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FTC Bombs Massive Robocall Operation

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the take-that-robots dept.

coondoggie writes "The Federal Trade Commission today had a federal court in Chicago halt a major telemarketing operation that made at least 370 million illegal phone calls pitching worthless extended auto warranties and credit card interest rate-reduction programs. According to the FTC, one telephone service provider told the FTC that during a single day in April 2009 the defendants — SBN Peripherals — sent 2.4 million calls to consumers — more than 27 calls per second."

4 of 154 comments (clear)

  1. Re:It's One of Those Days by somaTh · · Score: 4, Funny

    Is it wrong to hope that I someday see a black and white combat video on Wikileaks of an Apache gunship pointed at the blown out wall of some skyscraper with a wounded telemarketer or auto-dialer operator laying next to a headset and the gunners voice come over saying, "Just pick up the #%&$ing headset, just give me a reason, motha$%#@er!"

    Not even a little.

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  2. sad news by tverbeek · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now I won't have anybody calling me.... :-(

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    http://alternatives.rzero.com/
  3. i've been screwing with these people.... by Michael+Kristopeit · · Score: 4, Funny
    i just got my first home phone in a long time through a package deal with time warner (cheaper to get it than not get it...), anyways, i hadn't been exposed to telemarketing in a while, so it's a fun new thing for me.

    every call they made showed on the caller id as "SBN Peripherals", so at least they weren't trying to spoof that. i usually got the credit card rate reduction, or claims that i won a cruise. the funny part is i have no credit card debt.... i have no debt of any kind.... so i just talk in the crank yankers voice and demand "i want the lowest rate, lady".... over and over. they'll read their script for 4 responses and then hang up. i'm pretty sure that's where things get illegal... you can't just call me and hang up. I WANT THE LOWEST RATE!#^!&#)!

    screw you, SBN. you call me = i waste your time.

  4. It's One of Those RoboDays by TiggertheMad · · Score: 4, Funny

    "These are tough times. If a man can get a job, he might not look too close at what that job is."

    true, but aren't we talking about robo-calling? Is the job slump so bad that robots have to accept these crappy jobs in call centers?

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