Slashdot Mirror
FTC Whacks "Rachel From Card Holder Services"
coondoggie writes "Just two weeks after it challenged the public to come up with a better technological way to stop incessant robocalling, the Federal Trade Commission pulled the plug on five mass calling companies it said were allegedly responsible for millions of illegal pre-recorded calls from 'Rachel' and others from 'Cardholder Services.' 'At the FTC, Rachel from Cardholder Services is public enemy number one,' said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz at the announcement of the cases."
How she got my number is beyond me.
The cost of that cleanup, of course, will be borne by taxpayers, not industry.
Simple as that. Glad to know someone was taking it seriously. And your next impossible mission, should you choose to accept it... "the chimney company."
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
I have been receiving no less than 3 calls a week for the last 6 months from "Card Services" with this robocall. The numbers were always different, so blocking didn't help.
Often the calls came in as late as 9:00 p.m., which was seriously annoying.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
Rachel has been calling me for years and the ho needed to be taken down. Nothing works to stop the bitch. Screaming into the phone, swearing at them, putting the phone down and not talking, pretending to be a mindless fool who can't find their cards and keeping them on the line for long periods of time. This outfit is just so lame. I had recently recorded the tones that are played when the call was transferred by pressing "1" so I could dial them directly and start bothering them.
...is giving whoever took care of this one billion dollars.
I hope the pre-recorded foghorn caller is included. I think it's offering some travel package, but since the first thing you hear is a loud lighthouse foghorn sound, I haven't listened to the pitch for the last several years. They've been attacking my office line about 3 times a year for the past decade, from different caller ID numbers.
[
Now, assuming we bust all 5 companies and take everything they have, is there any way to go after the owners personally for the frauds they've committed? Or is this going to be yet another instance of the all-too-common business plan:
1. Set up a scam company.
2. Scam people.
3. Government busts the company, forces it into bankruptcy.
4. Personally, you avoided punishment because it's limited liability.
5. Profit!
6. Repeat as many times as you like.
I am officially gone from
She is the only girl that has called me in the last 3 years...
Forever Alone...
No information on when they did this, but I got a call from the outfit just two days ago, so they were still operational on Tuesday.
Or, is this like so many other things done at the administrative level nowadays? "We shut them down, by sending a strongly worded letter to the post office box listed somewhere!"
"Mr. Morden: What do YOU want?
Ambassador Vir Cotto: I'd like to live just long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike as a warning to the next ten generations that some favors come with too high a price. I want to look up into your lifeless eyes and wave like this.
[waves]
Ambassador Vir Cotto: Can you and your associates arrange that for me, Mr. Morden? "
the guys running these Call Centers can be Mr Morden.
Any person using FTFY or editing my postings agrees to a US$50.00 charge
I am so fed up of these calls as well as the collection companies trying to collect on debts from 20 years ago.
I did find a way to get them to pull you from the list.
1) Set up asterisks phone system.
2) Record the three tone sound and message that is played when you call a number than no longer exists.
3) Set the message played to a blocked caller in asterisks to be the recording of the tones with the message that the number no longer exists.
4) Blacklist every one of those F***ERS
When the system detects the tone it will remove your number from the list, Even if they have someone check the number it will play the "Has been disconnected or is no longer in service" message.
It cut my calls down to maybe one a month getting through and I just hit *32 after they get through and add the new number to the black list.
Tell me someone was 'whacked' in the mafia sense of the word? Otherwise it's just a temporary shut down which will be back soon.
Because I get a tremendous amount of calls from these automated things claiming they can lower my interest rates.
This one is most common of these scam calls after the free cruise my wife wins every day at 3pm on her cell phone, and the morons who claim to be from "The Windows Service Provider".
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
I have noticed most of these calls come disguised via google voice numbers. They change their numbers nonstop, and the majority of the time when you press one to talk to an operator the system is overloaded and just hangs up on you. I knew they were making crazy money when I saw that. If they can't even handle the amount of traffic the robodialer is generating for them, they are obviously being very successful.
I'd call it a good start. Let them catch their breath, think their ordeal is over... then give them 10 hours of They're Taking The Hobbits To Isengard.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
The skeptic in me thinks the FTC knew who these companies were all along. Five companies account for millions of unwanted calls a day, and disregard the DNC list? Seems that an operation like that would be hard to hide. Maybe the political pressure got to be too much and FTC felt they had to act? I'm not complaining, just asking why we had to put up with it for several years before there was any regulatory action.
"Round up the usual suspects."
The most annoying thing about Cardholder Services is that I know the bank I used to work for actually branded themselves as "Cardmember Services" for customer service, because they had so many cobrands and partners (airlines, hotels, etc - each with their own card branding). Which means that the legitimate bank using that name lent credence to the frauds who followed after.
I raised a concern about it back when they first started doing it (years ago), but was just a lowly programmer who clearly couldn't understand the intricacies and nuances of branding.
I don't know how they actually get any "business" -- the last 3 times they've called me, I've tried playing along to see how the scam works. Somewhere along the line, as I'm telling them what my current interest rate is, they always hang up on me. It blows my mind.
One time, though, I had fun -- my other routine is to try to explain to the poor schmuck on the line (who is probably an underpaid normal person who can't find a better job) that they are working for scammers and probably should find a different job. One lady from "Card Services" started yelling at me about how they weren't scammers, they were a organization that wants to help people and that they never break the law, and that my phone number must not actually be on the do-not-call list if they called me, because they follow the rules. It was hilarious, she carried on for 5 or 10 minutes shouting at me, and she sounded like she actually believed it.
Did you buy her lots of drinks and leave with nothing? Yeah. that was me.
This tagline was transcoded to result in at least one smirk. If you experience failure to smirk, please consult your Gen
As a geek, I was intrigued at the programming behind his response tree, but he is clearly a robot, albeit a very well-programmed one.
If only "common" sense was actually that common...
I assure you that there are far more than .01 hours in 7 years.
perhaps there's some vigilante justice out there.
According the the complaint, one of the companies was run by Christopher L Miano and Dana M Miano, and operated as A+ Financial, out of 10258 S US Highway 1, Port Saint Lucie, FL. The other companies were created and run by Willy Plancher and Valbona Toska, and was in the Longwood/Winter Park/Altamonte Springs, Florida area. Their last known address was 383 Emerson Plaza, Suite 416, Altamonte Springs, FL.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
First off you are not protected on the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act as the debt was incurred before it was made. It is grandfathered which is why debt collection agencies are purchasing it because they are free from prosecution. Only new debt after it was made can be applied.
I am going to get flamed here or modded down ... but you are expected to pay them.
People who do not pay back their debt have no integrity and do not keep their word. You made a promise to pay them no matter what, you agreed to the terms, and it is been what?? 20 years?!
Be responsible! At least try with a payment plan if you want anyone like a car dealership or a bank to trust you again. Hate the debt collectors all you want but if I owed you money and the repo man was about to take your car away because you had to pay off my own debt would you not be pissed off hounding me on paying back too? You would and probably be threatening to sue me as well.
http://saveie6.com/
Probably not. It was probably just a good voice acting gig to her, that help paid the bills.
OOOOHHHHHHHHH she had BILLS to PAY!
Probably mouths to feed, and a mortgage, too!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
That she later got called on.
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure