Carpet Cleaning Robocall

Have you ever gotten a Robocall call offering a great deal to clean two rooms and a hallway for $69?

This is a sample of many calls that I have gotten about this great offer:

Five Things I Learned About this Carpet Deal

• Called was spoofed to be a local number in the area. (Last four digits were randomly generated.)
• In this call, the company switched from "All Green Carpet Cleaning" to "Clean Green Solutions." Which company is it?
• Neither company is celebrating 20-years of service - so it's clearly neither.
• The "deal" is for a room size with a maximum size 200 square feet. Oddly enough, The average bedroom in a home measures 219 square feet. (Taking account for master bedroom suites)
• Weird that they are able to provide next day service and have plenty of openings.

Lots of red flags about this. Can't trust anyone spoofing a number and company name.

I picture this business is a "fly by night" opportunity. A couple of guys in a van going area to the area making a "quick buck." They outsource the marketing to a call center overseas to generate the leads in the particular marketplace they are working in.

Additional Resources

Checkout the post over at Carpet Cleaning Telemarker Blog: Carpet Cleaning Robocall Scumbag Spammer CAUGHT!

Some people posted their experiences with the Carpet Cleaning Robocalls on the FTC blog post: Untangling a robocaller

Credit Card Interest Scam

Over the past few weeks I have been getting a lot of calls from "Merchant Services." These calls are not really from any of my credit card banks but rather from scammers pretending to be from "Merchant Services" with the sole goal to trick me into giving them my credit card information.

Sample of a Fake Call

This time when I got the call, I had downtime and had time to play around. This time I got further into the call than ever before.

Usually I don't get beyond giving them a fake card. But just my luck, Capital One services was down - so they weren't able to verify the credit card number.

Six Things I Learned about the Credit Card Interest Scam

1. The first guy transferred me to the next person whose goal was to convince me that I should use their program. They do this to make it appear to be a big company, (A no time during this call was I ever asked for my name - yet everything I gave them matched fine with their records.)
2. Where are you? I asked the second guy where he was located and he told me in Orlando, Fl. He went on to tell me that "Merchant Services" had offices in NJ, Chicago, and Los Angeles. I told him that I was surprised they didn't have an office in New York - the financial capital of the world. All of a sudden they did - he forgot to mention it.
3. Credit Card Limit - The guy asked what was my limit on my card - I told them it was about $2,100. This was the first time that I have ever been asked for my credit limit on any of these Credit Card Interest Scam calls. (Hmm why would they need to know this?)
4. To get the zero Interest - the guy told me that I would have to get a new credit card. The cost to set up and transfer all the funds would be a one-time payment of $1,500. (Amazing how close to my credit limit that amount it.) They wanted my Social Security number so they could open up my account.
5. Where are you calling from? I told the guy that I was nervous about giving my information because the caller Is showed the number coming from Lowell Public Schools. He then said that he would call me direct. A minute later he called me from '(866) 696-5487' - which was supposed to be from Merchant Services. It's not. It's just a spoof 866 number.
6. You Don't Need my Social Security Number - I kept working with the guy and why he needed my Social Security. He kept telling me that I am protected by my credit card company if I didn't believe him. I then reminded him that my credit card company wouldn't protect my Social Security number from being out in the open.

I gave up on the call after a while. As I had other things to do. They did try calling my back a could of times on the (866) 696-5487' number.

American Home Security System

Representatives from American Home Security System have been calling my house a lot lately. They are trying to sell a Home Security service where the installation is free. They are cold calling from phone numbers that are commonly used for spoofing.

In my situation they were calling from (978) 877-5164 which is own by Level 3 Communications, LLC - MA and is designated as being used for Wireless Telephones. There is no business number registered to this number - which is odd for a company that is trying to sell me something.

There isn't that much information available about this company. So it's very questionable if this company is legitimate. If you do get a call from them, be careful of what information you disclosed to them as they could be checking to see if your house has an alarm system

Five Questions to Ask

Some good questions to ask American Home Security System about their "free" offer:

• What are the Contact Terms for American Home Security System?
• What happens if I sell the house?
• Often Pets can cause interference with the motion detection system, what is American Home Security strategy around that?
• How do I know that what your offering is enough to protect my home?
• Will there be any yearly maintenance required ( Battery replacement?)

On my call they told me that they have a Smart Phone App, but I wasn't able to find one when I searched for "American Home Security." If you do talk to them, can you find out what's the name of the Smart Phone app? There doesn't appear to be anything listed under the American Home Security System.

$10,000 or more every 2 weeks

Have you ever gotten one of those "$10,000 or more every 2 weeks" phone calls.

If they are bothering you, you should definitely return the favor. Next time you get the "$10,000 or more" phone call, I would suggest leaving the following message:

Have fun with it.

I am not so sure that the "$10,000 and more in 2 weeks" is a legitimate business. I am not interested. I am sick and tired of having to be put on there do not call list.

Regardless, these calls have been illegal for 20 years...

Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991

Did you know that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 prohibits solicitations to residences that use an artificial voice or a recording.

Fine for Violation

Any person who willfully and knowingly violates this subsection shall upon conviction thereof be fined not more than $10,000 for each violation, or 3 times that amount for each day of a continuing violation, in lieu of the fine provided by section 501 of this title for such a violation. This subparagraph does not supersede the provisions of section 501 of this title relating to imprisonment or the imposition of a penalty of both fine and imprisonment.

Federal Enforcement?

Who knows if the government is looking into this particular person? You should do whatever you can to allow these people to continue to call.

Get the Phone

According to the The Federal Trade Commission:

If you receive a robocall trying to sell you something (and you haven't given the caller your written permission), it's an illegal call. You should hang up. Then, file a complaint with the FTC and the National Do Not Call Registry.

In the case of businesses who are operating offshore, they don't really care that it's illegal. Being offshore puts them in a position to be exempt from any FTC action. They have raked in millions of dollars with schemes like the business loan scam. The recorded greeting says something like 'Congratulations, your business has been approved for a $250,000 loan."

Since these fly-by-night businesses don't care about the FTC rules around Robocall. I say it's fair game to scam the scammer! At least that's my feeling about it.

The next time you get a call, and here the 'BLEEP' sound. Know that you're about to be scam. Turn the tables on the caller!

The Beep Sound

Try Improv!

If you have the time, take your time with the caller. Improv being the absolute best customer that the caller has ever encountered. Make it sound that your very excited for the opportunity.

Some tell tale signs that you won the 'Dial-A-Scam':

• Introduction says the word 'Congratulations' within 5 seconds of the call
• You have been pre-approved for a business loan
• You have been selected for a federal grant
• You hear the dreaded beep sound before anyone talks

Voicemail Virus

If you get an email that informs you that you have a call from a number, such as 994-997-4383 or 943-853-7855 the attachment contains a virus. You should delete the email and then purge your email box.

Tip: If your unsure of the number search in Google, and then your mailbox to see if it's a legitimate number.

503 902-8252

If you get a call from (503) 902-8252, this is Bing Professional Service Sales.

They must have some automated process set up because I get a call from this number every time I log into my Bing profile. Usually this happens within an hour after logging out.

Thank you Bing, but I don't know anyone in Salem, OR so I won't answer the phone.

I also get a call from (206) 276-8396 for the same reason. Bing trying to upsell some Bing professional service.

860 899 2715

If you get a call from (860) 899-2715 you got a solicitation call from a company in Manchester, CT for Alarm system.

It is unclear on what alarm system is sponsoring the call.

This is one number that is worth missing.If your now thinking of getting an alarm system, you should talk to your neighbors to see what they have.

Strange Caller ID

I have been getting strange calls from the following numbers:

• 204
• 507
• 423

Yes, those are the numbers that show up in the caller id on the cellphone. I would see 204 appear and that's it. Very weird.

So it turns out that the numbers are from telephone solicitors that found the number online via the Yellow Pages. I believe that they were trying to upsell Yellow Pages services.

513 275 1387

I can confirm that a call from (513) 275-1387 is Everest University. I received the call twice yesterday, the second time I talked to them I confirmed that it was Everest University.

Use this link, if you do not wish to be contacted by Everest University Online by telephone, mail or email.

I don't know why they continue to contact me, I have told them numerous times that I have no interest in their University.