Dec 12 2005
The War On Telemarketing
During the last several days I’ve been receiving calls from a company that’s spoofing their number as 1-000-000-0000 on my caller-id. Before this, I had no idea that caller-id spoofing services even existed, much less pondered the ethical implications of such a service. Anyway, this caller addressed me by name, and began by saying, “according to our records, you’ve been using your Visa check card for a long time, and as a way of saying thanks, we’d like to send you [this] and [this] and [this] absolutely free.” They said that all I have to do is pay them $2 for shipping and handling to receive these free items.
The first time they called, I actually agreed to this. The caller immediately transferred me to another operator who began to read off several paragraphs of fine print, where they mentioned that, in addition to the free items, they would also automatically sign me up for some kind of catalogue or magazine, which I’d have to pay for on a monthly basis. I said “no thanks” and hung up.
However, this company has kept calling me at least once a day for the past 7 days! When I tell them to remove my number from their list, they hang up. When I ask for the name of their company, or a phone number at which I can call them back, they also hang up.
Clearly, there are several gross violations of FTC regulations here. Is there any possible way to track them down? Is there any way to make the caller give out information about the company? Stay tuned for updates.