FTC Cracks Down On Indian Call Center, Fraudster Debt Collectors (FINALLY!)

Here is a trick I learned today when they call pick up, don't say a word and hang up.  They cAll again, pick up and hang up. And repeat . They will give up and hear is why. They use voi some type of voice over internet provider, take your pick. The weakness is the time it takes for there computer to reset the call because when u don't say a word the computer thinks you are still there and keeps the line open ..  And they can change there called Id. Also they may tagteam you by having two or three call at the same time.

These guys call me too.  They know they can't actually do anything but hope the harrasment will cause people to give in just to get them off their back.  They called my work number today about 10 times back to back.  Thank heaven it's my direct extension.  I just let it go to my voicemail and then deleted the message without listening to it.  I love the way they threaten you though and then say God Bless at the end of their little speach.  I want to laugh whenever they give an American name as their own when they cannot even speak English very well.  I have been experimenting with my phone lines tp see if I can forward their call directly to the to the FBI or to the FTC without their knowledge.  That'd be worth listening to!!!!  I don't know about anyone else but I'm tired of the calls and hope this won't be a permanent occurance.  I hope the FTC, FBI, Secret Service or somebody can put an end to it,

I want to thank all of you for sharing your experiences,  It helps to know that I'm not alone in this.  To all, I share your pain!!!!  Have an awesome day!

Could this possibly be promising news to finally end this crap once and for all.  Probably not, but at least it's a start.  Maybe the Canadian gov't should wake up and do the same.  Over the past 3 years, I have recorded at least 6 pages full of a multitude of a variety of scam calls from all over the U.S., Canada and India and I am sick and tired of them.  Anyhow, I wish the gov't the best of luck.

The FTC has been Cracking Down On Indian Call Centers, Fraudster Debt Collectors (FINALLY!), for years.   Still waiting for the calls to stop.

Law enforcement simply isn't the answer to the problem of offshore Indian scammers.    They are beyond the reach of law enforcement in the US or Canada, the UK, Australia, or where ever  and the Indian government--one of the most corrupt on earth by their own admission--simply isn't going to do anything about it.  The answer has to be technology.   Government has to pressure providers into cooperation (probably kicking and screaming) in an effort to find ways to frustrate the criminals' ID and number spoofing, and cut off their means of obtaining and using standard, VOIP and cell phone numbers in the massive numbers they need to make the volume of calls necessary to make their fraud profitable.    This isn't going to be a one-time solution, but a game of "whack-a-mole" where government and industry respond quickly to "disconnect" new versions of the scam being perpetrated in different ways, once detected.    That means the politicians will have to take the problem seriously and industry will have to face the fact that they bear responsibility in creating this problem, and must take steps to solve it, even if it reduces their bottom line.    I don't hold great hope in this happening, but one can dream.

Wherever there is out of control corruption, all sorts of frauds, scammers and criminals find refuge.

Until they get shut down completely, the only thing we can do is ignore them, block them or if you get pissed off screw around with their heads and harass them back.

Wouldn't be suprised if they got personal info starting with legitimate companies. You order something from a legit company, give them your info for shipping/warranty purposes, they then give this info to a 3rd party call center that calls you up about extended warranties/customer satisfaction. These call centers advertize that they will provide ready made lists to new clients. Where do you thing they get these lists from? Why the existing client base of course. The whole thing then mushrooms out of control with one company selling the list to another, and the same call center using the same list to run multiple scams.

I've go a better one Marcy. Call forward it to a 1-900 "talk dirty to me" service :)

I think you just hit the nail on the head!  It doesn't matter whether you have a land line or cell phone - as soon as you give your # to ANYONE you're leaving yourself vulnerable to your info being "sold".   Maybe it's time that the service providers, Telus, AT&T, Bell, whoever, be held accountable to some degree for allowing these scammers to have access to their communication systems.

We could start a caller id spoofing registry and hire the people that used  to worked for long gun registry. Seriously, what we need is explicit consent laws. Too many times I see in fine print at the bottom of invoices "I agree to have the above information shared with our third party partners". In other words they are going to sell your personal information to whoever offers them money, or  when you see a bunch of legalese in their privacy policy that only a lawyer could understand as well as the right to change the conditions whenever they want. This is implied consent. What we need is legislation that requires companies to explain the policy in plain english and a check box that we explicitly consent to these conditions and we must explicitly consent to any changes that are made. These are not conditions required for doing business with this company, but are entirely optional.

The reason why they put it in fine print is cause they know people hardly ever read it. The agreement should be made clear and straightforward. No more breach of privacy.

"Wouldn't be suprised if they got personal info starting with legitimate companies."

Of course.  I'd be willing to bet that this is how most, if not all, of your personal information got into their hands.  There's the US debt collector source:  If you google Encore Indian phone banks debt collection India Post, you'll find an article where they BRAG about this!  There's also the obvious source from online applications for pay day loans, whether the loan was given or not.  Once your information is entered into those data fields and submitted, there's no telling who is on the other end to receive it and who gets access to it on its way.  

I have several housemates and none of us has ever taken out a pay day loan, in our lives, in a payday loan office, on the phone, or online.  But we get these calls.  Actually, it's been awhile since we've gotten any.  It seems that they just sort of stopped sometime around the beginning of the year - we NEVER answer the phone unless we like what CID says so it's possible that they just got tired of listening to our answering machine message.  Anyway, one of my housemates applied for and received, online, a Dell line of credit some time ago and the phone calls, for us, started within a month of this.  I'm thinking that there might be a connection.

Which leads me to this observation:  If so-called legitimate companies are passing out our personal information like this, are they really legitimate?

Hi,

I know all of them and there is one more guy named Asad Farooqui, who is running this type of scam