Warning To EVERYONE about Jamaican Telemarketing Scheme

[Chadeaux]

They've been doing it a long time. You receive a call claiming to be from "Publisher's Clearing House" and they tell you they were unable to locate your home even though you have won their big million dollar (or whatever the current hype is) prize. Then they try to get you to "meet them" at the local Wal-Mart or other local market. Then they want you to call them back at their number when you get there so they can meet you and award your prize. Well, the return call is (sit down) $25/minute. and they try to see how long they can keep you talking or on hold "waiting" for their van to arrive. If, during their call, you tell them anything that remotely resembles a cognitive thought of how this could be a scam, you will get new words to add to your vocabulary along with many insults you probably already know --- then they slam down the phone hoping you call them back to complain for $25 / minute. One would think the FCC would target these folks to shut them down. Unfortunately, that would trample their right to free speech (even though they are NOT U.S. citizens). I just have one question: Who dreams these laws up? Since they are undeniably "self medicating", how do they still have a job in government?

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[davest]

uh oh, looks like someone got caught up in a Jamacian Telemarketing Scheme and spent the day in a parking lot talking on the phone.

just a few questions though, which laws are you talking about? the first amendment? or do you think they (?) should pass a law (more government) to outlaw this type of thing. Your post is cornfusing to say the least.

[Chadeaux]

The last time I checked, FRAUD was NOT protected by the laws of this country. Just to be sure, I got the simplest explanation I could so it would not be confusing:

In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation. Defrauding people or entities of money or valuables is a common purpose of fraud, but there have also been fraudulent "discoveries", e.g., in science, to gain prestige rather than immediate monetary gain.

A hoax also involves deception, but without the intention of gain or of damaging or depriving the victim.

It is also known as "Advance Fee Fraud" as the caller asks for money to have your winnings "delivered via courier".

§ 419 of the U.S. Criminal Code (thus the designation "Nigerian 419 scam").

I know it's difficult for some to understand, but there are laws in place that do things other than guarantee welfare and free phones to the poor.

[Chadeaux]

As for getting caught up, nope. No phone calls to me, but the look on my coworker's face when she had a plethora of obscenities screamed at her over her iphone then hung up before she could say anything was priceless.

Her first instinct was to call him back and try to expand HIS vocabulary (don't mess with a woman from the delta region of Arkansas) but fortunately she agreed to let me find out who the number belonged to first.

Did a little digging, found out what was going on.

Ever get the phone call with no one on the other end? They were working to determine if your phone was a landline or cell. If its a cell, you just got added to a robo call list.

[Michigan Badger]

At any given time there are thousands of scams going on somewhere.
For years our business got a bill from 'Yellow Pages." We never paid it because we check out everything carefully. But the bill was always 100% genuine looking. It was for about $186 and claimed we owed this amount for some sort of ad we didn't have. I finally called the real "Yellow Pages" and they told me about the scam and they even knew who operated it. I was told they were making tons of money every years off sucker corporations who just assumed the bill was there's. When I asked why they weren't prosecuted the person at "Yellow Pages" told me they had no idea. We got these bills from about 1993 to about 2006 when they finally stopped sending them to us but I believe they're still in business. We get other things like this too. One day a truck pulled up with a large crate of "long life florescent bulbs." Along with it was an invoice for like $500+. I had it checked out and no one had ordered them. For one thing the bulbs didn't even fit any of our modern lighting fixtures. It was a scam figuring we wouldn't catch it and just pay the bill. I called them and gave them the option of picking them up or they'd go into the trash. The next day they were picked up. We've seen lots of things like this over the years. Some consider it basic business strategy. You'd be surprised how many businesses pay these people. Everyone assumes someone else ordered them.

Many people think law in America is like the old Perry Mason TV shows (Raymond Burr Della Street) where the bad guy is always caught. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Thousands of crooks run very lucrative scams all their lives until death or they decide to run for governor.

[davest]

I sincerely apologize. Really I do. I am going to write my congress people after I type this apology to let them know that I think they should

expand their investigation(s) into this type of Fraud. I am certain they will then create another layer of beauracracy to deal with it.

I will add one caveat though, a wise man once said, "there's a sucker born every minute" and "there ain't no free lunch". He should have

added, "don't reply to Jamacian telemarketing schemes, or Nigerian Lottery scams"

[ivan salis]

well a added rip off bonus could also occur * since they know your at the wal mart looking for the prize van * and they know your address -- they know your "not home" --time to rip off your house --

which is why its not smart to have a address on your key ring -- because if its found by a crook -- he knows he has got your car key and home key --and the address it goes to . --easy picking if you dont change your locks after losing your key ring --the crooks can then easily steal your car (with the key you lost ) , after robbing your house ( using the key you lost to get in with) of course they would load the stuff from the house into the car .

[Chadeaux]

@Michigan Badger:

Yeah, that sounds like a company I and a past Attorney General of Arkansas had a couple of discussions with a few years ago. They were out of Arizona at the time. They worked by sending a check for some miniscule amount. By cashing the check, your business was "contractually obligated" to pay for a website ($186.00). Well, one of my friends employees didn't bother to read the fine print, checked the customer database and figured he would pocket $3.75 and pay for it by cashing that check we "evidently got in error".

In another case involving the same company, they called a business owned by another associate and spoke to the store manager for a few minutes pretending to do a survey about the impact of websites on their business. Then, they sent a bill for $186 to the corporate office for building a website. It was a form and the only thing different about his site and everyone else was his company name and phone number. When the case was investigated, we had to listen to a poorly crafted tape of the manager sounding like he was agreeing to the website. It was pieced together so badly that I laughed out loud before explaining to them how things were about to go if we didn't get full restitution, including the cost of our "phone call" (I don't work cheap).

That company has since gone somewhat "legitimate" and now advertises on television nationally for their yellow pages services. Are we talking about the same one?