Public Telecom Utilities and Illegal Telemarketing
Complaint
DeletedMedia
Country: United States
Educating Consumers about Telemarketing Compliance with State and Federal Laws.
http://telemarketerspam.wordpress.com/
Fred Accuardi and Illegal Telemarketing
Fred Accuardi is the president of Telephone Management Corporation, which operates out of an office here in Portland, Oregon. It appears that Fred and his crew have been accused of being involved in illicit telemarketing schemes going back to 2006 and perhaps earlier.
Fred Accuardi is currently alleged to profit from illegal telemarketing involving Pacific Telecom Communications Group through a shell company registered in Belize called International Telephone Corporation.
In response to law enforcement subpoenas, Pacific Telecom names International Telephone Corporation as the entity utilizing the phone numbers used for illegal telemarketing. Fred Accuardi seems to have accidentally revealed his association with International Telephone Corp last week.
Here's what is needed to make this scheme work:
Public Telecom Utility - Owns the CNAM provisioned phone numbers. Deflects complaints against their "subscribers" illegal use of their telephone numbers. They can accurately claim that no outbound telemarketing calls are made from their network and are willfully ignorant of the illegal activity they support.
Fee Collector - Fred Accuardi and Company - Telecom utilities are obligated to pay a tiny fee when they retrieve the Caller ID information from an incoming call. Fred Accuardi's firm collects these fees that result when millions of telemarketing calls are made each week. This revenue is shared with the telemarketer who is doing the illegal calling.
Telemarketer - Initiate millions of illegal telemarketing calls per week to phone customers who subscribe to Caller ID. They simply have to identify their calls with the public utility's CNAM provisioned numbers to enable Fred Accuardi to collect the CNAM fees. The telemarketer assumes the most risk in this scheme: they are the easiest to prosecute for this activity and it's not uncommon for the FTC to take legal action against them. However, there are always plenty of telemarketers willing to take a chance to make quick money.
Fred Accuardi's association with this type of unlawful telemarketing is nothing new. In fact, it appears that he pulled off the same scheme several years ago using phone numbers provided by Steve Hamilton, who now operates Pacific Telecom.
Accuardi's Current Scheme Involving Pacific Telecom Communications Group and International Telephone Corporation
These days, Fred Accuardi appears to operate the same scheme, but this time his activities are conducted through a shell company registered in Belize called International Telephone Corporation. Although this company is registered in Belize, it seems to be operated by Fred Accuardi and his team out of his Portland Oregon office. In fact, their web site shares the same Portland Oregon web server as Telephone Management Corporation. Here is the web portal telemarketers use to access their CNAM revenue reports.
In response to law enforcement subpoenas, Pacific Telecom named International Telephone Corporation as the entity utilizing the phone numbers that were used for illegal telemarketing.
Pacific Telecom most likely has full knowledge of this scheme. Fred Accuardi's son, F Antone Accuardi, is the general legal council for both Pacific Telecom and Telephone Management Corporation. As an attorney registered in the State of Oregon, F Antone Accuardi has an obligation to report his knowledge of illegal activity to law enforcement.
Stay tuned for a future article where we hope to publish difficult to obtain records that will fully document the identities of the anonymous owners behind International Telephone Corporation.
In the mean time, Fred Accuardi has not been charged with any crimes by authorities, nor has the FTC taken action against him or Pacific Telecom for their alleged roles in illegal telemarketing.
http://telemarketerspam.wordpress.com/2012/08 ... -telemarketing/
http://telemarketerspam.wordpress.com/
Fred Accuardi and Illegal Telemarketing
Fred Accuardi is the president of Telephone Management Corporation, which operates out of an office here in Portland, Oregon. It appears that Fred and his crew have been accused of being involved in illicit telemarketing schemes going back to 2006 and perhaps earlier.
Fred Accuardi is currently alleged to profit from illegal telemarketing involving Pacific Telecom Communications Group through a shell company registered in Belize called International Telephone Corporation.
In response to law enforcement subpoenas, Pacific Telecom names International Telephone Corporation as the entity utilizing the phone numbers used for illegal telemarketing. Fred Accuardi seems to have accidentally revealed his association with International Telephone Corp last week.
Here's what is needed to make this scheme work:
Public Telecom Utility - Owns the CNAM provisioned phone numbers. Deflects complaints against their "subscribers" illegal use of their telephone numbers. They can accurately claim that no outbound telemarketing calls are made from their network and are willfully ignorant of the illegal activity they support.
Fee Collector - Fred Accuardi and Company - Telecom utilities are obligated to pay a tiny fee when they retrieve the Caller ID information from an incoming call. Fred Accuardi's firm collects these fees that result when millions of telemarketing calls are made each week. This revenue is shared with the telemarketer who is doing the illegal calling.
Telemarketer - Initiate millions of illegal telemarketing calls per week to phone customers who subscribe to Caller ID. They simply have to identify their calls with the public utility's CNAM provisioned numbers to enable Fred Accuardi to collect the CNAM fees. The telemarketer assumes the most risk in this scheme: they are the easiest to prosecute for this activity and it's not uncommon for the FTC to take legal action against them. However, there are always plenty of telemarketers willing to take a chance to make quick money.
Fred Accuardi's association with this type of unlawful telemarketing is nothing new. In fact, it appears that he pulled off the same scheme several years ago using phone numbers provided by Steve Hamilton, who now operates Pacific Telecom.
Accuardi's Current Scheme Involving Pacific Telecom Communications Group and International Telephone Corporation
These days, Fred Accuardi appears to operate the same scheme, but this time his activities are conducted through a shell company registered in Belize called International Telephone Corporation. Although this company is registered in Belize, it seems to be operated by Fred Accuardi and his team out of his Portland Oregon office. In fact, their web site shares the same Portland Oregon web server as Telephone Management Corporation. Here is the web portal telemarketers use to access their CNAM revenue reports.
In response to law enforcement subpoenas, Pacific Telecom named International Telephone Corporation as the entity utilizing the phone numbers that were used for illegal telemarketing.
Pacific Telecom most likely has full knowledge of this scheme. Fred Accuardi's son, F Antone Accuardi, is the general legal council for both Pacific Telecom and Telephone Management Corporation. As an attorney registered in the State of Oregon, F Antone Accuardi has an obligation to report his knowledge of illegal activity to law enforcement.
Stay tuned for a future article where we hope to publish difficult to obtain records that will fully document the identities of the anonymous owners behind International Telephone Corporation.
In the mean time, Fred Accuardi has not been charged with any crimes by authorities, nor has the FTC taken action against him or Pacific Telecom for their alleged roles in illegal telemarketing.
http://telemarketerspam.wordpress.com/2012/08 ... -telemarketing/
Comments
Who the suspects are:
https://complaintwire.org/complaint/ipzhHRymJ ... gon-robo-dialer
http://telemarketerspam.wordpress.com/2012/08 ... -telemarketing/
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011 ... -companies.html
http://www.bbb.org/west-florida/business-revi ... ter-fl-90107305
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/st ... vcapId=23957705
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/cox-353170-agency-companies.html
http://www.ftc.gov/os/caselist/0923193/index.shtm
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/nov/29/business/la-fi-lazarus-20111129
http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=22278
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/debt/client_services_inc.html
http://www.scambook.com/report/view/71722/Ambrosia-Web-Design-Complaint-71722-for-$998.00
http://onthespotblog.com/the-hunt-for-rachel-at-cardholder-services/
http://www.scamchecker.com/content/cardmember-services-another-scam
http://www.state.ia.us/government/ag/latest_n ... fundraiser.html
http://blog.usa.gov/post/30393077932/answering-your-questions-about-robocalls
http://onthespotblog.com/on-the-spot-blog-sti ... older-services/
http://onthespotblog.com/tag/cardholder-services/
https://complaintwire.org/complaint/ipzhHRymJ ... gon-robo-dialer
http://telemarketerspam.wordpress.com/2012/08 ... -telemarketing/
People should continually file complaints with their Attorney Generals office and also file with:
http://www.fcc.gov/complaints
https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov
If enough people keep complaining then maybe something will get done.
The calls are being made from outside the US however most of the call centers (where you actually talk to someone after pressing 1) are in the US and the companies making the money from the scam are owned by people in the US. They will charge thousands of dollars on your credit card without performing any services.
Many of these calls are coming from Costa Rica and India and they are using spoofed (false) numbers, which in itself is illegal. They do cold calling for or sell the leads to numerous companies in this country and they know that what they are doing is illegal. Tomorrow this same number may be selling Cruises, Timeshares or Security Systems but if you follow the money it usually ends up in the hands of an American LLC. Keep complaining to the FTC and FCC, and start bugging our politicians to pass laws to make it punishable in criminal court instead of handing out fines that they don't pay. Another course of action is to contact phone companies to find out why they won't block spoofed numbers. With today's technology that should be an easy thing to do, unless they are somehow profiting from the use of their systems.
The criminals behind this operation aren't going to pay attention to you asking to be removed from their list. Their calls cost them nothing and they can make a million of them a day so they have no intention of ever removing someone. When you press a key to talk to them all that is accomplished is to verify that they have a working number.
Unfortunately blowing an air horn or whistle doesn't work either. Their headset have noise dampeners plus they are expecting it. However with that said if it makes you feel better then by all means give it a shot.
For anyone thinking of using Special Information Tones (or as they're called in the industry SIT tones) to fake a non working phone number, they won't work. Since around 2001-2002, the costs of digital business lines have dropped dramatically, along with Voice over IP (Internet) telephone service. Neither of these use the SIT tones as the call information is carried separate from the audio.
This separate call information tells the calling party digitally if the call was answered, busy, voice mail, forwarded, rejected, etc. This renders SIT tones useless. Also the TeleZapper products that used to be on the market used this method as well, and were rendered ineffective for the same reasons.
It is also through this separate call information message that the spoofed caller ID information is transmitted.
Robocalls are illegal unless you have given them prior permission in writing (not worded into some small print contract from a 3rd party) and are absolutely illegal to a cell phone. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act permits individuals who have received certain unlawful telemarketing, such as junk faxes or telemarketing calls, to sue the violator in state courts where they may be awarded up to $1500 for each violation.
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/robocalls/
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2012/07/robocall.shtm
http://transition.fcc.gov/cgb/policy/TCPA-Rules.pdf
You can also try suing them in small claims court. This site has some information on how to proceed. http://www.killthecalls.com/
Check here first to see if it is one of their phone numbers:
http://telemarketerspam.wordpress.com
Pacific Telecom Communications Group
Follow JD's recommendations in the blog and stop them at the source.
Many of the disposable numbers come from Pacific Telecom Communications Group and they are currently under investigation and in the midst of various lawsuits. (The principles involved have been part of actions by the FCC under other business names).These businesses have ripped people off for millions of dollars, yet have paid only a couple of thousand dollars in fines. The only way to stop them is to throw them in prison for a few years to make this criminal activity less attractive.
The Oregon Public Utilities Commission has revoked Pacific Telecom's certificate to provide telecom services in Oregon.
The Indiana Attorney General’s Office filed lawsuits against:
Consumer Credit Group and Proactive Planning Solutions of Arizona for violating Indiana’s Do Not Call Law and Auto-Dialer Act known as the robo-call law. Both companies violated the Credit Service Organization Act and Deceptive Consumer Sales Act by not obtaining $25,000 surety bonds with the state and collecting money upfront without performing any services.
Debt Zero of California for collecting money up front, failing to provide services or a refund and operating without a $25,000 surety bond.
Clear One Advantage of Maryland and Credit Arbitrators of Texas for violating the Credit Service Organization Act and the Deceptive Consumer Sales Act by not obtaining the required surety bonds.
http://www.in.gov/activecalendar/EventList.as ... ation_id=107077
Arkansas sues robocallers:
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2012/aug/0 ... arketing-firms/
Missouri sues robocallers:
http://www.legalnewsline.com/news/236974-kost ... nies-over-calls
FTC is sending refund checks to 4,468 consumers “who allegedly were defrauded by a telemarketer who used robocalls (prerecorded voice messages) to pitch worthless credit card rate reduction programs for an up-front fee.”
http://bbbconsumereducation.com/the-checks-in-the-mail-this-time-its-true/
Proof that current laws mean nothing to these scum suckers. Civil action by the FTC against such criminals is totally ineffective. These criminals need to be charged with Federal Felonies and subjected to significant jail time. All of those involved know that they are violating FTC regulations. The FTC levies huge fines, then rescinds them based on inability to pay. The FTC settles for the minimal cash on hand, and enjoins them from future telemarketing. The criminals sign off, then go right back to business as usual. These same people under different companies have been sued in the past and have only paid a minimal fine. Here are just a few:
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2011/12/roycox.shtm
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2010/06/asiapacific.shtm
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2012/03/asiapacific.shtm
http://www.ftc.gov/os/caselist/0923193/111219roycoxcmpt.pdf
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/donotcall/mediacenter.html
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2012/02/afl_financial.shtm
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2012/02/voiceblaze.shtm
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2010/03/voicetouch.shtm
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/05/robocalls.shtm
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/12/robocall.shtm
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/09/twi.shtm
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2011/02/robocall.shtm
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/05/robocalls2.shtm
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2010/12/jpm.shtm
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2010/08/voicetouch.shtm
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2011/11/sonkei.shtm
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2010/05/ams.shtm
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2011/01/khalilian.shtm
Write your Congressmen and Senators. We need CRIMINAL penalties against the companies that are profiting from these calls. Follow the money, slap them in prison, no one left to outsource to overseas boiler rooms, problem solved. Since they are operating across borders it should become a federal felony and should be handled by the FBI under the RICO Act.
I just got off the phone with these lovely people, having BS'd my way into actually being permitted to talk to a "senior account representative" by feeding the sale rep a fake credit card number (google "Graham king credit card numbers" to find a page of randomly-generated invalid numbers with valid CC-number format. Use with any random card exp. date and fake name).
The "details" of their offer are that they're going to charge $600 to your credit card, based on the promise of saving you at least $1,200 in interest, by allegedly lowering your interest rates to some absurd amount like 0.9%. So, $600 up front, but "savings eternal". Yeah right.
Having BS'd the rep into thinking he was about to close the sale, I asked him for the company information...and he gave it to me! LOL.
Associated Accounting Specialists, Inc.
Port Saint Lucie, FL
877-982-7526
According to corporationwiki, their address is
146 NW Central Park Plz Ste 201
Port Saint Lucie, FL 34986
Active officers include Robert W Page, Danielle D Page, Jason R Page, Ryan J Page and William R Page. Corporation is a domestic FL corp.
According to "florida-annual-report DOT com" the full info on their corporation is:
ASSOCIATED ACCOUNTING SPECIALISTS INC.
This information is current as of November 18, 2011.
Company Name: ASSOCIATED ACCOUNTING SPECIALISTS INC.
Status: Active Filing Date: 08/11/2011
Entity Type: Profit Corporation File Number: P11000072127
Company Age: 5 Months
Principal Address: 146 Nw Central Pk Plz
201
Port St Lucie, FL 34986
Mailing Address: 146 Nw Central Pk Plz
201
Port St Lucie, FL 34986
Registered Agent:
Page, William R
146 Nw Central Park Plz
201
Port St Lucie, FL 34986
Officer
Page, Danielle D
5939 Nw Center St
Port St Lucie, FL 34986
Cco
Page, Jason R
1235 Sw Briarwood Dr
Port St Lucie, FL 34986
Vice President
Page, Robert W
5939 Nw Center St
Port St Lucie, FL 34986
Secretary
Page, Ryan J
5939 Nw Center St
Port St Lucie, FL 34986
President
Page, William R
32 Center Ave
Burlington, NJ 08016
Enjoy the information
If I'm connected to a live person they stick to a script and usually hang up. Ive asked them who they are and they say "Credit Assistance - and ALWAYS add.... Part of Visa/Mastercard"....
I've done some research and called many companies that have similar names and i think it is American Credit Assistance in Orlando Florida. They have MANY complaints on RipOffReport.com and American Credit Assistance has a similar business model.
They are trying to get me to sign up for a Visa/Mastercard and are a scam.