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Recording of Recently Shut-Down Telemarketers In Action

Posted by timothy on from the canadians-are-so-polite dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Just yesterday, the FTC, in conjunction with other government agencies, shut down an international telemarketing scam. A recent video has surfaced showing them in action, trying to scam one of the principals of a Canadian web start-up. Watch the scammers lie through their teeth to convince their 'victim' that he needs to buy a lifetime subscription to their anti-virus product."

8 of 104 comments (clear)

  1. All telemarketers are scammers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There are no exceptions.

    1. Re:All telemarketers are scammers by Sarten-X · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Except for the ones who actually do the job right, of course (which requires managers who allow it).

      Telemarketers as a group get a lot of shit for doing a pretty benign job. At my last IT admin job, I got a few telemarketing calls a month, mostly from vendors we already work with telling me about their new products. Pretty benign, and sometimes actually useful.

      The bad ones are just the ones who cold-call people they have no relationship with already, press sales, and lie.

      --
      You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
    2. Re:All telemarketers are scammers by gl4ss · · Score: 4, Insightful

      usually telemarketing refers to cold calling.

      What I mean, is that usually if it's an ongoing business relationship - like you had with your vendors - then it's no longer telemarketing - emphasized by the fact that even if you were on a some national do not call list(in any western nation) they can call you because they have an already established business relationship with you.

      in that context all telemarketers are scammers.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    3. Re:All telemarketers are scammers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      reputable marketing companies
      won't lie
      have proper QA and audit trails
      don;t want to waste anyone's time re something that would not be a match
      all marketing time is expensive
      think long term relationship build

      but yeah there are crooked people in every profession - banks anyone? ever talked to an IT recruitment agency?

    4. Re:All telemarketers are scammers by monkeyhybrid · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If a telemarketer calls to try and sell me a service or product that I don't already have, then in it is generally a safe bet that I don't want or need it. If it happens to be for something that I would quite like, I am sure I can find a better price by myself rather than accept what a salesman is offering me over a phone line. I will never pay for something from a telemarketer and I detest the whole idea of sales people phoning strangers in an attempt to talk them into buying a product.

      I'm not saying all telemarketers are bad, just that telemarketing as a whole is bad!

    5. Re:All telemarketers are scammers by Charliemopps · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Let me fix that for you: All SALESMEN and MARKETING reps are scammers. There are no exceptions. Telemarketers are just slightly more annoying.

    6. Re:All telemarketers are scammers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Nope. ALL telemarketers are scamming scumbags. The only time someone should ever call me to try to sell me something is if I specifically asked them to.

  2. Re:A lifetime contract for AV software! by wierd_w · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Oh no silly. You seem to think that this was a "pay once, and get service forever!" Type lifetime contract.

    Coming from a scam farm, I would expect more "signee agrees to pay $24.95 per month in purpetuity in exchange for service."