Most of you know to be suspicious when someone calls out of the blue to tell you you’ve been approved to get something for free. But not everyone is as savvy as y’all, which is what scammers depend on to make their money. [More]
robocalls
Chase Won’t Stop Robocalling About My Low Account Balance: I Don’t Have An Account
By 4.11.13
Late last year, Dennis got a new phone number. That shouldn’t be anything to complain about, and indeed he has no complaints about his mobile carrier or about his new phone. The problem is that Chase Bank keeps calling him about his account balance, which he would appreciate if he actually had an account with Chase or a low account balance. He does not. [More]
FTC Shuts Down Robocall Scammers Pretending To Be FTC
By 12.3.12
This story is like the scene in a straight-to-DVD thriller where the protagonist needs to decide which of two seemingly identical characters, both of whom claim to be her real partner, to shoot dead. Except it’s not really anything like that because it involves robocalling, no one gets shot and it probably doesn’t star Judd Nelson. [More]
What To Do If You’re Still Getting Calls From “Rachel At Cardholder Services”
By 11.7.12
Last week, the Federal Trade Commission shut down five operations responsible for untold number of scammy robocalls from “Rachel (or one of many other names) at Cardholder Services.” But several readers have written in to say that these calls have not ended. [More]
FTC Hangs Up On “Rachel From Cardholder Services”
By 11.1.12
For several years, American consumers have been receiving unwanted robocalls with a recorded message from “Rachel” or one of her fictional co-workers at the vaguely named “Cardholder Services.” Not only are these calls often in violation of do-not-call regulations, they are also a scam to trick people our of their cash. Today, the Federal Trade Commission announced it had pulled the plug on five companies behind these scammy robocalls. [More]
Court Rules That Best Buy Violated Federal Telemarketing Reguations
By 10.22.12
Reversing a summary judgement by a U.S. District Court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that calls from Best Buy to customers asking them to update their Rewards Zone accounts cross the line from informational to telemarketing, in violation of federal law. [More]
Think You Know How To End Robocalls? You Could Win $50,000
By 10.22.12
Even though the national Do Not Call registry has stopped most legitimate businesses from flooding consumers’ phone lines with unwanted robocalls, scam artists continue calling because they don’t really care about obeying the law in the first place. Thus, the Federal Trade Commission is offering a $50,000 prize for the person who can help put an end to robocalls. [More]
How I Made The CVS Robocalls Stop – For Now
By 10.2.12
Vivi gets her prescriptions at CVS, and this meant that she recently began getting robocalls from CVS. You can’t blame her for thinking that an announcement telling her that the chain had “important information” for her meant that the phone call contained important information. Not advertising. The store’s robots were calling her up with ads, though, not recall information or anything else urent actually concerning her prescription. [More]
Does Uptick In Telemarketing Complaints Mean "Do-Not-Call" Registry Isn't Really Working?
By 9.17.12
Ah, the cherished dinner hour. Peace, quiet and if that stupid telemarketer doesn’t stop calling I am seriously going to throw my fork really violently at something. If that sounds like you, you aren’t alone. Even with the “Do Not Call” registry, there’s been a spike in complaints against telemarketers, especially those pre-recorded phone calls that always seem to come when you don’t want them to. Although, does anyone ever really welcome a telemarketer’s call? Doubt it. [More]
HSBC Really Wants Your Cellphone Number To Alert You To Suspicious Activity (Oh, And Also To Make Collections Calls)
By 8.7.12
According to this post from yesterday, the folks at HSBC’s collections dept. have such a trigger finger on the redial button that they made a list of most-blocked phone numbers. And now we have a pretty good idea where HSBC is getting permission to call up customers’ cellphones. [More]
Debt Collectors Real & Fake Top List Of Most-Blocked Phone Numbers
By 8.6.12
According to a new list of most-blocked telephone numbers, the only people more tenacious than debt collectors about making non-stop calls to consumers are bogus debt collectors possibly looking to steal your information or trick you into making a payment. [More]
You Probably Didn’t Give That Robocaller Permission To Call You
By 7.11.12
Until a few years ago, businesses only needed a tenuous “established business relationship” in order to justify blasting out pre-recorded phone messages to consumers. Even though it’s now required that robocallers get a signed authorization before autodialing your number, many are not following these rules. [More]
"Cash Grant" Robocallers Hit With Record $30 Million In Penalties
By 4.2.12
Less than a week after shutting down a robocalling nuisance responsible for billions of auto-dialed scam calls, the Federal Trade Commission has taken down another prerecorded perp. These deceptive dialers have been hit with $30 million in penalties, the largest amount ever imposed for violating the guidelines of the Do Not Call Registry. [More]
Company Behind Billions Of Phony "Auto Warranty" Robocalls Shut Down By FTC
By 3.28.12
Have you ever answered a call from an unfamiliar number only to hear a recording tell you there is important information about your automobile warranty? You’re not alone, as the folks at the FTC have shut down an operation it says was responsible for billions of instances of deceptive dialing. [More]
FCC To Make Robocalls Opt-In Only, But Human Telemarketers May Still Annoy You
By 2.15.12
In spite of the fact that more than 200 million numbers have been placed on the National Do Not Call Registry, robocalling telemarketers are continuing to either ignore the list or find ways around its restrictions. But the FCC is set to unveil new rules that would shrink the size of those loopholes. [More]
Alamo/Enterprise Won't Stop Calling About Phantom Rental Car
By 2.3.12
Andrew is plagued by robocalls.The thing is, they’re not for a political candidate or a shady credit card scam. The calls are coming from Alamo/National Rent-A-Car, and Andrew has no idea why. He’s never rented a car from them, but that hasn’t stopped them from robocalling. A lot. [More]
CVS Makes Mistake, Robocalls Me Incessantly For Their 3 Bucks
By 11.10.11
Sarah noticed after a visit to the pharmacy that the technician had failed to charge her for one of her prescriptions. It’s difficult for her to get into town from her college campus, so she figured because it’s the store’s error, she’d let it go. Karma does not agree, and has sent swift and annoying punishment down for Sarah. She must pay for the prescription, or the CVS system will robocall her several times per day reminding her to pick up the prescription. [More]
Best Buy Robocalls You To Upgrade Phone You Didn't Get At Best Buy
By 9.2.11
Best Buy is a “valued business partner” of Verizon. That’s why they handed over their customer list to Best Buy so Big Blue could call up Verizon customers eligible for new phones and encourage them to upgrade. At Best Buy, naturally. This happened to Mary, and she wonders whether anyone out there might have assumed that they had to upgrade at Best Buy. [More]
