March 8, 2008
More on the account services scam
by Jen (March 8, 2008)
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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April 24th, 2008 at 8:47 am
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.
May 2nd, 2008 at 10:46 am
I know where their local office is……………any ideas on what to do?
September 29th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
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?
October 17th, 2008 at 8:00 am
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!!!!!
October 21st, 2008 at 10:15 am
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!
November 25th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
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.