Not So Happy Holidays For Telemarketers
15
In recent days the government has been particularly tough on telemarketers. Last week a telemarketer was sentenced to 11 yrs in prison for his participation in a fraud scheme targeting U.S. residents, and the FTC settled charges it brought against a group of Canadian telemarketers.
The FTC reported that the Canadian telemarketers "deceived U.S. consumers through the fraudulent sale of telephone calling cards." Violating the Do Not Call Registry was the least of their crimes. Since 2004 the defendants allegedly called U.S. consumers to sell $1 long distance calling cards which would, unbeknownst to the consumer, charge an activation fee plus $49.95 monthly. Reportedly many cards went undelivered, though the group would continue to charge for the service.
The court permanently banned the telemarketers from "engaging in similar cross-border fraud," and assigned a penalty of $3.46 million. Unfortunately, this judgment was largely symbolic due to the "defendants' inability to pay" the majority of that sum.
In other news, Juan Luis Llamas, manager of a telemarketing call center based in Costa Rica was sentenced to a sizable prison term and fined $4.2 million that he will be required to pay jointly with co-conspirators. Allegedly, the call center would scam money from U.S. residents by calling individuals convincing them that they had won a sweepstakes contest. Victims were told that to receive their prize they would have to wire thousands of dollars to Costa Rica for a "refundable insurance fee."
To read the entire press release from the Department of Justice click HERE.
I'm glad that in both instances telemarketers were brought to justice and appropriately punished for their fraudulent activities. I think coal is all they should expect in their stockings this year!
3 Comments 
We should all get together and demad this sort of thing stop We are Americans and we can do anything we put our minds to We are the brave and proud and should not put up with thisThere are hundreds of people who r getting these calls and it is time to stop it NOW!!Whos wth me on this???? We can and shouldput a stop to unwanted calls The government wont do it so wewill You cant count on the gov to d anything but raise taxes and spend our money while voting on their own raisesWe should stand up and be heard we are strong and togrther we cwn do it but we have to unite Antbody who feels that as Americans we can do anything let me know and we will start getting this country the way it used to be SAFE,PROUD and STRONG qality for everyone
Web Pages /Caller Complaints.com
I am the one that owns this phone number and I filed a complaint about the number that was calling me and this looks like I am the one doing the calling not the complaining. You need to correct your files yesterday. I just found this.
Who Owns This 580 Number? Lookup 580 Numbers For Free - 1
580-745-9201. Filed by Joyce Alexander at 11/10/2008 8:50:23 AM. Unknown The line keeps calling me and hangs up when I pick up the phone. I have tried to call it back, usually get a busy signal. This has been going on for weeks at ...
www.callercomplaints.com/AreaCodeDetail.aspx?AreaCode=580
I have a question... I wasnt't sure where i should post it on this blog.
Well maybe a few questions...
Who "OWNS" the the phone lines?
Who do you pay for your phone service? I bet that if you answered this question it would be ATT/Cingular/MONOPOLY
Check out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly
Not too say names. There may be a few other companies you could think of too. But only a very few.
Now, don't get me wrong... I wouldn't throw blame in any direction. But when I pay my cell phone bill, I wonder who might have some EXTRA cash to help pay for those annoying calls I keep getting.
Actually... That was a little lie. My mom pays the bill. Its not too cheap at all.
But now I have my own apartment. The lifeline phone bill was pretty cheap. Really cheap. But everyone has a phone line. $5 a month from millions of people can add up quick.
I am not saying that telemarketer people are not responsible for their crimes. It is morally wrong, I think, too try to get people to fall for these scams. Nail them wall with fines, jail time, or "whatever"!!
So maybe if att helped fix this problem, I could afford to pay my own cell phone bill by myself. Because then there should a lot less phone calls going on those lines... (Those lines who ever they belong too) RIGHT??
Oh yeah, I got the cheapest possible phone service I could. And my internet service from a local guy. Att wanted a $50 deposit for DSL and a $50 dollar deposit for for long distance. I tried to get dsl without phone service. Att told me they could turn on dsl without phone service, but for the SAME price! Yeah with or without the phone service? But the local guy for internet service... He cannot provide dsl for me without phone service turned on. FROM ATT!!!
By the way. The local cell phone company was just bought out by att by the way...
"Who is getting burned here you may ask?"
NO CALLER ID!!!! Didn't think I needed it. More MONEY for that. Then all the sudden 3-5 calls a day/night start coming in on the phone line. Not too mention at my work too. Caller ID may cost a dollar or so, but from millions of people!!!
IF I AM GOING TO GET 3-5 CALLS A DAY FROM THESE PEOPLE, I SHOULD GET CALLER ID FOR FREE!!!
Call me crazy. Maybe this only makes since to me. But i bet some of you feel where i'm coming from in one aspect or another...
..thanks for your time
Dave
P.S. Didn't know where to post with no caller id!