Abusive to Elders
Complaint
Jonathan B.
Country: United States
We just listened in on a call from a group calling themselves the Regular American Veterans 888.286.VETS(8387) badgering our 80 year old mother who suffers from pre-dementia cognitive impairment. Supposed federal tax exempt number 59-3280603 yet no mailing address on the pledge form. We've heard her tell them repeatedly to stop calling. This is both telemarketing abuse and elder abuse.
The caller spoke fast and intimidated mom, claimed that if she didn't keep giving it would come out of his pocket. He told her that she was cruel to neglect veterans by not giving. Intimidation tactics can even get physical, including showing up at the door demanding payment.
Regular American Veterans have already nickled and dimed her for nearly $200 this year, $25 to $45 at a time. They have become increasingly aggressive, attempting to collect several times a week. This group needs to be shut down immediately. Mom is in the DoNotCall Registry and we'll be reporting this to the FCC as well at http://goo.gl/eNon
The caller spoke fast and intimidated mom, claimed that if she didn't keep giving it would come out of his pocket. He told her that she was cruel to neglect veterans by not giving. Intimidation tactics can even get physical, including showing up at the door demanding payment.
Regular American Veterans have already nickled and dimed her for nearly $200 this year, $25 to $45 at a time. They have become increasingly aggressive, attempting to collect several times a week. This group needs to be shut down immediately. Mom is in the DoNotCall Registry and we'll be reporting this to the FCC as well at http://goo.gl/eNon
Comments
That is in violation of the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act, so you should report this to FTC, as well as your state Attorney General. There may be additional state laws that apply to either telemarketers calling into your state, or to charity telemarketers specifically, possibly including registering or licensing, which may allow your state to take action against abusive telemarketing even from out of state.
You should also contact your local District Attorney for assistance, as they may be more likely to honor a cease calling request from there. They may have a department that deals with elder exploitation cases.
http://www.consumerlaw.org/issues/seniors_ini ... elemarket.shtml
You need to cut off all phone contact from such thugs, and not just these particular ones, since if she has been vulnerable to exploitation by them, she may be on sucker lists sold to others. (You should review her bank statements to check.) At the same time, you probably want to continue to give her as much independance as she can handle, and maintain phone access for safety reasons and so you can keep in touch frequently.
You may need to change her phone number (to unlisted, and with no forwarding number to be provided by the phone company) to block this particularly aggressive telemarketer. An additional possibility is to get both caller id, and a call screening box that blocks calls from ringing through unless a code is entered, since they can be effective in blocking the autodialers commonly used by telemarketers.
If her account information is in the hands of these people, either because she has provided credit or debit card numbers or checking account numbers through payment by check, you may need to close those accounts or block those numbers to prevent attempts to cram fraudulent charges.
You also need to consider taking control of her finances and access to her accounts, since if she cannot handle such exploitive attempts, she is likely to be vulnerable to exploitation by anyone who can get past whatever barriers you can put in place.
For example, if she is vulnerable to this type of high pressure exploitation, she might also be vulnerable to attempts to slip through phony "bills" sent by mail. Perhaps there is a tactful way to handle this together, short of legal conservatorship, while still allowing effective review by you or other relatives of all bills.
http://www.ag.ca.gov/charities/publications/2004cfr/cfr_04_rpt.pdf
"...
REGULAR AMERICAN VETERANS FOUNDATION
TEL-MAR PRODUCTIONS
80,681.00
12,102.00
15.00[%]
..."
This CA AG lawsuit shows up against Tel-Mar Productions and other charity telemarketers:
http://ag.ca.gov/cms_attachments/press/pdfs/n ... iffs_(cops).pdf
suggest you contact the California Attorney General, to find out who is currently reported as handling telemarketing fundraising for this organization, and for assistance in dealing with your problem.
Beware of this man whos works the La Crecenta and Glendale area.
With many newspapers, it's easily accessable online.
Once you have a name, already screened for potential vulnerability, and a city of residence (usually also in the obits), getting an address is easy.