Trust But Verify!

Got my coffee, my paper, and the day to do absolutely nothing.

"I'm off!"

Suddenly the phone rings, but I don't recognize the number so I don't answer and let it go to voice mail. Curiosity gets the best of me so I  listen to the message. Blank space, click and hang up.

I head over to the computer and ask the Google gods who called but all I find are other complaints from folks who've also been disturbed by this number. I make my mind up and the battle begins. First, I run the number through the Better Business Bureau. Nada! Then I run it through phonepuppy.com .

“BINGO."

Credit Card Scam!

Turns out these people are part of a growing trend of scam artists trying to "lower my credit card rate," "help me with my mortgage," "sell my house," and rip me off. The DO NOT CALL registry was created to offer consumer protection from unwanted telemarketing calls. But there's a catch. To be in violation the caller must have been asked to stop calling you.

If you have a recorded message without any form of company identification , how can you ask them to stop calling you? The DO NOT CALL REGISTRY has gray areas.

Senior citizens are a target for these scammers. When they get a human on the phone you hear a brief pause then Mr. Johnson (fake name) picks up the call. Since state and federal laws don't offer much protection from unidentified callers, folks are taking a beating from fraud and identity theft.

Your credit ends up ruined and bank accounts get drained. People are robbed blind without ever seeing the robber face-t0-face.

If you're lucky enough to have a human on the other end, play along and get as much information as possible without tipping the person off. If they think you are fishing for information they will end the call. If the company is a legitimate telemarketer such as Aflac, Visa, anyone like that, you can simply tell them to remove you from the call list and get a name and confirmation number.

If you knew how entrenched the tele-scam industry is, you'd be shocked.

Did you know there are legal companies that redirect phone calls, hide phone numbers and prevent the consumer from locating these callers? It can take months to locate a single caller if they've gone through one of these spoof companies.

There’s a website called "Vaughn's Summaries" which is one man's battle against the telemarketing industry. He stopped in 2009, but you can get a really good idea of what's involved.

The best way to protect yourself from these criminals is not give your phone number to anyone but friends, family and the doctor's office. The same goes for your e-mail address. You should also know that clicking the "UNSUBSCRIBE" link only verifies a working e-mail address on most spam sites. If you click it you may just increase your spam.

When you get unwanted calls make sure to keep a log with the number, date, time, name of the caller, what the caller ID said, and any other information you can provide. Make sure your number is listed on the DO NOT CALL REGISTRY. It takes about 31 days to be protected. Make sure you ask to be removed from call lists and keep a copy of any e-mail you send . 

I say we still need stronger laws to make sure every telemarketer is listed and in compliance.