider this a life threatening call in your opinion to do this. Hope this helps.
I know where their local office is……………any ideas on what to do?
They are calling me at least three times a week. I want this to stop. I am registered with the Do Not Call List, but it doesn’t work.
So where is their office? Can’t we start a class action harrassment suit?
i just received this call 5 minutes ago and pressed 1 to talk and when i asked him which credit card he was calling about, he said, any one over 10% interest. Then I said, well why didn’t you say so in the recorded message? I love this! This is incredible… by the way… I’m sure you know this by now, but I’m on the do not call list and what you’re doing is illegal. After he hung up on me, I came online to get the number to return the favor, but found this blog. I hate these people!!!!!
I just received this call a moment ago…decided to play into them…telling them i was desperate and had all this debt and needed to get out of it. I kept asking questions as the call went on like where are you located and whats you phone#. When I asked for the number he gave me an 800# which I called while I was on the phone with him…..It was a phone sex number! THIS IS A TOTAL SCAM! Through AOL reverse service lookup it located ft. lauderdale FL and I also just subscribed to a service that will give the name of register and address for any phone number, listed/unlisted/cell ….in the country. Its time to go after these people. Then its a law suit!
I’m in the phone system industry, just so you know. Some systems I put in can spoof a number whenever the customer wants it. I have demonstrated this to them, while informing them I will not help them make calls with misleading CIDs, and I will turn them in to the authorities if I find they do.
Bottom line, there is no way to trace these guys UNLESS you sue your local carrier. Here’s why. All the privacy rules limit their ability to release information on calls unless there is a subpoena served on there CDR records. We all know they have records of every call, in and out, and they can trace each call down to the exact port and carrier. But they simply won’t unless there is a legal action against them. That protects them from liability for releasing information.
That’s it in a nutshell. We can try to get enough people together and make this a class-action, but you’d need deep pockets to go after the carriers, who will fight, even if they are not on the hook for anything. That’s just their way.
I just got this call from “account services,” and asked them who they were and what number to call back to. They wouldn’t give me a number. The guy on the phone said he was based in Atlanta, spoke with a middle eastern or hindu accent and sounded like he was working out of a boiler room with other operators in the back ground.
He said he got his information from Expedia and proceeded to ask a series of questions about my finances and family while I repeatedly requested his call back number or a specific address of his office in Atlanta.
I called ATT and they said there was no way to trace the call back.
Can’t we shut these people down.
You can have some fun with these people if you want. I will always push #1 if I am near my computer I will switch on the mac program “garage band” which has several sound effects. Once one of their “people” answer I put the phone by the computer speaker and they get blasted with several sound effects of farm animals.
I am also sick of getting these calls . . . If you don’t have the sound effects you can always give them a name such as Richard M. Nixon, Elmer Fudd, Bugs Bunny or anything like that you can think of .. . . gets them off the line quickly.
Hopefully nobody actually falls for their scam.
They call us at Flavored Popcorn constantly. I ask and was told it is legal for them to call businesses, even if it disrupts your daily business. I think there should be a “no call list” for business.
I found your website after receiving yet another scammer call. My caller ID read: cell phone 506/226-4568. I pick up up the phone to hear a recorded message, offering me a “last chance on lowering your interest rate”, Press 1 for your account representative”. Of course, when I asked for their company name or their personal name, they hung up. I understand what’s going on, but worry about older folks (like my Mother) who might think this is a legit call from their credit card, bank, etc. At your suggestion, I contacted the FCC, who told me that they only deal with legit telemarketers calling DNC registered consumers; they don’t handle scammers calls and suggested I call the FTC (877/382-4357). The FTC took my info but really cannot do anything about these “fake phone numbers”…they simply put the information into a national database. FTC recommended I call my local Consumer Protection Services to report the phising calls. Bottom line, there’s nothing to stop these slimeballs, except to stay informed and to caution all your friends & family to be aware.
Got a good laugh, though, from Mike’s suggestion to blast them with farm animal sounds!
I get and hate these calls like everyone else. I do not have the energy or interest right now to pursue this but I suspect some of you out there do. How difficult really is it or should it be to file the paperwork and try to get a subpoena for a criminal or civil lawsuit? You get the info, let the lawsuit go to court whether or not you bother to even pay a lawyer if you can’t afford it and publish all of the info on these bastards so they will stop harassing people. As for recording them, how big of a crime is it really to record someone under these circumstances and what is the nothing that will ensure from it? Just record them and publish the call .mp3s and call logs. Create enough good information on one website to make a difference. Incidentally, I don’t like but do not object to actual humans putting the effort into a cold call which to residences is to most of us annoying but still a legitimate business. However in my opinion having robots randomly dialing everybody in a giant phishing scheme is not. Just my .50 cents.
We have received 10 phone calls today from this Account Services to my 87 year old mother in law. They had information on her accts. They wanted to charge her acct 799.00 and 190.00 processing fee. One ph no is 213-363-5107, and several from private caller. Finally one, 407-285-3377, with the name of a person, Wayne Brown. Googled the 407 #, in Florida. Happened upon this site. Also called phone co, nothing can be done with out a subpoena. Please beware!!!!
I got a call today from account services but was on my lunch break at work and really didn’t have time to talk to the guy (Thank the Good Lord). He asked me if I was in debt and how much in debt I was in and dummy me told him. I did not give hime any other information as my lunch hour was over and told him that he would have to call me back on Saturday and he said that he would. I can’t wait!!!!! I called the # that was on my phone when I got home and the # comes up as disconnected..So then I thought I would check them out on the internet and low and behold I found this website, needless to say if the idiot calls me back on Saturday I have a few choice words for him and he will be getting NO information from me, other than the threat of a lawsuit if he doesn’t answer my questions, such as where they are located, who he works for, and send me all the information via PO box because I don’t want these creeps to have my home address..Thank-You for enlightening me, I could have made the biggest mistake of my life..Not Now!!!
I just got off the phone with “account services” as well. The number on the display was Illinois 773-000-0000. The guy said his name was David Garcia and his employee number 9908. Much good that does -when you call the number back it is disconnected and the number he gave me to call back with questions (I called it while on the phone with him) 1800 219-2536 keeps ringing. I think I got my clue from there and said they are not to touch ANY of my cards with ANY $ 799 fee!!!! Because I do not trust them, I called the cards and cancelled them (I only have two cards so it was quite easy). If it is too good to be true, it is too good to be true.
If there is a law suit here- count me in.
Thank you for posting this for all the folks out there.
Don’t count on law enforcement or lawsuit at all, even if you fully traced them, knew their number and their address. I had a case where somebody obtained the number of my credit card and made several fraudulent purchases. It was all fully traced – IP address, postal address (he specified shipping address on the orders) – still, according to the police, they are helpless to prosecute it’s not their jurisdiction, and technically, not anyone’s jurisdiction. Their advise was to lobby the Congress in order to create new law. Yes, I’m 100% serious, and this was said by noone else but the PD chief of Niles, IL police station. This is not 100% the same, no internet purchase, but I bet ten bucks the result would be the same.
It looks like police’s today functions are:
(1) catch the terrorists
(2) when someone steals something from you, give you report that you pass to the insurance co. (investigation is out of question)
(3) set up traps waiting for you to run stop sign.
Not much else.
I just received probably my 10th phone call from “Heather” and I have pushed the “1″ and spoken with the men and women on the other end of the phone. I asked to speak to a supervisor last time and she gave me a phony company name and web site. Today, I asked to speak to a manager and the woman said, “the manager cannot talk to you because he is doing naughty things to me!” then she hung up when I started to speak again. It is so intrusive and violating. I wish there was something I could do. They are calling on my cell. I just won’t pick up next time. Thanks for listening.
I saw a guy on youtube RickRoll a chick from “Accounts Services”.
I got a call from Daniel West from Card Services. I was busy so had him call me back today. As he’s giving me his pitch, I searched the web and found this information. He wouldn’t give me his phone number but transferred me to the financial legal dept. Alan from Financial Revolution came on the line in a few minutes. He was pushier than Daniel. He also wouldn’t give me his phone number. Then hung up on me. They were both from India. The noisy background was all people with an accent from India. They both kept saying “We haven’t asked you for your social security number, birthday or Mother’s maiden name so I should not worry”. The last guy finally hung up when he knew I realized this was a scam and wasn’t going to cooperate.
Judy
Don’t confuse these callers with a legitimate business to business accounting firm in Seattle. This errant entity calls from another state.
J. R. Hudson, President of Account Services, Inc. http://accountservices.com See our telemarkiting alert for more information : http://accountesrvices.com/alerts.htm
I just received a call from “account services” offering lower interest rate. When I asked what card they were calling about, I was told that they represent “all Visa cards” — The number on my called ID was a Georgia number, so I tried calling it after they hung up and I got a recording of a sleazy voice offering dating services!!
Just recieved the call from “Heather”. I pressed 2 to discontinue notices and an eastern voice came on the line, “You pressed 1 for further information…” To which I replied, “No! I pressed 2.” (I double checked my phone screen.) They hung up the phone immediately.