Pesky calls top consumer gripes
Ok, this is something I really don't understand. Why are pesky calls top consumer gripes
Everyone thought registering on the Do Not Call list would put an end to the pestering phone calls from telemarketers, but that hasn't happened, according to state officials.Violations of the Do Not Call list are the No. 1 consumer complaint, according to the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection agency.
In 2007, 14,876 Wisconsinites filed written complaints with the state, and 3,194, or 21 percent, of those complaints were about telemarketers.
The department recently released its top-10 list of consumer complaints for 2007. DATCP reported that last year the agency got back $9 million for state residents.
While the number of people complaining was the highest in the telemarketing category, the most expensive complaints were in the home improvement category.
Ok, Ok, Ok, you put yourself on a list that says you don't want to be called.
You are surprised when someone gets a hold of that list. Duh!
Ok, Ok, Ok, you have a phone that you don't have to answer - but you do because your put yourself on a list which said "Don't Phone Me".
So you wander around town with a sign on your back saying "Kick Me".
Ok, Ok, Ok, you do know that you could cut down completely on fraud by buying a $10 answering machine and resolving never to call unknown numbers?
I am just saying it is probably a) a heckuva a lot more cheaper than signaling that you are stupid, and b) easier to screen than to trust a Do Not Call Me List will work.
Read More From BizOp News
February 7, 2008
Cell Phone List Brokers - Enablers of Fraud
Michael David Thomas spotted a neat little story about how list brokers get cell phone numbers, in his Pizza Phone Database
"This has been widely known and used in the investigative world for several years now, but this is the first time I've noticed a prominent story on the subject appearing in the media... Cell phones present a problem for investigators. Unlike landlines there have been no entrenched ways of getting good data on who a cell number belongs to, or vice versa - what a person's cell number might be. They're essentially all unlisted."
So how do you get someone's cell phone number?
"Now, it is actually illegal for telephone companies to compile mobile numbers in a directory without users' consent.This would seem to imply that cell phone numbers are meant to be essentially private personal data. But the rules governing wireless companies don't cover third parties.
This loophole has allowed data aggregators to do off the wall things like buy your phone numbers in bulk (say, 90 million of them) from pizza delivery companies."
List brokers are critical enablers of fraud.
Telemarketing fraudsters use the immediacy of the telephone to engage, distract and ultimately defraud.
Especially at risk are those who have marked themselves as vulnerable by subscribing to the Do Not Call Registry.
