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FTC Targets Group That Made Billions of Robocalls
coondoggie writes Given the amount of time the FTC and others have put into curing the robocall problem, it is disheartening to hear that a group of companies for almost a year have been making billions of illegal robocalls. The Federal Trade Commission and 10 state attorneys general today said they have settled charges against a Florida-based cruise line company and seven other companies that averaged 12 million to 15 million illegal sales calls a day between October 2011 through July 2012, according to the joint complaint filed by the FTC and the states.
Unless they settled to the tune of tens of billions of dollars, I don't see how we're going to make any progress on this.
WTF does "settled charges" mean? Who went to jail? Who was prosecuted? Where and when was the court case?
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
On my land line I put the phone down gently without hanging up. I figure if they want to waste my time, I should waste some of theirs.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Like this fine man did.
Then enjoy not hearing whatever they try to sell you over the sound of billing them 10p a minute.
I don't get cruise sales calls -- I get calls for carpet cleaning, construction contracting, phony IRS agents, and phony credit agencies. I suspect many are calling from foreign countries. They obviously aren't deterred one whit by US laws or agencies. I just use a box to screen everything unless it's on a whitelist. And blacklisted calls get a disconnected number signal. For the most part, problem solved but I can see from the call logs who's tried and what scam they are pulling by googling the number. What I wonder is, why haven't we seen a massive bust of robocall scammers by the FBI? A couple of reasons-- one, they're not in the US, two, they're paying for the call, so the phone company is making money off them, and three, rich people are mostly unaffected by and/or oblivious of the problem.
The brings to mind a profound application that would likely solve this problem, a turing test for robocalls. How long can a computer keep the telemarketers on line, whilst leaving you out of it all. Roboanswers for robocalls, so 'hmm' apt ;D.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
The brings to mind a profound application that would likely solve this problem, a turing test for robocalls. How long can a computer keep the telemarketers on line, whilst leaving you out of it all.
Already exists, Google "telecrapper 2000".
I'm meaner. I pretend to be a very old individual, making them listen closer. I play along for a few seconds, knock over a chair or table and them shout "No, no!" and scream like I'm being murdered. THEN I drop the phone down, make a few noises and then calmly hang up.
Very cathartic... and fun.
As always, the FTC "settlement" consists of nothing more than the bad guys having to mail a check for the money they haven't yet shipped off-shore and promising to Go Forth and Sin No More. Why does the FTC even bother? How is that supposed to deter anybody?
Such a settlement might make sense if this was some minor paperwork violation of an obscure regulation, but these guys were simply pretending the law didn't exist, yet they still get off with a slap on the wrist.
Who's actually spending money on this stuff?
I get that maybe some elderly people can be victimized by carefully tailored scams that target the elderly, but when some guy from India calls some old white guy in Indiana about his computer, is he really going to buy into it?
And this other stuff about your credit cards, free trips, auto warranty -- who is buying this kind of thing over the phone anymore?
You know when someone gets convicted of computer hacking they often get banned from using computers / the internet. Maybe these guys should get banned from using telephones.
You mean you wasted valuable time of their calling program? They probably pay very close to zero calling rates per minute, why bother? Or there is live person that will speak to you if you do not hang up after listening to the message?
We can find robocallers. We just need them to sufficiently piss off a decision maker at the NSA. Then, BRING ME THE HEAD OF "RACHEL" FROM CARDMEMBER SERVICES.
bah.
Yes, if you press 1 you'll eventually get connected to a soulless husk that was formerly human but now is unable to feel warmth. They're also pretty quick to hang up, so I just shout at them.
bah.
Or you could use non-standard units. And no, I don't mean switch to kilometers.
About 14.6 football fields make up a mile, so...
Them: Hello, sir, you're vehicle warranty has expired. How many miles are on your [insert car here]?
Me: 68,000 football fields.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Well, and the thing to remember is you have no idea what actually happens when you press a button.
Have you been connected to a pay for call service? Have they confirmed your phone number is valid? There are examples of people pressing "1" only to find a line item on their phone bill the next month.
Honestly, the best solution I've found is to buy phones which can be programmed to block certain calls (like callers with Unknown/Private numbers). After that, I simply don't answer calls from area codes I don't recognize or from 800 numbers.
It has reached the point where 99% of all incoming calls are purely spam and scams, which means the default position is to assume when the phone rings it's just crap .. if it's important, well, that's what answering machines are for.
There are technical means that could be employed, but the lobbyists for the assholes who make their money from call centers have made sure that caller Id spoofing is legal to support their business model -- but this has the effect of meaning it is impossible to know who the hell is actually calling you.
Just remember, it's the exemptions for business who claim their free speech rights are being violated if they aren't allowed to call you are the ones who paid your politicians for exemptions.
And then stop answering the phone unless you recognize the caller.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
If it hasn't already happened, they'll just pop up under a new name, with a dozen new shell corporations but the same people behind it. Until they actually put some teeth behind the Do Not Call list, it's never going to stop.
Oh, no! You have walked into the slavering fangs of a lurking grue!
so, back of the envelope calculation here, assuming they waste at least 30s of the callees' time for each call before they hang up.
Assuming an average lifespan of 70 for the sake of round numbers, they've wasted somewhere around 52 lifetimes of other people's time.
These people make Jeffery Dahlmer look like a piker. They should be locked in a metal box with spike on this inside. Killing's too good for the lot of them.
I pay to have a phone for my benefit, not theirs.
http://www.reddit.com/r/itslen...
- First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
Last telemarketer call I got, I waited until the guy came on the line, then, channeling the announcer at the airport who warns that you might be a terrorist, I say
"Thank you for calling the FBI self incarceration hotline. To surrender in english, press 1. Para espanol, oprime el numero dos."
There is a long pause, and the guy goes "Hello?" so I go
"To hear these options again, press 3."
"hello?"
'To hear these options again, press 3."
there is this anxious pause, and then I hear the button tone.
'beeep.'
I nearly die of joy, and promptly start my imaginary menu from the top.
"Thank you for calling the FBI self incarceration hotline. To surrender in english, press 1. Para espanol, oprime el numero dos."
another anxious pause, and then:
'Beeeep.'
I'm not trying not to pass out from glee, so I scream into the phone:
"YOUR A FUCKING IDIOT! NEVER CALL ME AGAIN!"
they called me twice a day for a week after that, but god it was fun.
I've decided to Diversify my Holdings. I've divided my cash between my left and right pockets, instead of all in one.
No, that's an irrational fear between your ears you invented. The illegal outsourced phone center in India, using one disposable U.S. cell phone number after another to harass you with their marketing scams, are not going to call your local police or emergency services, they have no means to do so. Feel free to aurally abuse them in any manner you choose.