You hear about it all too frequently. A friend of yours receives a phone call, the caller sounds official and makes it seem urgent that you respond quickly or you could lose an opportunity for a great prize, or worse yet, you could be in trouble if you don’t send money. These telemarketing frauds prey particularly on the elderly and it’s a crime what happens to the people who fall for their pitch.
This has been going on for quite some time, and the corrupt telemarketing companies just manage to get a little more sophisticated as years go by. In a previous post on our site, we wrote about a particular scheme where telemarketers set about to take advantage of people by setting up fake firms and companies.
A federal jury in Atlanta found Kara Singleton Adams, 40, of Marietta, Ga., guilty on charges of wire fraud, conspiracy and structuring financial transactions related to a $25 million nationwide telemarketing fraud scheme.
Three co-defendants have already been convicted in the scheme. Adams’ husband, Jason James Eyer, 35, of Marietta; James Adolph Schoenholz, 39, of Atlanta; and Brittany Dunphy, 40, of Orlando, Fla., all pleaded guilty to related charges before Adams’ trial. Schoenholz and Dunphy testified at the trial. Adams was found guilty on nine counts of wire fraud, seven counts of structuring financial transactions and two counts of conspiracy. The jury found her not guilty on two additional counts of structuring financial transactions.
Another instance is those “opportunities” where is you pay an advance fee then provide your personal information, you will be eligible for some type of special financing.
The worst one I can think of is where the caller is able to provide you with enough personal information so that they sound legitimate. The caller poses as a family member, you they are in trouble and you need to wire funds immediately in order to rescue them. These telemarketers target mainly senior citizens and they pretend to be a Grandchild who is traveling out of the country and has been arrested or detained. It’s easy to fall for this one because it’s about a loved one and all you can think of is wanting to help your Grandchild or child.
Whenever you receive a call from someone you don’t know personally, remember this cautionary tale. Never give personal information or financial information over the phone to an unsolicited caller. Legitimate companies will not ask you to. A legitimate company should be able to direct you to publicly listed contact information to reach them should you wish to register for a product or service that they are selling.
Before you do anything, STOP, take a breath. Ask for more information, verify the name of other family members with the caller. Then ask for a number where you can call them back, hang up and call another member of your family to verify that your Grandchild is indeed out of town and may need help. I can tell you that in almost every instance the Grandchild is home and fine.
At Central Communications we take pains to ensure our businesses are honest and provide a high level of service. Our call center personnel are highly trained and work diligently to maintain the highest level of customer satisfaction.
Central Comm, at your service
