Caller Type: Telemarketer
Phone Number Owner: Win a Trip
Phone Number Report: Recorded telemarketing message (which is ILLEGAL in Canada) promised an all-inclusive cruise to Bahamas if I answered 10 survey questions. Questions dealt with age range, rent or own home, DSL or dial-up, prefer to use credit/debit/cheque, etc.
After answering questions, got transferred to a call centre rep, who asked for my name & number. I asked him name of his company, Canada or USA, & which state. He said he was calling from "Answer Solution", in the USA, but said he was not allowed to say which state he was in. He again asked for my name & number in order to transfer me to a "travel rep". I told him that by using an automated dial automated delivery (ADAD) device, he was in violation of our telemarketing regulations. He immediately hung up without another word.
Actually, he was in violation of more than just the ADAD regulation. He did not display a valid number in call display (which appeared as only
000-000-0000), or provide a company name & contact number, or a disconnect option, or a "Do Not Call" option in the recorded message.
I had to do a Google to find this phone number info, and I also found that the company is also displaying its number as
404-798-9983.
Based on what I found online, callers would be transferred not to a "travel rep" but to a person who would try to sell them a home alarm system (supposedly on the premise that, if they're going to be away on a cruise---yeah, right---their home will need protection while they're away). People who talked to the "rep" said the "rep" referred them to a website (www.yoursurvey.com) to confirm their survey answers---a website that doesn't exist.
Therefore, the "survey" was just a way for the scammers to get demographic information for the numbers on their list. That way, they'll have a nice list of categorized names & numbers to sell to other scammers.
We've recently had a rash of telemarketing scammers trying to sell alarm systems here in Canada. They've given different names, contact numbers and non-existent street addresses. The fact that this is just another of their tricks is another reason I'm reporting them to both the CRTC (Canadian regulators) and the FTC.
