Recording of Recently Shut-Down Telemarketers In Action

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Recording of Recently Shut-Down Telemarketers In Action

Posted by timothy on Thursday October 4, 2012 @07:58AM 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."

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All telemarketers are scammers by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 08:00 · Score: 5, Insightful

There are no exceptions.
1. Re:All telemarketers are scammers by Sarten-X · 2012-10-04 08:22 · 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 · 2012-10-04 08:27 · 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 mr1911 · 2012-10-04 08:32 · Score: 2
  
  So I shouldn't have told them my social security number, bank card number & pin, and mother's maiden name?
  
  Oh well, at least they didn't get the combination to my luggage. 1234 will be safe forever!
  
  --
  This post comes with a double-your-money-back guarantee!
  Any offense taken to this post is at your sole discretion.
4. Re:All telemarketers are scammers by bobcat7677 · 2012-10-04 08:52 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  My parents.
5. Re:All telemarketers are scammers by sycodon · 2012-10-04 09:00 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  The lifetime subscription?
  I guess my Mom would have too if I hadn't stopped her.
  My ex did. I didn't stop her. :-)
  
  --
  When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
6. Re:All telemarketers are scammers by monkeyhybrid · 2012-10-04 09:04 · 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!
7. Re:All telemarketers are scammers by Sarten-X · 2012-10-04 09:05 · Score: 2
  
  Well, since we're redefining telemarketing, why not cut the definition down to those who are "selling" only items that don't exist, or touting services that they know the target has no need for? While we're at it, let's restrict "developers" to be only people who write programs using C#, "gamers" to be only those who first played Pac-Man at exactly age 19, and "unemployed" to mean only those who have received no income from anywhere in the past 23 years. Suddenly all our discussions are much simpler.
  That's the point of my post. Telemarketing as a field has been stereotyped until the word implies only cold-calling scammers, despite the fact that they make up only a tiny minority of the field.
  
  --
  You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
8. Re:All telemarketers are scammers by gl4ss · 2012-10-04 09:23 · Score: 2
  
  well,
  we we're referring to even legit magazine salesmen as scammers and people selling legit socks for price of "shipping & handling". because it's all the same bullshit - if their product depends on the on the call pressure factor in order to make a sale it's bullshit and that's what a lot of telemarketing depends on. if it's a business relationship call then it's not telemarketing, if it's soliciting you to buy some bullshit it's telemarketing, like adverts on tv are marketing. this is not redefining the word unless you use the definition that any business related call with the end aim of making more business is telemarketing, in which case ceo's are telemarketers.
  "Telemarketing (sometimes known as inside sales,[1] or telesales in the UK and Ireland) is a method of direct marketing in which a salesperson solicits prospective customers to buy products or services, either over the phone or through a subsequent face to face or Web conferencing appointment scheduled during the call. Telemarketing can also include recorded sales pitches programmed to be played over the phone via automatic dialing. Telemarketing has come under fire in recent years, being viewed as an annoyance by many."
  
  --
  world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
9. Re:All telemarketers are scammers by Charliemopps · 2012-10-04 09:41 · 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.
10. Re:All telemarketers are scammers by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 13:51 · 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.
Bad video by ildon · 2012-10-04 08:03 · Score: 2

I realize it's difficult to record a phone call, but I literally can't understand anything the telemarketer is saying in the video due to the audio quality.
1. Re:Bad video by Cinder6 · 2012-10-04 08:07 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  I got a couple calls from these guys. I couldn't understand them then, either.
  
  --
  If you can't convince them, convict them.
2. Re:Bad video by gstoddart · 2012-10-04 08:21 · Score: 2
  
  I got a couple calls from these guys. I couldn't understand them then, either.
  No kidding ... usually it's terrible line quality, terrible English skills, and some idiot saying he's "from the windows service provider and there's a problem with my computer".
  A friend's father in law got taken by one of these last year -- he immediately re-imaged the PC, told his father in law to cancel his credit cards, and then proceeded to give him a stern lecture on such things.
  I sat my parents down a couple of years ago and gave them a good lesson on being skeptical about such things. It's saved them a few times.
  
  --
  Lost at C:>. Found at C.
3. Re:Bad video by Cinder6 · 2012-10-04 08:51 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  I was amused at the way they identified themselves to me: "Microsoft Malicious Software Department". Yeah, I'm posting on Slashdot, but even I was surprised that Microsoft is so transparent about selling malware...
  
  --
  If you can't convince them, convict them.
4. Re:Bad video by GoogleShill · 2012-10-04 10:27 · Score: 2
  
  I got a call from a guy from The Alien Touch with the same scam, in fact it sounded exactly the guy in the video, so I wouldn't be surprised if it weren't the same dude. I was only able to keep him on the phone for about 4.5 minutes when I finally told him I run Linux. He asked me "Then why the f* are you wasting my time?!?!" To which I replied, "Because you're a f*ing scam artist scumbag!" Then he hung up. The sad thing is that they have a Facebook page with 56 followers (victims, probably).
5. Re:Bad video by Enter+the+Shoggoth · 2012-10-04 11:30 · Score: 2
  
  I got a call from a guy from The Alien Touch with the same scam, in fact it sounded exactly the guy in the video, so I wouldn't be surprised if it weren't the same dude. I was only able to keep him on the phone for about 4.5 minutes when I finally told him I run Linux. He asked me "Then why the f* are you wasting my time?!?!" To which I replied, "Because you're a f*ing scam artist scumbag!" Then he hung up.
  The sad thing is that they have a Facebook page with 56 followers (victims, probably).
  Telling them you run Linux is lame... we should all follow Tom Mabe's lead.
  
  --
  Andy Warhol got it right / Everybody gets the limelight
  Andy Warhol got it wrong / Fifteen minutes is too long.
Re:A lifetime contract for AV software! by wierd_w · 2012-10-04 08:06 · 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."
Re:One question: by click2005 · 2012-10-04 08:08 · Score: 3, Funny

The phone conversation's lifetime.

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I am a free slashdotter. I will not be modded, blogged, DRM'd, patented, podcasted or RFID'd. My life is my own.
Forwarding to my mom by AttyBobDobalina · 2012-10-04 08:14 · Score: 5, Funny

I get forwarded so many *fake* scamming stories from my mom...now I get to create an e-mail from a real one. Thanks, Slashdot! My mom appreciates it.
Thank you for calling by Megane · 2012-10-04 08:17 · Score: 2

Thank you for calling, my name is Peggy, how can I be fixing your computer today?

--
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
Collateral Damage by badford · 2012-10-04 08:25 · Score: 5, Funny

This will hurt all of the legitimate anti-virus telemarketers out there as well as a many a wayward Nigerian prince. Perhaps an elaboration is due. You see I am a representative of the late Nigerian Head of State, General Arbach Jamani who died on 12th August 2003, I have been tasked to distribute the excess revenue from precious metal mining that the lord, bathsheba, has blessed our coffers with...

--
-badford
1. Re:Collateral Damage by 91degrees · 2012-10-04 08:46 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  You're clearly lying. I know because I've been in contact with the representative of the real Nigerian head of state, regarding the transfer of $20,000,000 (TWENTY MILLION DOLLARS) and he said you;re the scammer.
2. Re:Collateral Damage by MysteriousPreacher · 2012-10-04 12:01 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Not as quickly as HP does.
  
  --
  -- Using the preview button since 2005
Re:No Protection? by wierd_w · 2012-10-04 08:32 · Score: 3, Funny

Haven't you heard about the dangerous su, sh, and dd viruses!?
Why, I hear that if you get all three, they can nuke your whole box!
(LOL!)
Bad audio quality, but... by frostfreek · 2012-10-04 08:35 · Score: 4, Interesting

Very interesting end to the video, where the scammer realizes that he's dealing with someone who knows something about computers, and starts to try to... what.... do some damage?
Better Link by Bill+Dimm · 2012-10-04 08:45 · Score: 4, Informative

Slashdot linked to the blog's homepage instead of the specific blog entry with the video, so the link isn't going to give the right result if they post anything else to the blog.
Watching scumbags lie? by Hatta · 2012-10-04 08:51 · Score: 5, Funny

No thanks, I got enough of that last night.

--
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Scumbags by kstatefan40 · 2012-10-04 09:14 · Score: 5, Funny

These guys were targeting primarily older users. They called my parents at least 5 times telling them they could tell there were viruses on their machine and that if they didn't pay the fee, the computer would stop working. My mother asked me what she should do, and I told her to get a contact number so she could forward to the Kansas Attorney General.
Phone call went like this:
"Can I get your number so I can send it to the Kansas Attorney General for investigation?"
"What?"
"I need your number so I can send it to the AG."
[someone in the background] "HANG UP! HANG UP NOW!"
Never called back. Problem solved.
1. Re:Scumbags by LizardKing · 2012-10-04 20:34 · Score: 2
  
  These guys were targeting primarily older users.
  Yup, they targeted my elderly neighbour and a number of her friends, but I've never heard of them targetting younger people. This suggests to me that they have access to data on people so they can pick the best targets. The only commonality we could find amongst the victims we knew was that they had called British Telecom's broadband support lines in India ...
Tele-guru tech bastards - No [w]alues by Penurious+Penguin · 2012-10-04 09:19 · Score: 2

My aunt who operates her own publishing company, was recently 'had' by similar tele-guru tech bastards. From the audio recording, it sounds almost identical to what she described to me. She didn't even know she'd been scammed until after I heard the story, poked around in the logs and such, and explained the dupe. It cost her something near $100 and I spent my own time trying to figure out WTF was going on and checking for problems. Many people are unaware that Microsoft never contacts their customers unless an active request is pending. My aunt is no dummy and is a power-user in her own niche; however, she simply has never had time to keep up with modern nonsense. I was actually more furious than she was when we concluded it was a scam. I still have no sure way of knowing exactly what these scoundrels did beyond what I was able to undo. It is nice to have word of the demise of at least some of these louts.

Toward the end of the audio recording is a real treasure. How do they justify what they do with themselves? They are simply a bunch of boody motherfuckers with no [w]alues.

--
Forward! -- Emperor Norton, 2012
Part 2: illegal wiretapping... by jd659 · 2012-10-04 09:22 · Score: 2

If telemarketers had slightly more power (think *AA) the guy posting the scam on the web site would end up in jail for illegally wiretapping phone conversations and own millions in damaged due to "lost business". We need to have the laws passed that safeguard the current telemarketing business model!!!

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There's no such thing as "illegal download"