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December 08, 2004
A Hole in the Do-Not-Call List? Or Son of 419 Scam?
I have for some time been wondering how cheap international telecommunications would interact with things like the domestic do-not-call list. And last night we got our first illegal telemarketing call from Bombay. A "Patrick Williams" whom I terrorized into saying that he "could not give me his real name" who first claimed to be calling from the Home Equity Loan Company in "Downtown Manhattan", New York 10012, and then claiming to be from an international outcall center in Bombay of no address that he could reveal. He then gave a fake 1-800 number: 1-800-342-3586.
Someone thinking that the long arm of the FTC will never be able to reach as far as Bombay? Or a variation on the 419 scam targeting overstretched American homeowners. The fact that the 1-800 number is fake makes me suspect the second...
Posted by DeLong at December 8, 2004 07:17 AM
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Comments
English native speaker's burden, I suppose ...
Posted by: George J. Georganas at December 8, 2004 09:51 PM
Most employees of callcenters in India are forbidden from giving out their real names or contact numbers. The guy you spoke to was probably acting in his self interest.
My girlfriend used to work for a call center and she has horror stories to tell where the toll free number you were given would be a valid number, but no one was ever assigned to answer those calls. This was for one of those credit cards which target people with bad credit.
In almost all cases, speaking out against such a practice means losing your job.
Samuel
Posted by: Samuel at December 9, 2004 12:05 AM