Thank you guys for all your posts! They actually helped me to come up with my own sting. This is what I am going to do when they call e again. I will set up an appointment at my job. If and when they show up I will play along and get all the credentials from them including company marquee, their names, badges, etc. Then I am going to let them have it!! And I'm going to tell them that if anyone from their organization ever...ever, ever, ever, contacts me again, I will take I out on them - by any means necessary!
Just a little bit of advice: do not meet with these people alone and be sure when you meet with them you are armed with a gun. Only the foolhardy and the painfully naive, would fail to grasp you will be meeting with criminals. Good luck and be safe!
+4
I wouldn't meet them
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....unless I know we are on the same page. I will not be thrown into a pit of despair and depression (and physically ill) of being scammed again. I am very sorry they had an unhappy life in Nigeria but that was not my fault. I need to see some positiveness and future plans - NOT a long sob story that they got off the cargo ship in long beach LA and has no money.
One other thing to consider is sometimes, well actually most of the time, the callers are just some call center service or contractor referral service. In that case, the ones that actually show up for the service, installation, or in person demo are just a local contractor who "mistakenly" bought into the terms of the call center/referral service. The contractor my be an honest Joe who fell for an advertisement by the call center/referral service who claimed they could drive up business for a percentage of the sale or bought into a "regional distributor/installer" for a shady call center marketer. I'm not saying this is the case for this thread, but it could be and worth taking a step back from just going off on the guy who shows up. If you still want to do the "sting" be prepared for a ton of confusion. I would suggest just stating what the issue is with the calls and find out if the contractor is "in on it" or an additional "victim" first.
+1
I wouldn't
... go off on the guy at all. And I agree with your suggestion to talk first and find out if the contractor is "in on it" and on board.
0
And....
... I don't care what people look like or whether they are well-off. As long as they show up in good faith and honest. I have no room in my life for Nigerian or any other scammer. Western Union, for example, is still open for business from Nigeria, but they are transacting honest business only.
-2
Anonym
Give them an address and have the cops waiting there for them.
But they are paying for the referral, so either directly or indirectly, are supporting or benefiting from the illegal telemarketing. If they are just getting leads, if they start paying for a bunch of useless leads from a telemarketer, they'll stop accepting leads from them.
This is just another way to increase their costs and reduce their profits. If they truly are an "honest joe", and you do talk to them, just tell them that you don't do business with a company that uses unlawful telemarketing practices (robocalling, etc) and send them on their way. Eventually, they will get the message once the cost is high enough.
Edit: Most of the people that would get called are in on the deal (Alarm Systems, etc), but some aren't. From what I understand, some of the "Merchant Processing" places hire poor saps on commission to make all these sales calls, close the deal, and return the contracts. So while running these guys around kind of sucks for them, it does either get them to quit (can't support yourself on no commissions) and ties them up so the Merchant dudes can't make money either. I feel bad for the poor sap, but ultimately it's the best way to starve the head since they can't bring home any business (i.e. money).
And what makes you think that they are not using the internet to verify the address to make sure they are not sending someone to a vacant lot or an empty house for sale.?
REAL scam baiting utilizes the very same manipulation on the scammer that scammers use on their marks – the big payout is always just out of reach, during the baiting the scam baiter gets information which can be reported and maybe also even uncover the information about real marks!
But … one has to know exactly what they are doing and how to do it correctly for there to be any degree of safety for the one doing the scam baiting!
You may even need others joining you in scam baiting (even a mentor) as back up or help when baiting these lowlifes! But, if you're not sure about what you're doing … it's best to leave it alone!
In a way, it's sort of like profiling. In order to trick and "trap" a scammer you have to at least try and think like one to be able to catch them at their own game!
....unless I know they were on the same page as well. The best way to know someone is to approach them directly in a nice respectful way. Information acquired through devious means can be misleading. I've already pre-informed them what my perspective is. It's clear enough. i don't want to argue with them or waste their phone time. I don't function well with negativity. It makes me sick. I function well with good planning and positive attitude. I think this board is important to reveal the scammer's intent and plans to scam seniors and gullible people. I appreciate the intent. It has saved people from getting scammed. Enough has been said about it already. I can see why WolfmanJack is not around any more. He's done his job. He is better off clearing his mind on a beach resort and starting off something new with positive energy.
Actually, I think some do. I got a call that turned out to be Alliance/VMS (which called even though they are under a stipulated order from Mar 2014) and they wanted my address for verification. In one of the calls, they refused to provide the name of their business unless I told them my address (one of them slipped in one of the calls).
Often, you don't even have to 'bait' as much. Just act like a normal person that has some interest in the product. Be nice, but just be non-committal. The FTC has a hard time tracking some of these people down, so any information you can get (especially web sites, which is generally not difficult to get) aids in their investigation. A phone number alone often requires too much of a chain of subpoenas to track down, so adding this extra information in your complaint helps them lots more than just a phone number.
These people aren't like the Nigerian scammers, they're college kids/etc in a boilerroom. You just need to skew the close ratios, not get involved in an intricate plot.
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