FTC Hangs Up On “Rachel From Cardholder Services”

I won't miss these people, but I once had a lot of fun at their expense.  I pretended to be old and feeble and reluctant to share my credit card details.  After a while I gave them my number with several digits changed.  When that didn't go through, I gave it to them again, with one digit different from the first time.  After a bit of this, I said (in my normal voice) that they were crazy to think I'd give some stranger my credit-card number over the phone. The guy cursed me and hung up.  Great sport, especially since I wouldn't be surprised if he was being paid on commission and I'd just wasted a half-hour of his time. Also, I think I got fewer calls after that, which suggests they may have put me on some "don't call" list,

Notice that all the companies named are in AZ and FL, 2 strongholds of Conservative Republicanism.

There is a simple way for the FCC to stop this if the really wanted. After receiving a specified number of complaints, the FCC could require the originating phone company to monitor the lines involved for a few days. If they are being used for robocalls, the phone company would be requied to terminate the phone service on all lines going to the caller's location without notice, or pay a daily fine for not doing so. Allow the phone company to keep whatever payments and deposits made by the perpetrator.

We aren't talking about one or two phone lines. You need at least 24 to make robocalling cost effective (less and you just use real people). A company won't last long if they are constantly having to pay installation costs and deposits on dozens of business lines, and their phone numbers keep changing. Plus, how do you pay for a workforce when the business is hit with constant disruption.

Except from the ones coming from Canada and New York (I've had both). You can always count on some moron, either from the righ or the left, trying to turn everything into a political issue.

When they call waste their time by giving then fake credit card numbers which you can generate at http://www.getcreditcardnumbers.com/, these numbers are test numbers and are valid, but bounce every time. I kept one guy on and wasted 30 minutes of his time by repeatedly giving him bogus numbers. Then I said "gotcha scumbag, have a nice day" and he got very angry and hung up.

I think that you are 100% right!

I usually turn on a recording of an adult movie. They hang up very quickly. After all, they are breaking the law, so...

As a retired  411 telephone  operator, I can tell you first off that  if a tele-marker uses the same headset like we did, they can hear  a mouse fart in the corner. I suggest keeping a police whistle nearby. When you know it's "Rachel", give the whistle a good , long blast. There's a good chance that the tele-marker's will spread the word to each other to avoid ruptured eardrums and they might not call your number. Worth a try. :)

Sorry, but government should also protect us against things we can do nothing about on our own.  I can't stop numbskulls from calling me when I am trying to sleep.  I work nights.  Sure, I can disconnect my phone, but then I disconnect it with everyone else including my doctors.  We need the government to protect us from these harassing jerks.  That means as much to me as protecting our borders.  I suppose you would also like a fence all the way across the Canadian-U.S. border.  Who is going to pay for that?  All they do is dig holes under fences.

How about the government getting out of our bedrooms and out of funding private schools with vouchers?

Tell ALL  scam  callers : you KNOW  where  they  work  &  live and  you're sending  your  posse  after them !!!!  That'll scare  the  crap out  of  them and  maybe  they'll  put  a DO NOT  call  notation next  to  your  number !!! If  not  mess  with them , if  they're  dumb enough to keep  calling.  Answer  the  calls: "hello  this is  the FBI / the  DEA, the  Department of  Justice , the  Office  of  Dumb [***]  Callers" . Anything to  mess  with their  one  track minds..

These operations have nothing to do with 'free enterprise' - they are criminal operations, pure and simple. Don't be dimwitted enough to support such activities with a 'free market' argument. The cost to American consumers from frauds is in the billions of dollars every year; you are being duped into looking for boogie men, while organized criminals utilize schemes that, unfortunately, the FTC cannot deal with, because they are chronically underfunded. Why? Your 'Patriots' who want to flush our government agencies down the tubes.
Conning the elderly, the gullible, is somehow "free market economics"?
I hope your mother gets hit by these characters-maybe that will change your opinion, eh?

June 11,2013 - I got a call this morning from "Rachael" I kid you not... So much for taking down the scammers

Here is the perfect setup for blocking these unwanted calls.

Get a Digitone Call Blocker (available on the internet). They cost $99.95 delivered, and worth every penny of it. This device, all by itself, can block any call that you wish even before the phone rings. It has a limit of 80 numbers on the blocked list.

The arrangement that I have is the following:

1.    I use the Digitone Call Blocker to suppress the first ring. This allows both, the call blocker, and my computer time to acquire the Caller ID information that is used to decide whether or not to allow the call through. I have the call blocker set to “Business Mode” which allows all calls through, all the time. I then set the "first ring suppression" option to "ON"

2.    I purchased a copy of “Phone Tray” software (also available on the web for $29.99), and loaded it on my computer. Phone Tray Pro offers much more flexibility than Digitone does by itself, such as, unlimited black list, white list, caller list, contact list, etc.. It also allows me to use my PC as an interface for the call blocking process in order to give them a customized message rather than just a hang up.

3.    Since my computer is only equipped with a data/fax modem I purchased a Sewell voice/data/fax modem (model SW-29644) for $18.76 delivered, which has a dual phone outlet and connects to the computer through a USB port. It is also fully compatible with Comcast and most all other carriers; as well as with Phone Tray.

To set it all up, do the following:

1.    Plug the modem into a usb port on your computer.
2.    Connect the incoming phone line to the “tel” port of the call blocker. This could also be the phone line that comes from your digital phone modem provided by your carrier, in my case, Comcast, and connects to your phone.
3.    Run a phone connector wire from the “line” port of the call blocker to one of the two phone ports on the usb modem.
4.    Connect your phone to the other port on the usb modem.
Open Phone Tray on your computer and follow the instructions to set up your call monitoring/blocking system.
Trust me, this works great and you won’t be bothered by these people again. Additionally, Phone Tray logs all of your incoming calls in a spreadsheet format for easy retrieval. It also allows you to create and use customized call blocking messages for each call type or caller that you wish. The one that I use most is one that came with Phone Tray and states the following: “We’re sorry. The number you have dialed has been disconnected…….”

Good Luck to all of you frustrated and tortured souls. I hope this life preserver saves your sanity and turns your frustration into the fun sport of getting even by wasting their time like they have wasted yours. Also, I am sorry this only works on hard line hookups. I understand that Google has a blocker that you can use with your cell phones.

A few useful links are:
http://www.digitone.com/
http://www.phonetray.com/
http://sewelldirect.com/Networking/Modems

Try digitone.com

Art, why are you almost falling on your face to get to the phone? we use caller ID - if I don't know the number, they can leave a message and I'll call back if I feel like it. Also, if I'm in the middle of something (like making dinner) and can't get to the phone, even if they are someone I would normally want to talk to, they can leave a message.  I made the decision long ago to stop being a Pavlovian dog to telephones... Please consider this instead of potentially hurting yourself.