Info leeching
Complaint
This Chick
Country: United States
I just received an unsolicited phone call from a woman who was seeking information about a supposed listing of my residence on Superpages.
I simply stated that we have no listing on SuperPages, nor had we even heard of such a thing prior to the phone call.
She ignored me and asked if my phone number was a house or business, to which I promptly replied that it was none of her business and hung up the phone.
The caller id identified the call as "New York" only at 212-266-5381.
I simply stated that we have no listing on SuperPages, nor had we even heard of such a thing prior to the phone call.
She ignored me and asked if my phone number was a house or business, to which I promptly replied that it was none of her business and hung up the phone.
The caller id identified the call as "New York" only at 212-266-5381.
Comments
Most of these complaints have been against shady "directory" scammers, some in Canada, who are then reported to use threats of credit damage to extort exorbitant payments for worthless listings. FTC and Canadian authorities have gone after some.
There are also, however, other complaints similar to yours, including against Verizon, where people have alleged that they were signed up for a useless directory listing without their permission, apparently based on a listing they had once had for a business a decade earlier that is no longer in business. Telemarketers appear to be mining old listing information to make new sales calls, and then fraudulently claiming the "business" (no longer even in existence) renewed their listing. This just makes more blatantly clear the fraudulent intent.
Fraudulent telemarketing associated with otherwise legitimate businesses often results from the practice of using third party telemarketing call centers where the callers are paid commissions as incentive. These firms typically have high turnover and will hire almost anyone, so it really should be no surprise if some of their "sales" are fabricated.
Since your suspect that they were attempting to engage in fraud (due to their false and deceptive claim that you already had a listing), and you cannot trust that they did not fraudulently sign you up for something despite your refusal to provide any information, your safest path is to file complaints with FTC and your state AG to report the incident. You might also send a letter to Verizon's executive offices, outlining the incident, and demand that they ensure their telemarketers cease contacting you by phone due to attempted fraud by their agents. No doubt they will deny it, but it puts the matter on the record.
http://phoneowner.info/Number.aspx/2122665381
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-212-266-5381
https://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/2122665335
"...
(cell phone in cali) - 16 Dec 2008
i just called Super Pages at 800-376-0136
the operator apologized and confirmed that it was probably a call center which Super Pages outsources to another country. she offered to add my phone numbers to their own do not call list so i entered 2 phone numbers to it. she was very nice on the phone and it didn't seem like her fault so if you call to be removed, don't be mean to her. maybe ask to speak with her manager and threaten a lawsuit or something but be nice to the sales receptionist.
Caller ID: 212-266-5335
Caller: (unknown - calling my cell phone)
..."
i'm glad to answer all ur questions around our calls .. we're calling to update some information for a free listing you already have on superpages.com just like any other business allover usa .. ur listed on superpages.com which is the online directory .. just like u are listed in the printed phone book ...
just give the agents a chance 2 do their job and every one will b happy at this time ... and u r more than welcome to ask any thing ..
Scammers hit businesses with repeated phone calls, legitimate businesses do not.
Scammers cloud their identities, attempting to confuse their identity with that of well-known companies. Legitimate businesses do not.
Scammers attempt to bully people into making statements they can later claim authorize a fraudulent bill. Legitimate businesses do not.
Given the frequency of calls from scammers to small businesses, law abiding businesses should recognize the legitimate interests of the parties they are calling in minimizing the exposure of their businesses to fraud and extortion. Just as banks recognize that the only safe way for consumers to respond to even a bank initiated call is to call back to a known trusted number, you would be wise to recognize that the only safe way to update a directory listing may be to provide a way for the small businesses you want to list to contact you through a verifiable channel.
For example, if superpages.com is affiliated with Verizon, then it should be reachable through Verizon's website, and the free listing terms should be clearly spelled out.
The days of cold-calling telemarketing are over due to excessive telemarketing fraud.
And, some companies may object to any association with your spam like company.
Receiving phone calls 5-8 times a week, all hung up, from your company is harassment. If your IT department or the agents of your company are incapable of removing dead-end leads from your database, expect to run into individuals who do not take this harassment lightly. E.g. expect lawsuits.
If you provide telemarketers with enough incentive to close sales, and if your controls and auditing are inadequate, they will "close sales" that never happened.