Despite years of reporting this to DoNotCall, requesting help from my Congressional Representative, reading stories that these robo call spammers were stopped, it continues- why can’t the NAS and FBI spend some of their effort pursuing these law breakers instead of spying on citizens? Notes continue to be added at the end of this post.
The Consumer Union is running a petition to toss at Telephone Company CEOs (I have little faith in petitions, but…). Also check out the efforts and a mobile app by Numbercop.
I am hoping the FCC can spray this one down. I am not hopeful. Every three weeks or so, Rachel, a recording, calls from random numbers around the US. She must get around. She keeps telling me this is the last time to get this offer from Card Member Services to lower the rate on my credit card.
She pretty much has take over for Cathy, who has been at this since 2008
When I wait to speak to a representative, as just happened an hour ago, I request to be taken off their calling list, Then they hang up on me. I’ve had about 20 of these this year, and each time I dutifully file a complaint at http://donotcall.gov. I have never done business with this company, and from what I understand, the government should be able to hit them up for a nice fine.
cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo shared by cobalt123
I did some googling and found this web site which seems to be associated with First USA Bank which is kind of dodgy since they do not seem to be even a bank according to Google. I went to their Contact Us page (more sketchy as their address is a PO box in delaware), and found a toll free number to call (1-877-999-3872 also reports as suspicious).
I called them (recording below) and got a phone menu with not many options to get to a human. I finally get generally enquiries and here’s where it gets funky – I found out I was speaking to someone at Chase Bank who had no clue why their number was connected to Card Member Services.
CogDog Sniffing Out Card Member Services
So its another dead end.
Where is our government agents on this? These folks are obviously scamming people to sign up for credit cards or at least reveal card debt information. They are clearly in violation of the FCC rules on unsolicited phone calling. They are clearly violating the Do Not Call guidelines.
Can it really be that hard to track down these roaches? I’d sure like to give them a kick with the steel toed boots.
FWIW, I am starting my own public log of these calls:
I am doubtful anything will happen, but from now on I am going to do what I can to phoen freak ’em back because they are messing with the wrong dog.
cc licensed ( BY NC ) flickr photo shared by TomConger
UPDATE: August 30, 2012 Just got a robo spam call from Rachel, 10 days since the previous one. Since my congressman is always writing about what he is doing, I thought I’d ask for help:
(click for full size)
UPDATE Nov 15, 2012: I guess Rachel was fired, she was replaced by Anne, who called several times, from Wahpeton North Dakota and Kent Washington. When I called back te last number I was SPAMMED from (253)-236-2156 a computer generated voice claimed that to comply with FCC regulations, I could enter my phone number to be removed form their call list. This should mean if Anne or Rachel or Any Other MF-er from this company calls me again, they are in clear violation of FCC rules (which they have been for years). Here is proof of my compliance:
Anne Please Stop Calling Me! You Promise?
UPDATE Dec 18, 2012: Anne is gone, now the name is Tiffany (who sounds just like Anne and Rachel). She said I could press 3 to be taken off their list, but when I did that she just hung up on me.
UPDATE Jan 4, 2012: Tiffany called again, she called twice since the first of the year, but I missed her calls. This one I recorded. It’s kind of funny how this “limited time offer” has been going on for years. I did press “1” to try and speak to a human being and ask again to be take off their list. Nothing happened. I filed yet another complaint with http://donotcall.gov but I have zero faith that anything comes from that.
UPDATE Jan 9, 2012 According to a November 2012 Story in the Christian Science Monitor, 5 of the companies behind Rachel were taken down (that makes sense why the bitch returned as “Anne” and now “Tiffany”
According to the FTC press release:
“At the FTC, Rachel from Cardholder Services is public enemy number one,” said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz. “We’re cracking down on illegal robocalls by bringing law enforcement actions and pursuing technical solutions to the problem.”
Rachel is gone, now aim those FTC sites in Anne and Tiffany, ok?
UPDATE Dec 5, 2012: Received a few letters and calls in response from my US Congressional Representative, Paul Gosar, to whom I wrote a letter of complaint some months ago. They suggested reporting to DoNotCall (not useful) but did send some info pointing to efforts the FCC was doing with robospammers. Bottom line- no one can do much to stop them.
UPDATE Jan 18, 2013: Rachel is back from the dead. She moved to Alberta or British Columbia, I get calls from both. Will the FTC call some Mounties to ride their mooses out there and bring her in? Oh she is a slippery b****.
UPDATE Jan 29, 2013: A commenter shared a little tidbit when he tried to goad the person on the other end. Dana gets rather loud and says bad words at the end.
UPDATE June 8, 2013 And they are back! Two calls in a month. Now her name is Kelly, and her new company name is the cleverly slippery name “Consumer Law”- same ole robo calls from numbers that cannot be redialed. Hey, NSA, use some PRISM to find these bastards!
UPDATE Nov 18, 2013 It’s been a quiet few months, only a handful of robo spam calls, but guess who is back doing the robo spam calls? Yep, the original, the only and only Rachel. Now she is in Tennessee. The FCC is totally useless.
UPDATE Dec 27, 2013 Now Anne is back on the calls. She has called three times in a week. On one occasion I waited for the operator, and used a slow fake voice at every question to say, “WHAAAAAAAT?” After 3 questions, the operator cussed me out in Spanish and hung up.
UPDATE Jan 6, 2014 They finally got a guy recording the calls; his name is Scott. Same sales pitch, except a new twist of lying- he states that Credit Card Services is a non-profit company. It’s time to keep a recorder nearby handy so I can record these intrusions of my privacy.
UPDATE Jan 10, 2014 A call came in bearing the same number and location (McPherson, Kansas) as one in December, so I did not answer. I do not know anyone in McPherson, or actually all of Kansas, who would call me. Its interesting they are repeating use of numbers. You can test these, by calling back, and you will get an error message about the number not being allocated:
Now here is something the deadbeats in DC ought to be having the FTC cracking down on the phone companies- no one should be able to transmit phone calls from an un-allocated number. Well, that’s what I think.
UPDATE Jan 28, 2014 There have been at least 4 more calls since last report from unidentified numbers, from cities I do not know people. Today I managed to turn on my audio recorder. When the operator answered, I was asked how much credit I need help with. To engage the call, I said “So much I do not even know.” There was a 3 second pause, and then he hung up on me. My hunch is that they have records on my phone number and how I am probably combative. This means they have records of numbers called. This means they are breaking the law. Reported again to DoNotCall, for what little that ever does.
UPDATE Feb 4, 2014 Someone new on the recording, “Heather” from “Account Services”, same offer. There was an option to press 2 to stop receiving notices. Yeah, like that does anything. I pressed that many times over the last few years. Reported yet once again to donotcall.gov Also, about a week ago I got a call back from the office of my congressional representative, Paul Gosar I contacted him a second time reporting this as a nuisance and a violation of FCC rules. I was told there is really nothing they can do. Sigh.
UPDATE Feb 12, 2014 Holy cow, “Barbara” from Credit Card Services sounds like a MAN! But she’s got the same recorded message going that I have hear maybe 100 times. Reported to DonotCall.gov which frankly is a waste of time and I am done doing that.
UPDATE Feb 4, 2015 I get almost daily robo spam calls; I ignore them all (since I spending 4 months in Canada, ***** if I will pay to hang up. They are pretty easy to identify, just google the numbers and they all show up on reporting sites:
It looks like the FTC is doing something with their $50,000 challenge, in fact, it is now a program called “ZAP RACHEL” even with t-shirts. Hurry up and zap that bitch!
UPDATE Feb 10, 2015
Just another day. Four unanswered calls from numbers, that when googled, all end up showing as being on web sites that report robo spam calls. After tweeting out the screen shot of the offending numbers, we enter the regular cycle of canned responses from Verizon support
https://twitter.com/VZWSupport/status/564989589853454336
And after letting them know how useless reporting to DonNotCall is (I’ve reported easily 100 numbers), we get the next level of predictable, unreasonable Verizon support responses
https://twitter.com/VZWSupport/status/564994123774443523
After replying how unacceptable this is, I no longer hear back from Verizon support. That too is predictable. But then, out of the blue comes this
@cogdog @csgamble @VZWSupport We participated and won the prize. DM us to discuss what Verizon does, can and can't do to solve this problem.
— NUMBERCOP (@NUMBERCOP) February 10, 2015
Now time to check out http://numbercop.com. The reviews on app store are mostly positive, a few detractors.
Good for you. I spent most of last summer trying to track down these calls at my parents’ house. My folks are elderly and any incoming call is a potential new best friend as far as they are concerned and my dad got suckered into far too many scams just by answering the phone.
I wrote about it here: http://barbarasawhill.net/2011/07/08/scamming-the-elderly/
The other phone scam that is particularly evil (and targeted at the elderly) is the “Hello this is the US Embassy in XXXX and we have your grandson and he needs money.” My mom has received a couple of those this year.
There are some mean, evil people out there.
Keep up the good fight!
Woof!
Rachel is at it again, this time she’s spoofing you own phone number. This can be taken to your phone company now, as well as local police. I suggest 1st contacting your phone company and ask them to trace the last call (call right after you hang up on Rachel). If you have the service included with your landline, they would do it and send you the true information. (cost:$5.95 for the trace. (Well worth the cost.)) They will then do a trace to the real number and give it to you. 2nd way (free) same as above call your local PD, and they will dispatch an officer, who will then from your residence call into the local phone company, and they will trace it to the computer I.P.address, and get the name of the ISP (Internet Server Provider. Contact them with the I.P. Address, and time the offense happened, and get that person’s real name, address, city, and state (If outside your state.) You will fill out a complaint and then your police department will contact the one in that city/town and will request a arrest warrant be issued, and the person picked up. (NOTICE: This only applies if the caller(s) is within the United States.) Elsewise you can contact the state department with the information you have gathered and have a complaint submitted to the country where the caller called from.
How many violators have you had arrested?
The location where the call came from to me.(India) seems that the state department has to investigate, they are NOT being helpful to our county (U.S.A.) at ALL .
Good to know. I doubt my county Sheriff has jurisdiction that far.
You have described my own experience exactly. Lately, I hang on to talk to a rep and then try to creep them out with some crazy talk. Not necessarily effective but allows me “process” some things…
If I have the time, I try to talk to a representative and keep him or her on the phone as long as possible.
Sometimes I tell the rep I have to go find my credit card and it will take a couple of minutes, then I set the phone next to a computer speaker and play porn sounds (from a free porn video website) for them to listen to.
My record is 13 minutes 30 seconds. I’ve found that the key to keeping them on the phone for a long time is to make them think I’m seriously considering doing what they want. I always start out skeptical and get them to try out their sales pitch – so they are more vested personally in the outcome.
You are hard core. I am in awe.
I’ve been getting these calls (last one on 11/13/12 at 900AM) for quite a while. I’ve tried everything, been sworn at hung up on, told I had a bad phone, needed a new phone (to stop getting these calls), pressed one, pressed nine all to no avail. So, I took another persons advice a while back and went to the dollar store and purchased an air-horn. I press whatever key to speak with the Rep and give them a toot. I still get calls but it is more entertaining now, giving back a little
I hate card holder services they are POS’S
They seem to be untouchable, I found complaints about them going back for years. I wrote to me Congressional Representatives office, it was pretty much )’nothing we can do”
Same people have called me for years even before I ever had a credit card! Just want them to stop calling!
In hopes of stopping cals from “CardHolder Services”, and since reading blogs claiming that “CardHolder Services” has relocated overseas to avoid prosecution…. I GOT WITH AT&T and have had them shut off any international calls…..SURE HOPE IT WORKS!!!!!
hey man, i have an audio recording of the employee cursing me out after i told her i would call the cops if they called me again. If you want to hear it, just shoot me an email at coryc08@hotmail.com
i would be more than happy to send it to you!
I’ve been getting these calls for at least 6 years, with one move and phone # change. Just today I started looking around online for more info. There was lots of hoopla about FTC action last fall, shut down (supposedly) 5 of them.
I also found this, now closed, contest seeking ideas.
http://robocall.challenge.gov/
The best idea I’ve seen was a lawyer who was planning to give a card #, follow up on who collects, and then file suit. I like that idea, but have no intention of trying that at home.
I’ve been dealing with these calls for years (they only increase the more you press 1 and talk to them, so be warned of that).
Like others, if I have the time I will talk to the rep and waste as much of their time as humanly possible. I’ve done this for well in excess of 30 minutes on several occasions (observing their rise in frustration levels throughout the call is really a treat). I strongly recommend using something like the following site to quickly generate an alias and few fake credit cards to use, bonus points when the card number in question is a debit card (they will get really frustrated with this).
http://www.fakenamegenerator.com/
There doesn’t seem to be much we can do about this. The FCC claims to care but is largely powerless to do anything (that much is apparent) and no pleas to local law enforcement or any political figure that I’ve ever reached out to has resulted in anything other than: “Sorry, we can’t help you. You should change your phone number.”
I’m not going to change my phone number, I might however consider suing my phone service provider for colluding with Cardmember services to try and up-sell me on call blocking features I shouldn’t have to pay for, however.
When I have nothing to do I waste their time too. For example, I say I need to find my wallet to get the number then I play some computer games. Then say it must be in my husbands car so I need to call him. They say they will gladly wait. Then I start laundry. Back to phone to then say I am on hold as he is in a meeting. You get the idea. They also seem to put on mute until they hear me back on the line so I put the phone by the noisy running dishwasher so they get to listen to that. Oh yeah and since I am hard of hearing I make them repeat a lot, tell them to talk slowly and loudly which they do. In the end I tell them I know they are a scam which has been confirmed by the attorney generals office in my state and the a.g says there is nothing they can do. So in the meantime if I can waste their time calling innocent victims…I do.
Jenny.. I do the same thing, but I make it a game for myself (See how long I can keep these jerks on the phone). I’ll pretend to be feeble-minded and ask them to “patiently” wait as I look for my credit card and bank info… In one instance, I had a person on hold 4 different times as I made tea, sat down to watch a little TV, went to the bathroom (the tea, you know), and went outside to talk to my neighbor. Each time I “returned” the person was still holding… Near the end, I would let them have it with some choice language… finishing with “Now you know how it feels to have your )($#&(# time wasted, you $()&$#(!. Please DO NOT remove my number for your do-not-call list, because I WANT you to call me, so I can waste MORE of your time! Childish of me? of course. But I decided that instead of being ticked off and frustrated because the GOV/FCC can’t or won’t do anything about it, I may as well turn this into a sick, if not sadistic diversion for my amusement. And yes, I provide a service by tying these $*)&)(&$ from calling more people than they otherwise would.
I tried to play along when they called recently, acting like I was interested, but they hung up on me within 30 seconds. My hunch is they track the numbers that play back at them (?). Since then, the frequency of calls has increased; I get more than one per week. I don’t even answer, just see unrecognized numbers left calls in my history. It’s not worth it to file it with DoNotCall because they DoNotDoAnything.
The FCC will do nothing. I cannot believe that they cannot do more to track down these bastards. There has to be a money trail; they are taking money from the suckers who fall for the scam, and that money goes somewhere. There is always a trail.
My Congressional [Un]Representative said so. I think pressure needs to be put on the carriers. They are allowing transmissions across their systems from phone numbers which are not in service.
For what it’s worth, First USA was a real credit card company in the ’90s, and I had a card with them. They were bought by Bank One, which in turn was bought by Chase. I still have a card with Chase through this chain of acquisitions. I wonder if they let the ‘firstusa.com’ domain go inactive and it was picked up by these scammers?
However, I use an email alias service that allows me to give a unique email address to each company I do business with. I recently received spam from ‘cardmember services’, linking to the firstusa.com domain, on the email address I use for Chase. Since this email address is only used with Chase, it is clear that ‘cardmember services’ has access to Chase’s customer database.
Perhaps they just buy the data from Chase through Chase’s marketing arm, though I keep my ‘privacy choices’ up to date and as tight as I can get them so they should not be selling my data. This selling of marketing data is yet another scam that all the credit card companies are in on, and they aggressively lobby for rules that make it as hard as possible for customers to block the selling of their data.
Chase uses ‘Cardmember Services’ to refer to their customer services branch, but does not appear to own the business name ‘Cardmember Services’.
Card Member Services is accredited by Visa and MC. Why don’t authorities go after them?
Your story is the same as mine, although it has been three months since I last heard from them, until today. Today, I pressed one to talk to a rep and as soon as I mentioned No Call Registry she hung up. As I always do, I sent in a complaint, but as you know, that is becoming a waste of time.
Last time they called me I just told them that if they didn’t stop I was going to hunt them down and kill them all. If they turn my a$$ in, then we will find out who they really are and where they are.
Let me know how the works for you. I’ll send you cookies in jail 😉
No way to stop them.
What I do for fun is similar to the same thing other writers have mentioned … Keep them on the line as long as you can.
If you say nothing … They seem to stay on about 30 seconds
You can also try what we did in the old telemarketer dinner time days … When they make their pitch … Say “huh?” ….
Each time they repeat … Say “huh?” Louder. See how many times they will try before hanging up.
Or hand the phone to a toddler …
Or … Say … “Wait a sec and let me get my mom!”
Then set the phone by the tv
Enjoy!
Just another example of govt Not working for people. Uncle Sambo is not here to protect its citizens in any way, just as your local authorities only want *super easy convictions*.
I am really disapointed in our enforcement agencies’ lack of ability to control this SPAM. This is exactly what they are paid to do! It seems the phone companies should be able to identify these robo scams and stop them as well. The phone companies ought to have some liability for allowing these illegal phone calls to transpire.
I talked with Tiffany who qualified me for an interest rate reduction. Qualifications are: Have open credit card in good standing with at least $1000 credit available. She then passed me to Anthony Manello who processed a $995 charge to my credit card promising to reduce the interest rates on all of my credit cards once I have completed a membership profile in 7 to 10 business days.
I don’t know if this is a scam or not but I pray that the $995 price tag at least stops the calls.
I’m trying to guess if your comment, Brenda, is sarcastic.
I am counting on it being so.
Or worse… your name is really “Rachel”?
This is also on the credit card companies, they have some obligation to stop scamming of their cards, I am tempted to give out a card with a $1000 credit limit and dispute the charges. The trick is setting up the card where they cannot get any personal information from the account.
There is no real incentive for the phone companies to try to find them, they simply do not care it is using more minutes on their network. The government is mostly useless in these, but if credit card companies have to pay out for fraud enough, they will investigate. I know everyone likes to hate on financial institutions, but they can be an ally as we all know they hate losing money.
I HATE THESE PEOPLE!!!!! OMG they have been calling my cell for TWO FREAKING YEARS!!!!! WHY DOES THE GOV. NOT CRACK DOWN ON THESE SCUM BAGS???
I swear on everything, If you can get me an address for these worthless slobs I will drive/fly to that call center and personally cut their phone lines. IT’S TIME FOR VIGILANTE JUSTICE!!!!
They are an American company too with American workers- INSIDE AMERICA making these calls!! I would have a little more understanding if this was some India or Nigeria internet call scam, but my personal research shows they use landlines from AMERICAN phone companies in AMERICAN cities. WHY THE F CANT THE FBI, NSA, CIA, LOCAL PD’S, US MARSHALS, IRS, PUT AN END TO THIS MADNESS???
I guess they would rather be harassing Johnny pot smoker (who’s hurting nobody but his brain) rather than stop REAL criminals that STEAL REAL MONEY from REAL innocent people.
Our gov. is absolutely worthless. Any state AG that tells victims “sorry cant do anything” is a waste of human flesh.
I have been trying to locate the “real” Card Member Services company web site and phone number (I am sure a few other folks would like to find it as well). I would love to start a petition to flood their complaint lines/emails, but I do not want to target an incorrect company.
A few years ago I had received info about what I thought was another spam company, contacted what I thought was that company, and they turned out to be a company with a very similar name suffering from the blow back of the spam company.
I did eventually track down the correct spam company info, reported them, and shared the spam company info with the company that was often mistaken for them.
Any ideas what the correct company name/info is for Card Member Services? And if we can verify?
They are crooks Carol and they are hidden crooks. I had a similar experience a year ago, and got no where. I juts got my weekly call; now “Barbara” is a man. I am done reporting to donotcall.gov; that is useless. I have reported this twice to my Congressional Representative Paul Gosar, and have been told they cannot do anything. My phone provider will not do anything.
Nobody will do anything.
Alan,
Like I mentioned earlier, do not want to hunt down the wrong company, but did find the name Ambrosia Web Design come up a few times during searches. Please see below.
Found this in the LA Times dated from late 2011
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/nov/29/business/la-fi-lazarus-20111129
Searched on of the names mentioned Ambrosia WebDesign and came up with this FTC complaint last dated Sept 13, 2013:
http://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/cases-and-proceedings/cases/2013/09/ambrosia-web-design-llc-et-al
This BBB rating/complaint within the last year with a number of names/aliases phone numbers and emails:
http://www.bbb.org/central-northern-western-arizona/Business-Reviews/debt-repayment-plan/ambrosia-web-design-in-tempe-az-1000019425#reasonrating
And this blog:
http://onthespotblog.com/could-rachel-at-cardholder-services-game-be-over/
If I can verify that any of these names/numbers are correct as far as recent telemarketing scamming I will let you know. If any other folks have any good info I would be really interested.
I just had a call from them. I’m taking the number they called me from and going to put it on Terrorist websites all over the globe. namely Al Quaida, Let’s see how they like it.
I understand but that won’t do anything. The numbers that they appear to call from do not really exist (when you call back you get an error message).
The question to ask the FCC and the Telecommunications industry is, “how does a system work that allow entities to call me who I cannot cal back?”
I also just got a call. I called the number on my caller ID. It was a local number. The woman who answered ALSO gets calls from Cardmember Services. She had not even used her phone today. I’ve been getting SEVERAL calls a week for about two years. So it is obvious your action, Ken, will not harm the real culprits. Just started to do some research and can see the writing on the wall, no action results in stopping this. (I have tried hanging up, being rude, asking to be taken off the list, just like everyone else. They always just hang up, and the stupid interruptions continue.) All I can do is hope you savy-er people who are smarter than me can finally find a way to block this. I am 70. This pisses me off to be so helpless to do anything useful. “Don’t Call” registry… Yeah… Right… as interested in protecting constituents as the rest of our corporate owned government.
I would be happy to get only one or two calls a week. These losers have been calling me EVERY single weekday for months now. I have tried everything from cussing them out to playing along to offering them a reward for turning in their company. I have even looked through ads online for telemarketing jobs to try to find the company. There have to be people who have worked for this company who would be willing to turn them in!
I have been getting these calls also people with indian(india)accents today they said card services and that my interest rates would be lowed just keep what iam doing and that my total credit card debt is 3000.00 well that is definatly not true when i told them that they hung up.Iam really getting worried about this 1st how they get my number second how in the hell when they called my phone number came up on caller id.Please help!!!!
Don’t worry about it. Just don’t give out your credit card number to anyone, except when you are buying something online. They don’t know how much credit card debt you have or what your account number is. They’re just phishing. They could have gotten your phone number any of several ways. Your phone number coming up on your caller id was spoofed. They could have put any phone number on your caller id; they just used yours, maybe by mistake.
My calls are now from BRENDA. She has been calling TWICE A DAY for the past week…and it was three times today.
It comes in as a local number, but I cannot call them back. I’m just going to start hanging up immediately, because I think they’re calling more often when I press “1”…after which I whistle very loudly into the handset (that piercing whistle using your fingers).
This is, of course, after asking them sooo many times to please take me off their list and stop calling…only to be hung up on.
I’ve been getting these calls (started with Heather I think) for years. I think it stopped for a few months…but it’s back in full swing right now.
The FCC, FTC wont do anything. Your Congressional Rep cannot do anything.
Don’t waste your time, just keep hanging up. Never talk to them. Just hang up. Its annoying, but you will just waste your time and energy.
Of course, I too have lost count of the number of times “Cardholder Services” has telephoned me.
In addition, I assume many of the “dead line” pickups I experience are because of “Cardholder Services.”
At first, I STUPIDLY was polite and pointed out that I was on the DO NOT CALL LIST.
“Laughably Stupid” is probably more accurate.
Next, I started “applying” for “relief” to waste their time.
I now “press one” and “treat” the agent with a blasting radio. That does not help.
I SUGGEST THAT EACH ONE OF YOU BEGIN TO APPLY FOR RELIEF AND GET AS FAR AS YOU CAN WITHOUT UNTIL THEY FIGURE OUT THAT YOU ARE GIVING FAKE INFORMATION. We too can waste people’s time.
get these calls so frequently, that i am close to changing my phone number of 17+ years!! have already gotten 4 today(its 4:30p).
now i make a game of it, and yank them around for a bit and waste thier time. I like when i get someone that you can tell is new(they are reading the flip chart at a slower rate than usual), and i really get them going. I found a credit card from 20 years ago, and give them that info(fake name and address) and invert a few numbers. after they try to validate i invert 2 other numbers, and they try again… sometimes this is a welcome break in the day. Since they are on the phone with me, they cannot rip off anyone else
What happened? No posts since July of last year. I have been getting these card member services calls for four years now. I too have tried everything mentioned above, and have told them I’m armed and coming into their building and destroying everyone in the building. The best reply I got from that was from a woman who said “no your not…” with a teasing voice, but I heard a hint of real fear in her voice as well. If I could have bottled that fear and could taste it every time I get one of these calls I would.
I told a man “I am coming to take your life and those who surround you”, he said “good luck”. But it was said like that guy in that Taken movie. I always end it by shouting “STOP CALLING ME!” The last guy told me “We are going to call you even more now.”
I wonder if the government and the FBI gets these calls? Maybe we need to try to get these people to call us back on the local FBI office number.
If the right people were being harassed by these calls daily, something might finally get done.
Lately I have been calling the numbers back and getting a Verizon error message. That is new for me. I reported all the numbers they have called on recently, along with the date and exact time of the call to that place you all have said does nothing, but I’m hoping this Verizon thing is a slipup on their part?
I gave up. I just don’t answer my cell phone for un-identified numbers. I can quickly google the number and 99% of the time it registers all over the web at complaint sites.
I have been tweeting the call records to Verizon asking why they allows calls from non-existent numbers on their network. This was their “fix” – (1) I can block 5 numbers for free (useless since the numbers are rarely repeated) (2) I can change my number (that is beyond reasonable).
I see no end to this.
“I gave up”
This is so defeating. I’m actually somewhat dumbfounded that this been able to continue to this point and to go on for so long without any resolution of any kind. I’ve been following this post for years and am continually amazed at how little has been accomplished to address this issue (i.e. absolutely nothing).
AT&T gave me the exact same options to “deal with this issue” many years back: The ability to block up to 5 numbers (useless, as you say) or to change my number (ridiculous). Instead, I’ve been forced to purchase a 3rd party application that lets me blacklist individual numbers as they come in (and the scale of the list of blocked numbers I have amassed is absolutely astounding).
How can we continually and collectively let them get away with that? What recourse to we have? This is so unbelievable to me, both from the standpoint that in all of these years the phone companies and the government itself has been powerless to do anything against these scammers, but even more so that there is *zero* accountability on their part for the role they play in allowing this continue.
Just got my 1,000,000 th call yesterday.
I pretended to be interested and kept the representative “busy” for several minutes – WASTING HIS TIME TOO!
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS APPROACH.
Whenever you have a few spare minutes, “play along” with the representative and then “change your mind.”
I start by telling them that I have a credit card balance on a “VISA Card” of about $8,500 and that I pay 9.9% on some balances and 14.9% on other balances.
Be sure not to give them a “good credit card number.” If you say a VISA Card Balance is involved, be sure to start the fake number with a “4.”
It is “amazing” how much personal information “Cardholder Services” had about me.
I do not live in the State from which the Representative is speaking, so the call violates Federal Laws.
HOWEVER, OBAMA WILL NOT DO ANYTHING ABOUT THE PROBLEM – HE IS BUSY ATTACKING THE POLICE!
I’m starting to believe that the cell phone companies are complicit. They are making money off of people answering these calls, and even more money when we keep them on the line. Multiplied by the amount of these calls, the cell phone companies are making good money off this, what is their motivation for stopping it?
Even if you take suggestion number 2 and get a new number, people have reported they get the calls on the new number just the same, so that is hardly an option and more like a complete waste of time.
It seems more and more like this isn’t one group of people doing this, but cells of unrelated people using the same scam. Voip is nearly free and doesn’t require any special hardware to run. It would be real easy for someone to read how these call centers are set up, and set up one of their own. Even if you take down 5 of the call centers, that is just the tip of the iceberg. Since the call centers are unrelated, interrogating one busted cell wouldn’t give up evidence of where the others existed.
When 5 are shut down, 5 more just spring up somewhere else.
I, like all of you, want to see these people strung up by their ankles. And not just the operators of these centers, but every person in the building! They all know what is going on and are complicit, and they all deserve to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. When they are busted they need to be very publicly sentenced to a minimum of 10 years, so all the others know what they can expect when they get busted.
With as frustrated as this has made people, I am surprised no one has found one of these centers and shot the place up. I keep watching the news with fingers crossed.
If there are any nut jobs out there planning to shoot up someplace, may I suggest one of these call centers? I doubt you would even be prosecuted, but in the event that you are arrested, just claim insanity caused by these calls. You will likely get a judge that gets the calls too, and be set free with a medal pinned to your chest…
“I’m starting to believe that the cell phone companies are complicit.”
This has been my opinion for a while as well and it would certainly be an interesting legal approach to take. While I’m not necessarily in the correct financial position to propose such a suit, I would certainly love to see it explored by a more litigious sect of those impacted by these scams.
I went to the AdCouncil webpage and asked what it would take to start a PSA (Public Service Announcement) campaign so that more people know this problem exists, and know how to avoid becoming a victim and avoid being added to the list by pushing 2 to be removed, or talking to anyone.
Maybe if enough people knew in advance, it would become a waste of time and resources for these vermin to continue.
I’ll let you know what they say when/if they reply…
I wish to read more issues approximately it!|
fraudswatch.com https://www.fraudswatch.com/
They’ve got my business line and I get 4-7 calls per day. I can’t ignore the call since this is a business line. The US Gov’t needs to help
Dear Heather,
The last time we spoke was more than a year ago, so I must admit I was relieved to hear your voice today. As usual, you didn’t let me get a word in edgewise since you were so excited about how I could lower my interest rates.
Your voice hasn’t changed a bit during the decade you have been calling to repeat your message to me. You sound just as assertive as ever, but as friendly as the daughter I remember before you joined that dreadful card services company. Don’t you ever age?
Please, come home dear. You don’t have to waste your life with those criminals. I will forgive you for the hundreds of times you called. You can have your old room back. Just please stop calling. It hurts too much.
Especially when you say, “And have a great day!”
Sincerely,
Your Dad
To be honest i availed this service. My APR was 24.9% and it dropped to 11.9% and i was charged $1350 after the service was provided. But still after accepting the offer why the f*** i am getting those calls, 4-5 calls per month -_-
If you have an android phone, there is an app called Call Control that blocks about 80% of the Rachel and her incarnations. I do not represent the app, just a happy customer. The ones that do get through, you are able to report them and block them. I have done several things over the years to keep them on the line to waste their time… Given fake names and card numbers, when they ask for the phone number on the “back of the card” I give them the FTC Identity Theft Division Hotline number. The guy actually called the number and asked me if I was sure that it was the correct number. Shouldn’t Identity Thieves be calling that number? He cussed me out so much on that one, I had to laugh and ask if he kissed his mama with that mouth! I know these boiler rooms are located all over the country but one call, I acted really desperate that all my cards had high balances and I was out of work and asked if the company they worked for was hiring. I must have gotten someone new since she revealed she was in Alabama and only made $9/hour. I think they are onto that ploy since the last time I used it, they hung up on me. I think next time, I going to act like a mafia hitman confirming a “job”. 😀
You are good at this game, keep at it!
I wonder why the State Department doesn’t put pressure on foreign countries to stop this stuff. I realize that in Africa this type of fraud puts money into otherwise poor economies and keeps people from committing more violent crimes just to survive, but this does not justify it.
You’re chasing a dead end calling a scammer back. It’s a “SPOOF # “. I’ve been called 3 times by #970-330-6931,and get a disconnected recording. It makes a great forwarding # for ( *72-forward all calls or *63-selective call forward ) No scammer in the world can beat *72 ! I use it a lot ! I receive my incoming calls on my cell phone (unlisted). If you have a caller i.d. with a “VOIP” detector light. you will see 100% of unwanted calls are VOIP. I have used a “CPR 202,CPR5000 and a T lock “. They are supposed to block VOIP,but they don’t. You have to block entire area codes and ( 1+area code,01+area code and 001+area code. Added up and it’s in the hundreds. You are in charge ! You will get no help !
I get about 3/4/day. I have just started making it fun. I press one and tell them where to go and other greetings I learned in the Army.. THEN I HANG UP. I KNOW RACHAEL, ANNA, AND ALL THE OTHER AS%*&*^ I fell for it the 1st time and they immediately charged my credit card $7000.00. Luckily the bank cancelled and stopped the transaction.Now i just play with the dumb asses. It can be very rewarding. And as they are using a dial er they don’t know who the hell they call.
AND THAT NO CALL LIST IS THE BIGGEST JOKE. I have been dealing with this for about5 years. They are a bunch of chicken shits hiding in some cess pool . I would like to have their phone #
Wonder how the woman who made the recording feels when she gets calls from herself from Cardholder Services over and over and over and over…
Yeah, The phone companies are part of the problem. They might well be the cause. If there are any criminal acts associated with the phone companies providing “non-working” numbers they are accessories to those crimes. The phone companies permit the scammers to have multiple robot numbers and “hidden” sites. Many of the callers are calling from home through a system that has masked numbers. The other day I was called by: 0(000) 000-0000! I have threatened to visit them with various weapons and IEDs and If I could actually FIND such a place I would certainly attempt to do as much damage as possible but the networks that the scammers use are intricately designed to turn you as far away from their actual operations as possible. No one does anything because those who could have an effect are making money from the scammers. I have a police whistle from London, called (shades of Wiley Coyote) the Acme Thunderer. I press one to talk to a representative and blow that whistle as hard as I can. It is so loud that I have to wear ear plugs to keep from damaging my hearing. I wonder how many of those signs you see at intersections offering “work at Home” are actually recruiting tools? But then, the representatives seem to be either Phillipino or East Indian or Bangladeshi. so they are “untouchable”. I wonder if I am contributing to a generation of young students from Mumbai having serious hearing loss. I sure hope so.