The account services 954-733-7981 scam
I decided to do a link roundup about this and make it a resource post so new visitors can easily find the posts if the search engines don’t take them right to ‘em.
- My original post – just a warning to everyone
- My next post, where I talk about calling the police and Verizon. This is also the post where tons of people posted about their experience and investigations into this scam. Very valuable information here!
- My update on the fact that blocking screened calls doesn’t work like Verizon suggested, and my suggestion to tell them you’re recording the call even if you aren’t.
Some other links culled from the comment threads (but again, I highly recommend reading the comments on post #2 above, because it’s chock full of info).
- http://www.elsewhere.org/journal/archives/2007/07/02/cardholder-services/
- http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/34709834/m/443000327831
- http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-877-487-2273
- http://www.haloscan.com/comments/lincmad/6500520568862720776/
- http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-442-074-2550 - it would appear this thing is international, because even if they’re just spoofing international numbers as well as domestic, that involves other countries
Where to go to complain: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/complaints_tcpa.html. I’ve emailed them and gotten only an automated response. No idea whether they’ll help or not.
I’ll keep adding to this post as needed!
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I is time we started to fight back, I am going to talk very low to them so they have to turn up the volume on their phone and then blow a whistle. After they go deaf they won’t be able to use the phone.
I get these stupid calls once a week, they even leave messages of a lame recording.
I’m going to try filling a complaint, but I somehow doubt it will work.
Okay…I think we need to update our information on how people should respond to this.
Rather than use the FCC’s internet complaint form, I used the telephone number to speak directly to an FCC representative. She told me that I didn’t want to file an FCC complaint (which is only a complaint that they called me and I’m on the Do Not Call Registry), but that I wanted to speak with the Federal Trade Commission to report a possible fraud.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) actually has a website set up to take reports of phone fraud:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/phonefraud/report.shtml
On this website you’ll find a link to the complaint form and also the suggestion that you report an incident to your State Attorney General’s office (there is a link from the website to find yours).
Enough of these reports will make a criminal investigation more likely.
Account Services Scam – The thing is, you need a phone number for the company so you can actually track down where the company is really located. When you ask for their main company phone number or address they hang up.
When I asked for a supervisor I was told with a heavy middle eastern accent that they were in San Francisco but she wouldn’t give me a phone number – “You can’t call us. This is a call center with outbound calling only.”
I repeated that I wanted the main phone number for the company and she said the same thing. Get a real number for them and get an address and the FTC can close them down (or some irate people can pay them a visit).
If they’re calling you, put together fake information ahead of time and string them along as long as possible. It’s entertaining and at least it ties up one caller for a few minutes. My record is 20 minutes before they catch on.
I have been receiving numerous calls from these scammers. From 4 or 5 different numbers, and today I discovered they are the same scammers doing the “extended auto warranty” calls. The automated msg I got was about the auto warranty, but the agent asked about my credit card.
I am also on the DNC list, but I can’t find out what company is doing this, because they are “spoofing” the CallerID info, and unfortunately it is legal…for now. I have been following legislation in Congress to make it illegal, but in the previous 2 sessions of Congress, the House has passed a bill but it never was voted on by the full Senate. The latest version (S. 30) was sent to committee in January.
Call your Congressperson and demand “The Truth In CallerID Act of 2009” be passed in both houses and signed into law.
Just got another one of those calls…this time it came in on my caller i.d. from Miami, Fla. Caller was “James” and he had a “nice” story about not believing it was a free service when he was called either and now he’s working for them because they helped him so much. (!) Couldn’t give me an address, so he sent me to his Manager, Jerry. (!) Jerry promptly hung up on me when I insisted on the address there in Miami for their “business” Account Services. Ha!
I see all the posts about the caller being “Heather” and from GA but this one came in supposedly from FLA.
I ALMOST gave them information. I did clarify my middle name and my addresss. But that’s all. Think I stand a chance of Identity theft with just that info?
Yikes!
Looks like the calls will stop the FTC found the poeple and shut them down. It is all over the FTC website today. The same people that did the warranty dialed for the card services lower interest rate, Network foundations.
Here is the link to the ftc website.
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/05/robocalls.shtm
It has most certainly NOT stopped. I received the “auto warranty” call yesterday, and I got the “account services” call this morning.
I am writing regarding the nationwide “Card Services” credit card scam. I have recorded a new campaign call with these fraudsters. You can listen to the full recording (12 minutes long) and read the analysis of thier techniques.
Recording of entire call:
http://www.jacobapelbaum.com/download/files/TheFraudsters.MP3
Analysis:
http://apelbaum.wordpress.com/2009/03/20/an-afternoon-with-a-fraudster/
Jacob Apelbaum
I spent over an hour with Account Services and spoke with several different people, who all seemed legitimate. Unfortunately, I was foolish enough to provide one of my credit card numbers for a card with a high balance and high interest rate thinking they would be able to live up to what they were promising. I am currently on hold with my credit card company to find out what I can do to stop any of the scam. Any advice, besides not to be so foolish next time. My credit card interest rates are so high right now, I thought they could really help. I don’t even have any late payments. What is going on??? The credit card companies are scammers too!!
I’m called by the Account Services people probably once a month, for the past several months. This last time I tried to string them along (“Wayne” was his name this time) to try and get some info from them.
They’re good at keeping secrets. I got nowhere. After it was all over I recalled something Wayne said that I didn’t think much of at the time, but it is a good clue. At some part of the conversation he said, in effect, “Well, you are interested enough in your credit to have checked your credit score with Experian recently, didn’t you?” How did he know THAT? I had done exactly that about 2-3 weeks ago. So somehow that info has made its way to Acct Services. Does anyone know how that is possible?
I tried a company that helped me with our credit cards. Not all thenm are out to hurt us. I could barely make my payments and after they got done i was able to afford to buy some things for my house for the first time in 2yrs.
Misty, that’s true. There’s also a middle ground – companies that are not scams, but are “fly by night”, leaving the people whose debt they’ve consolidated in a confusing position, as none of their creditors are now being paid off.
I’m not sure how to tell them all apart, unfortunately. If I knew, I’d write a post about it!
I just got a call from Auria Miriam from Account Servicing for Visa/Master card. This call was from 775-317-7603. She asked questions regarding by interest rate and balance and said that this was a Federal Program that will reduce my rates to 6%. She never asked me my account numbers but I think that was because my accounts are almost to the maximum, she said that someone will be calling me in 48 hours. I felt a little uneasy about the call and decided to call back the number. The number is not reachable. I then decided to google the company and found out about this scam. They do sound convincing if you don’t pay attemtion – glad i decided to check into it. I feel that if my balance wasn’t so high, the caller would have took it a step further. I’m sure someone has fell into this trap.
I still get calls from this once a week. If you press 9 like it says to do to talk to them and ask to be removed from their list they start calling every day instead of every week. It always says “consider this your final notice” and yet every week it’s the same auto-dialer with automated recording.
I am the IT Security Director for a company in the NY metro area and have been what I call attacked by this company as well to the rate of 125 calls an hour to our phone system. Here is what I can share on this topic:
Outgoing calls are made by a company called Account Services in Orlando Florida, they also have an office in Ft Lauderdale. They are affiliated with a company called National Debt Institute also in Orlando Florida http://www.americandebtcouncil.org (website URL changes often) currently http://www.goverment-modification.org Following the trail a little further upstream they are linked to American Debt Counseling, Inc in Orlando at 14051 NW 14th Street Sunrise Fl 954-656-8080 (real phone number)
I’ve traced their spoofed caller ID numbers as far as I legally can but in all cases these numbers are cell phones that are out of service. Now I was able to track down who the CEO is of American Debt Counseling Inc – since they are the company that uses Account Services to make the calls to us, his name is Alan Silverberg – his email address per his domain registration is alan@americandebtcounseling.org
They do have another real phone number of 954-227-7221 –
Hope this helps