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Karin Malchow
Scam ExaminerGullible suburban mother of four regularly duped in her half-century life. Exploring hoaxes and schemes as the ExSCAMiner, she attempts answering the nagging question: Should I have fallen for that? Got scam tips, email Karin at ScamExaminer@gmail.com.
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Telemarketing fraud (a blast from the past and back to the future)
4 comments
by Karin Malchow, Scam Examiner
Scam artists are an entrepreneurial bunch, recognizing new opportunities.
Compare/contrast the National Consumer League's Telemarketing Scam top ten lists (reported to their Fraud Center) from the years 1998 and 2007.
| 1998 | Remember when? | 2007 | Remember all too well? | |
| 1 | Telephone cramming | $ for unordered optional service. | Fake checks | Give you a check for some $. |
| 2 | Advance fee loans | Pay $ to get $ you won't get. | Prize, Sweepstakes | Suprise! Pay $ first. |
| 3 | Telephone slamming | Tricked to switch phone service. | Advance fee loans, credit arrangers | Dropped down a notch from 1998's No. 2. |
| 4 | Prize sweepstakes | Advanced to No. 2 in 2007. | Lottery, lottery ticket buying clubs | Is money pooled really buying foreign tickets? Nope. |
| 5 | Work at home schemes | Buy kits for stuff you'll never sell. | Phishing, spoofing | Caller I.D. says it's someone it's not, like a bank. |
| 6 | Magazine sales | Guess what you'll never get? | Magazine sales | Staying constant, year to year. |
| 7 | Credit card offer | $ for getting credit card. | Credit card issuing | Different name, same game. |
| 8 | Telephone pay-per-call | Fibbing about 900 # costs. | Scholarship, educational grants. | Baby Boomers' kids go to school. |
| 9 | Business opportunities, franchises | Big fish stories about profits. | Buyer's clubs | Charged for membership without knowing. |
| 10 | Travel, vacation offers | Free trips never happen. | Nigerian money offers | $ freeing nonexistent foreign wealth goes retro to the phone. |
Tip: Keep an ear out for mortgage foreclosure scams in 2008. By the time it makes a list, it might be too late for you.
The more scams change, the more scams stay the same.
Topics: sales tactics , fraud
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