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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.
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.
...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.
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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...
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.
All 5 cases are linked in the article. As to "when", the cases are dated today, the 1st. As to "how", the cases include things like temporary restraining orders, permanent injunctions, and asset freezes that the FTC is requesting from the court.
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
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.
How can you spoof the caller ID anyway? I mean shouldn't the telephone company know the caller ID of whoever is initiating the call (to know where to send the invoice for the call)?
They do know, when the call originates in their network. When it passes off to another network, they only know which network it came from, and who *that network* says it is. The honour system is what keeps ATT and Verizon (and so forth) from passing deliberately bad information between each other (and the threat of pissed off customers). That's how spoofing caller ID works... when you pass off into another network, give them bad information about the identity. If the call originates from a VOIP phone, especially an international VOIP phone, then there isn't much control over what information gets passed to your local carrier. And you can't simply block all VOIP lines, because there are legitimate VOIP carriers in the market, too.
Obligatory disclaimer: I work for a phone company, though in a different LOB.
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.
I assure you that there are far more than .01 hours in 7 years.
I believe it goes something like this:
1. charge customers for caller ID on incoming calls.
2. charge customers for the ability to hide their ID on outgoing calls.
3. charge customers for the ability to "see" hidden ID's on incoming calls.
4. go to number 2. rinse and repeat.
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
That only works within the local POTS network. If the call originates from a different exchange, they don't know the source number, only the exchange it came from.
E911 services are not intended to be used across exchanges. When you call 9-1-1, you get routed to the dispatch center local to your exchange.
Have gnu, will travel.
Look, we can't afford genuine RIAA Nazgul, OK?
That kind of evil doesn't come cheap!
Just mention that Rachel might have stolen the recording from a copyrighted source and they will come.