FTC Hangs Up On “Rachel From Cardholder Services”

I have VOIP with call forwarding, blocking, voice mail, busy signal, disconnected announcement, etc. etc. options and what I do is talk to them and tell them I am interested in lowering my rates even though I only owe about $5000 on a $30,000 line of credit. At that point you can hear them salivating and part of the body swelling. I then give them a valid first 4 credit card number (which is the same for each type of credit card) so they think its going to be a valid number. Before getting to a fifth number I say something like, "Oh gee, there is someone at the door, please call me later" and then I hang up and forward their number to one of the Rejection Hotline recording or busy signal or disconnect announcement. Their frustration and disappointment levels must go off scale trying to get a hold of me. With the busy signal, they sometimes call back several dozen times (the phone doesn't ring but I can go to my VOIP provider's site and see the attempts). :-)

I decided not to get mad about it anymore. Now I just have fun with them. I'll pretend to be interested and use strange accents. A friend of mine likes to act like he called them and feeds them the same lines. They usually hang up pretty quick. LOL!

Why am I still receiving calls if the FTC cracked down on these people?  Absolutely useless, and these calls will continue.

I received a call yesterday regarding an "account audit" but the pitch seems to have changed a bit. Didn't listen to it all but it sounds like some of the jerks are back in business.

Been on the DNC list since it's inception.  These jerks started pestering me almost 3 years ago.  When I pressed 1 and kindly informed them I had no debt, not even a credit card asked them to please quit calling me, there reply was, "We will call you until the day you die!"

So now when my phone rings, if I don't know who is calling, I just send it to voice mail.  Unfortunately, I am job hunting and may lose a job offer.  Sad!

I did some detective work and supplied the FCC with parent company name, address, CEO's name and home address, and apparently all they got was a cease and desist order.  Worthless!  What happened to the $10, 000 fine per call penalty they are supposed to receive?

Calls are still coming

Think about this. I'm trying to prove a point to one of my lawmaker friends in Wisconsin.

Have you ever used your affected phone number to do ANY business with Craigslist?

Have you posted it on Craigslist to sell something?

Have you used the number to "verify an account" with Craigslist?

I'm almost POSITIVE that Craigslist is how these scammers are getting your numbers. Either Craigslist is selling their "account verification" phone lists to them, and/or computers are scanning ads to get your numbers off of there, unless you spell out the number (i.e.- three two four six two four five). It is common knowledge that computers DO INDEED scan the Craigslist ads for the numbers- unless it's spelled out.

I can't prove it yet, but I'm almost there!

Check with your phone company and see if you have "call block" available. It works until they call from another number or "spoof" the old number for another. Just continue to call block each number. If you are on cable, odds are you have the "call block" feature. You can also buy phones like Panasonic that have call block.

I started getting these calls and others right  AFTER I signed up for the National Do Not Call list. I think they use it for a telemarketing list. Maybe they should put the IRS in charge of enforcement. There is a lot of money to be made by the government enforcing the fines.

Unfortunately just the tip of the iceberg-and notice it said ""TEMPORARILY''' halt their operations. That probably means that by the time this announcement was in print, they were already AT IT AGAIN. BET ME!!!  PS I'm in Virginia and always got "AMY" never Ann or Rachel.

One sometimes wonders if the feds aren't in cahoots with these "companies." Bribes and kickbacks are nothing new to many government officials. You may notice the scammers always win, no matter how many times the gov't throws us a tiny bone to satisfy us for a little while.

Card Services has been calling us up to 3 times per day since 1/1/2013. It seems to have dropped off in the middle of March.  Now it is "Credit Cards" from 616 area. Screw the FTC and their hand-holding of scammers.

If Credit Card Services have been shut down, then why did I get a call today from one using the same technique?

So you're on the DNC list and still get calls?

Did you put a sign in your front yard saying "Gun Free Zone" expecting burglars/home-invaders to leave you alone?

No, they don't. (Did I need to tell you or anyone else past puberty that tidbit?)