| Author | Message | ||
     gatordave New member Username: gatordave Post Number: 7 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 72.39.120.51 |
NEW YORK TIMES The thieves operated from small offices in Toronto and hangar-size rooms in India. Every night, working from lists of names and phone numbers, they called World War II veterans, retired schoolteachers and thousands of other elderly Americans and posed as government and insurance workers updating their files. “Most people have no idea how widespread and sophisticated telemarketing fraud has become,” said James Davis, a Federal Trade Commission lawyer. “It shocks even us.” “Most people” not this one!!! I investigated. Was on CTV W5. I had been warning and warning authorities over 20 years ago. I knew from the “inside” how serious it was then and how serious it was going to be in the future. And who, now, for the last four years has again been telling the world just that!!! All the while Bruce Audley and is “discrediting” gang of cyber bullies attack me and my research, downplay the seriousness of it and say he believes the “free market” should have its way. This Bruce, is your “flicking free market concept” that you advocate and revere; you right wing flicking neo-facist. Many of the victims are people like Mr. Guthrie, whose name was among the millions that infoUSA sold to companies under investigation for fraud, according to regulators. Scam artists stole more than $100,000 from Mr. Guthrie, his family says. How they took much of it is unclear, because Mr. Guthrie’s memory is faulty and many financial records are incomplete. But infoUSA has also helped sell lists to companies that were under investigation or had been prosecuted for fraud, according to records collected by the Iowa attorney general. Those records stemmed from a now completed investigation of a suspected telemarketing criminal. Between 2001 and 2004, infoUSA also sold lists to World Marketing Service, a company that a judge shut down in 2003 for running a lottery scam; to Atlas Marketing, which a court closed in 2006 for selling $86 million of bogus business opportunities; and to Emerald Marketing Enterprises, a Canadian firm that was investigated multiple times but never charged with wrongdoing. As anyone can see, It’s not just used for direct money fraud there are products to mask the fraud as well. “Only one kind of customer wants to buy lists of seniors interested in lotteries and sweepstakes: criminals,” said Sgt. Yves Leblanc of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. “If someone advertises a list by saying it contains gullible or elderly people, it’s like putting out a sign saying ‘Thieves welcome here.’” And when the same RCMP and Canadian Government do virtually nothing about it… “it’s like putting out a sign saying ….‘Thieves welcome here’ ”…… in Canada!!! The Federal Trade Commission’s rules prohibit list brokers from selling to companies engaged in obvious frauds. In 2004, the agency fined three brokers accused of knowingly, or purposely ignoring, that clients were breaking the law. The Direct Marketing Association, which infoUSA belongs to, requires brokers to screen buyers for suspicious activity. | ||
| gatordave New member Username: gatordave Post Number: 8 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 72.39.120.51 |
And the damn corrupt government of Canada and its RCMP and Provincial Police and local police and politicians aiding, and abetting these frauds with their “welcome mat” and are also in fact participating in them. ….. i.e. The so-called “non-profit” Ontario Police Association “Kids Fishing with Cops Fraud”; 84.5% of the money raised going to FOR PROFIT telemarketers in Charlotte West Virginia; worse yet than the reported 81% of funds going into the pockets of the FOR PROFIT telemarketers of M.A.D.D. Then there are branches of Crime Stoppers using one of the worst, if not the worst, telemarketing companies in North America, Xentel. So where, readers, do you suppose the complaints made to Crime Stopper about telemarketers end up???!!! In 2006, after account holders at Citizens Bank were victimized by the same thieves that singled out Mr. Guthrie, an executive wrote to Wachovia that “the purpose of this message is to put your bank on notice of this situation and to ask for your assistance in trying to shut down this scam.” But Wachovia, which declined to comment on that communication, did not shut down the accounts. See, even the banks are paid off in the fraud as I also maintained. Someone should investigate the Toronto Dominion Bank and the millions in cash they knowingly “money-laundered” for Kippax. But who will investigate when Kippax was paying off RCMP through his company? RCMP were informed of the money laundering by the TD Bank after the T.D. “hold” was put on his accounts. But they or someone in government responsible; lifted the “hold” and O.K.’d the transfer of millions. The T.D. Bank was extremely defensive and rude when I confronted them with that information and asked some simple but poignant questions. They admitted they were, in their words “well aware of Mr. Kippax and his Pyramid Scheme”. Go figure! Criminals focus on the elderly because they know authorities [and Buce Audley and his cyber bullying gang] will blame the victims or seniors will worry about their kids throwing them into nursing homes,” said C. Steven Baker, a lawyer with the Federal Trade Commission. “Frequently, the victims are too distracted from dementia or Alzheimer’s to figure out something’s wrong.” This again is what “Bruce Audley’s” “every-shark-for-themselves-and-to-hell-with the-“stupid” victims” flowery philosophy looks like in full bloom!!! Today, just as he feared, Mr. Guthrie’s financial freedom is gone. He gets a weekly $50 allowance to buy food and gasoline. His children now own his home, and his grandson controls his bank account. He must ask permission for large or unusual purchases. And because he can’t buy anything, many telemarketers have stopped calling. “It’s lonelier now,” he said at his kitchen table, which is crowded with mail. “I really enjoy when those salespeople call. But when I tell them I can’t buy anything now, they hang up. I miss the good chats we used to have.” | ||
| gatordave New member Username: gatordave Post Number: 9 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 72.39.120.51 |
And there he is, as you Bruce Audley, and the laughing idiot “Make 7000” and the rest of your cyber-bullying gang would describe …… “a lonely stupid f**king senile old coot.” So stupid he deserves to get scammed.” But, too old, too nice, and too trusting to fight back or condem these fraud artists so you and your cyber bullying supporters, with your warped philosophy, could also lable him "a mean nasty miserable old coot" as well. http://www.nytimes.com:80/2007/05/20/business/20tele.html?th&emc=th When this link expires you can read the whole story copied below. (Message edited by gatordave on May 20, 2007) | ||
| gatordave New member Username: gatordave Post Number: 10 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 72.39.120.51 |
New York Times Bilking the Elderly, With a Corporate Assist Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times Richard Guthrie, 92, was tricked into giving banking data to telephone callers, who then stole money from his account, investigators say. By CHARLES DUHIGG Published: May 20, 2007 The thieves operated from small offices in Toronto and hangar-size rooms in India. Every night, working from lists of names and phone numbers, they called World War II veterans, retired schoolteachers and thousands of other elderly Americans and posed as government and insurance workers updating their files. Then, the criminals emptied their victims’ bank accounts. Richard Guthrie, a 92-year-old Army veteran, was one of those victims. He ended up on scam artists’ lists because his name, like millions of others, was sold by large companies to telemarketing criminals, who then turned to major banks to steal his life’s savings. Mr. Guthrie, who lives in Iowa, had entered a few sweepstakes that caused his name to appear in a database advertised by infoUSA, one of the largest compilers of consumer information. InfoUSA sold his name, and data on scores of other elderly Americans, to known lawbreakers, regulators say. InfoUSA advertised lists of “Elderly Opportunity Seekers,” 3.3 million older people “looking for ways to make money,” and “Suffering Seniors,” 4.7 million people with cancer or Alzheimer’s disease. “Oldies but Goodies” contained 500,000 gamblers over 55 years old, for 8.5 cents apiece. One list said: “These people are gullible. They want to believe that their luck can change.” As Mr. Guthrie sat home alone — surrounded by his Purple Heart medal, photos of eight children and mementos of a wife who was buried nine years earlier — the telephone rang day and night. After criminals tricked him into revealing his banking information, they went to Wachovia, the nation’s fourth-largest bank, and raided his account, according to banking records. “I loved getting those calls,” Mr. Guthrie said in an interview. “Since my wife passed away, I don’t have many people to talk with. I didn’t even know they were stealing from me until everything was gone.” Telemarketing fraud, once limited to small-time thieves, has become a global criminal enterprise preying upon millions of elderly and other Americans every year, authorities say. Vast databases of names and personal information, sold to thieves by large publicly traded companies, have put almost anyone within reach of fraudulent telemarketers. And major banks have made it possible for criminals to dip into victims’ accounts without their authorization, according to court records. The banks and companies that sell such services often confront evidence that they are used for fraud, according to thousands of banking documents, court filings and e-mail messages reviewed by The New York Times. Although some companies, including Wachovia, have made refunds to victims who have complained, neither that bank nor infoUSA stopped working with criminals even after executives were warned that they were aiding continuing crimes, according to government investigators. Instead, those companies collected millions of dollars in fees from scam artists. (Neither company has been formally accused of wrongdoing by the authorities.) “Only one kind of customer wants to buy lists of seniors interested in lotteries and sweepstakes: criminals,” said Sgt. Yves Leblanc of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. “If someone advertises a list by saying it contains gullible or elderly people, it’s like putting out a sign saying ‘Thieves welcome here.’ ” | ||
| gatordave New member Username: gatordave Post Number: 11 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 72.39.120.51 |
In recent years, despite the creation of a national “do not call” registry, the legitimate telemarketing industry has grown, according to the Direct Marketing Association. Callers pitching insurance plans, subscriptions and precooked meals collected more than $177 billion in 2006, an increase of $4.5 billion since the federal do-not-call restrictions were put in place three years ago. That growth can be partly attributed to the industry’s renewed focus on the elderly. Older Americans are perfect telemarketing customers, analysts say, because they are often at home, rely on delivery services, and are lonely for the companionship that telephone callers provide. Some researchers estimate that the elderly account for 30 percent of telemarketing sales — another example of how companies and investors are profiting from the growing numbers of Americans in their final years. While many telemarketing pitches are for legitimate products, the number of scams aimed at older Americans is on the rise, the authorities say. In 2003, the Federal Trade Commission estimated that 11 percent of Americans over age 55 had been victims of consumer fraud. The following year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation shut down one telemarketing ring that stole more than $1 billion, spanned seven countries and resulted in 565 arrests. Since the start of last year, federal agencies have filed lawsuits or injunctions against at least 68 telemarketing companies and individuals accused of stealing more than $622 million. “Most people have no idea how widespread and sophisticated telemarketing fraud has become,” said James Davis, a Federal Trade Commission lawyer. “It shocks even us.” Many of the victims are people like Mr. Guthrie, whose name was among the millions that infoUSA sold to companies under investigation for fraud, according to regulators. Scam artists stole more than $100,000 from Mr. Guthrie, his family says. How they took much of it is unclear, because Mr. Guthrie’s memory is faulty and many financial records are incomplete. What is certain is that a large sum was withdrawn from his account by thieves relying on Wachovia and other banks, according to banking and court records. Though 20 percent of the total amount stolen was recovered, investigators say the rest has gone to schemes too complicated to untangle. Senior executives at infoUSA were contacted by telephone and e-mail messages at least 30 times. They did not respond. Wachovia, in a statement, said that it had honored all requests for refunds and that it was cooperating with authorities. Mr. Guthrie, however, says that thieves should have been prevented from getting access to his funds in the first place. “I can’t understand why they were allowed inside my account,” said Mr. Guthrie, who lives near Des Moines. “I just chatted with this woman for a few minutes, and the next thing I knew, they took everything I had.” Sweepstakes a Common Tactic Investigators suspect that Mr. Guthrie’s name first appeared on a list used by scam artists around 2002, after he filled out a few contest entries that asked about his buying habits and other personal information. He had lived alone since his wife died. Five of his eight children had moved away from the farm. Mr. Guthrie survived on roughly $800 that he received from Social Security each month. Because painful arthritis kept him home, he spent many mornings organizing the mail, filling out sweepstakes entries and listening to big-band albums as he chatted with telemarketers. “I really enjoyed those calls,” Mr. Guthrie said. “One gal in particular loved to hear stories about when I was younger.” | ||
| gatordave New member Username: gatordave Post Number: 12 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 72.39.120.51 |
Some of those entries and calls, however, were intended solely to create databases of information on millions of elderly Americans. Many sweepstakes were fakes, investigators say, and existed only to ask entrants about shopping habits, religion or other personal details. Databases of such responses can be profitably sold, often via electronic download, through list brokers like Walter Karl Inc., a division of infoUSA. The list brokering industry has existed for decades, primarily serving legitimate customers like magazine and catalog companies. InfoUSA, one of the nation’s largest list brokers and a publicly held company, matches buyers and sellers of data. The company maintains records on 210 million Americans, according to its Web site. In 2006, it collected more than $430 million from clients like Reader’s Digest, Publishers Clearinghouse and Condé Nast. But infoUSA has also helped sell lists to companies that were under investigation or had been prosecuted for fraud, according to records collected by the Iowa attorney general. Those records stemmed from a now completed investigation of a suspected telemarketing criminal. By 2004, Mr. Guthrie’s name was part of a list titled “Astroluck,” which included 19,000 other sweepstakes players, Iowa’s records show. InfoUSA sold the Astroluck list dozens of times, to companies including HMS Direct, which Canadian authorities had sued the previous year for deceptive mailings; Westport Enterprises, the subject of consumer complaints in Kansas, Connecticut and Missouri; and Arlimbow, a European company that Swiss authorities were prosecuting at the time for a lottery scam. (In 2005, HMS’s director was found not guilty on a technicality. Arlimbow was shut down in 2004. Those companies did not return phone calls. Westport Enterprises said it has resolved all complaints, complies with all laws and engages only in direct-mail solicitations.) Records also indicate that infoUSA sold thousands of other elderly Americans’ names to Windfall Investments after the F.B.I. had accused the company in 2002 of stealing $600,000 from a California woman. Between 2001 and 2004, infoUSA also sold lists to World Marketing Service, a company that a judge shut down in 2003 for running a lottery scam; to Atlas Marketing, which a court closed in 2006 for selling $86 million of bogus business opportunities; and to Emerald Marketing Enterprises, a Canadian firm that was investigated multiple times but never charged with wrongdoing. The investigation of Windfall Investments was closed after its owners could not be located. Representatives of Windfall Investments, World Marketing Services, Atlas Marketing and Emerald Marketing Enterprises could not be located or did not return calls. Following the Trail The Federal Trade Commission’s rules prohibit list brokers from selling to companies engaged in obvious frauds. In 2004, the agency fined three brokers accused of knowingly, or purposely ignoring, that clients were breaking the law. The Direct Marketing Association, which infoUSA belongs to, requires brokers to screen buyers for suspicious activity. But internal infoUSA e-mail messages indicate that employees did not abide by those standards. In 2003, two infoUSA employees traded e-mail messages discussing the fact that Nevada authorities were seeking Richard Panas, a frequent infoUSA client, in connection with a lottery scam. “This kind of behavior does not surprise me, but it adds to my concerns about doing business with these people,” an infoUSA executive wrote to colleagues. Yet, over the next 10 months, infoUSA sold Mr. Panas an additional 155,000 names, even after he pleaded guilty to criminal charges in Nevada and was barred from operating in Iowa. | ||
| gatordave New member Username: gatordave Post Number: 13 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 72.39.120.51 |
Mr. Panas did not return calls. “Red flags should have been waving,” said Steve St. Clair, an Iowa assistant attorney general who oversaw the infoUSA investigation. “But the attitude of these list brokers is that it’s not their responsibility if someone else breaks the law.” Millions of Americans Are Called Within months of the sale of the Astroluck list, groups of scam artists in Canada, the Caribbean and elsewhere had the names of Mr. Guthrie and millions of other Americans, authorities say. Such countries are popular among con artists because they are outside the jurisdiction of the United States. The thieves would call and pose as government workers or pharmacy employees. They would contend that the Social Security Administration’s computers had crashed, or prescription records were incomplete. Payments and pills would be delayed, they warned, unless the older Americans provided their banking information. Many people hung up. But Mr. Guthrie and hundreds of others gave the callers whatever they asked. “I was afraid if I didn’t give her my bank information, I wouldn’t have money for my heart medicine,” Mr. Guthrie said. Criminals can use such banking data to create unsigned checks that withdraw funds from victims’ accounts. Such checks, once widely used by gyms and other businesses that collect monthly fees, are allowed under a provision of the banking code. The difficult part is finding a bank willing to accept them. In the case of Mr. Guthrie, criminals turned to Wachovia. Between 2003 and 2005, scam artists submitted at least seven unsigned checks to Wachovia that withdrew funds from Mr. Guthrie’s account, according to banking records. Wachovia accepted those checks and forwarded them to Mr. Guthrie’s bank in Iowa, which in turn sent back $1,603 for distribution to the checks’ creators that submitted them. Within days, however, Mr. Guthrie’s bank, a branch of Wells Fargo, became concerned and told Wachovia that the checks had not been authorized. At Wells Fargo’s request, Wachovia returned the funds. But it failed to investigate whether Wachovia’s accounts were being used by criminals, according to prosecutors who studied the transactions. In all, Wachovia accepted $142 million of unsigned checks from companies that made unauthorized withdrawals from thousands of accounts, federal prosecutors say. Wachovia collected millions of dollars in fees from those companies, even as it failed to act on warnings, according to records. In 2006, after account holders at Citizens Bank were victimized by the same thieves that singled out Mr. Guthrie, an executive wrote to Wachovia that “the purpose of this message is to put your bank on notice of this situation and to ask for your assistance in trying to shut down this scam.” But Wachovia, which declined to comment on that communication, did not shut down the accounts. Banking rules required Wachovia to periodically screen companies submitting unsigned checks. Yet there is little evidence Wachovia screened most of the firms that profited from the withdrawals. | ||
| gatordave New member Username: gatordave Post Number: 14 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 72.39.120.51 |
In a lawsuit filed last year, the United States attorney in Philadelphia said Wachovia received thousands of warnings that it was processing fraudulent checks, but ignored them. That suit, against the company that printed those unsigned checks, Payment Processing Center, or P.P.C., did not name Wachovia as a defendant, though at least one victim has filed a pending lawsuit against the bank. Following the Trail During 2005, according to the United States attorney’s lawsuit, 59 percent of the unsigned checks that Wachovia accepted from P.P.C. and forwarded to other banks were ultimately refused by other financial institutions. Wachovia was informed each time a check was returned. “When between 50 and 60 percent of transactions are returned, that tells you at gut level that something’s not right,” said the United States attorney in Philadelphia, Patrick L. Meehan. Other banks, when confronted with similar evidence, have closed questionable accounts. But Wachovia continued accepting unsigned checks printed by P.P.C. until the government filed suit in 2006. Wachovia declined to respond to the accusations in the lawsuit, citing the continuing civil litigation. Although Wachovia is the largest bank that processed transactions that stole from Mr. Guthrie, at least five other banks accepted 31 unsigned checks that withdrew $9,228 from his account. Nearly every time, Mr. Guthrie’s bank told those financial institutions the checks were fraudulent, and his money was refunded. But few investigated further. The suit against P.P.C. ended in February. A court-appointed receiver will liquidate the firm and make refunds to consumers. P.P.C.’s owners admitted no wrongdoing. Wachovia was asked in detail about its relationship with P.P.C., the withdrawals from Mr. Guthrie’s account and the accusations in the United States attorney’s lawsuit. The company declined to comment, except to say: “Wachovia works diligently to detect and end fraudulent use of its accounts. During the time P.P.C. was a customer, Wachovia honored all requests for returns related to the P.P.C. accounts, which in turn protected consumers from loss.” Prosecutors argue that many elderly accountholders never realized Wachovia had processed checks that withdrew from their accounts, and so never requested refunds. Wachovia declined to respond. The bank’s statement continued: “Wachovia is cooperating fully with authorities on this matter.” Some Afraid to Seek Help By 2005, Mr. Guthrie was in dire straits. When tellers at his bank noticed suspicious transactions, they helped him request refunds. But dozens of unauthorized withdrawals slipped through. Sometimes, he went to the grocery store and discovered that he could not buy food because his account was empty. He didn’t know why. And he was afraid to seek help. “I didn’t want to say anything that would cause my kids to take over my accounts,” he said. Such concerns play into thieves’ plans, investigators say. “Criminals focus on the elderly because they know authorities will blame the victims or seniors will worry about their kids throwing them into nursing homes,” said C. Steven Baker, a lawyer with the Federal Trade Commission. “Frequently, the victims are too distracted from dementia or Alzheimer’s to figure out something’s wrong.” Within a few months, Mr. Guthrie’s children noticed that he was skipping meals and was behind on bills. By then, all of his savings — including the proceeds of selling his farm and money set aside to send great-grandchildren to college — was gone. | ||
| gatordave New member Username: gatordave Post Number: 15 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 72.39.120.51 |
State regulators have tried to protect victims like Mr. Guthrie. In 2005, attorneys general of 35 states urged the Federal Reserve to end the unsigned check system. “Such drafts should be eliminated in favor of electronic funds transfers that can serve the same payment function” but are less susceptible to manipulation, they wrote. But the Federal Reserve disagreed. It changed its rules to place greater responsibility on banks that first accept unsigned checks, but has permitted their continued use. Today, just as he feared, Mr. Guthrie’s financial freedom is gone. He gets a weekly $50 allowance to buy food and gasoline. His children now own his home, and his grandson controls his bank account. He must ask permission for large or unusual purchases. And because he can’t buy anything, many telemarketers have stopped calling. “It’s lonelier now,” he said at his kitchen table, which is crowded with mail. “I really enjoy when those salespeople call. But when I tell them I can’t buy anything now, they hang up. I miss the good chats we used to have.” | ||
| bruce_audley New member Username: bruce_audley Post Number: 1 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 142.59.179.3 |
Dave. Just a small thought here ol' buddy. For a definition of "cyber bullying", please re-read any of your above rants. Still don't get it? Please read again and again...oh never mind! No one else is reading it so why should you? Bruce | ||
| gatordave New member Username: gatordave Post Number: 16 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 72.39.120.51 |
And what about the topic former ol' buddy. Easy side-set. Just close your mind "Bruce Audley Style" and dwell on the secondary issue. dave | ||
| gatordave New member Username: gatordave Post Number: 17 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 72.39.120.51 |
Now readers, I have accused the media in Canada many times of suppression of the news and the cover-up of companies and individuals in authority involved in fraudulent telemarketing, white collar crime and racketeering. I have alleged a number of times that when the Canadian media write about racketerring and corruption they choose to focus on U.S. companies and individuals. The following example I believe is a graphic example of just that. In the New York Times story above is written this paragraph "....a judge shut down in 2003 for running a lottery scam; to Atlas Marketing, which a court closed in 2006 for selling $86 million of bogus business opportunities; and to Emerald Marketing Enterprises, a Canadian firm that was investigated multiple times but never charged with wrongdoing. The investigation of Windfall Investments was closed after its owners could not be located. Representatives of Windfall Investments, World Marketing Services, Atlas Marketing and Emerald Marketing Enterprises could not be located or did not return calls. .... That was NY Times May 20 2007 the day I posted it. A sub-headline read "....GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY - A Blind Eye to Fraud" This morning, May 21 2007, I picked up the Toronto Star. A shorter story, cherry-picking the new York Times, finished with this paragraph "....Including World Marketing Service, a company that a U.S. judge shutdown in 2003 for running a lottery scam." There was absolutely no mention of this paragraph published in the New York Times ".....and to Emerald Marketing Enterprises, a Canadian firm that was investigated multiple times but never charged with wrongdoing." That, in my view, is a blatant omission of the mention of a Canadian company that should be exposed in a Canadian publication as well as the obvious lack of proper law enforcement. This goes hand in hand with all the other obvious white collar criminal activity and shell companies operating in this country with RCMP, OPP, local police officers, politicians, bank managers, accountants, jewelry appraisers, corrupt lawyers etc. involved in racketerring that the media refuses to expose. Cover-p, cover-up cover-up!!!! dave | ||
| saygoodnightgracie Member Username: saygoodnightgracie Post Number: 62 Registered: 5-2005 Posted From: 71.56.9.143 |
I am reading Dave, it's very interesting. | ||
| gatordave New member Username: gatordave Post Number: 18 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 72.39.120.51 |
Thanks so much for your interest and support. I get many emails of support but few will express themseves on the forum. This Friday May 25, we are having a demonstration in front of the York Regional Police, the York Regional Crown Attorney's Office and the local Mpp's Office 9:30am. Anyone defrauded of anything is welcome to attend. Victims of Pizza One changed to Tony's Kitchen and some other name in between, the "franchise" now scamming victims in the U.S. increased now up to $600,000 with a string of victims in Canada; Treasure Traders International, Business in Motion, Finacial Freedom International (FFI) from the ashes of TTI and BIM operated by RCMP officer Dave Stewart's Father and family, now open in Flint Michigan defrauding U.S. citizens, Canadian Diamond Traders defrauding the deaf community worldwide and unbelievably and unconscionably natives in grass huts, with no electricity, on the Island of Vanautu in the middle of the South Pacific, ....and the Ontario Police Association's unconscionable hired telemarketers Millennium Teleservices in Charleston West Virginia, ....Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs' unconscionable and reprehensible telemarketers the Xentel Corporation, the largest and probably the worst in the North American from the ashes of the corrupt and fraudulent Great West Entertainment in Calgary exposed for fraudulent fund-raising on behalf of the Mississaga Firefighters, Community living and the Shrine Circus; ....The Sum-It Club, Woodbridge, Ontario targeting students and immigrants operated by "Rockie" and her brother, the "Legal Weasel" Tony Gagliese the corrupt Law Society of Upper Canada will do nothing about, nor the Competition Bureau or York Regional Crown Attorney and Fraud Squad, with at least two cops and unbelievably a provincial prosecutor, Wendy Ramroop, who teaches at Humber College and her family in this money laundering and racketeering fraud, and I'm still hammering away at the RCMP, OPP, politicians, accountants, corrupt lawyers, church ministers, etc, etc, involved in Women Empowering Women, ("muffin club" "dinner club" "gifting club" etc.) covered up at the very top of government and law enforement ; ..... anyone scammed and defrauded in these or anything is welcome to protest with us. The bigger and louder the better! Lawyer Michael Webster Ph.D. LLB. a former educator is to be there; a rarity in this country. He has an extremely interesting blog warning of frauds, and explaining particularly franchises, pyramid and Ponzi schemes. Perhaps this protest will get the lazy, and corrupt authorities' attention. I certainly hope so. Imagine stealing $100,000, from a 92 year-old-pensioner. It rips your heart out. And again thanks for your support, and your interest, "saygoodnightgracie." dave www.crimebustersnow.com gatoraid@sympatico.ca 905-963-3389 24/7 we return your calls anywhere in North America and 22 countries world-wide. | ||
| gatordave New member Username: gatordave Post Number: 22 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 72.39.120.51 |
----- Original Message ----- From: THE BIZOP To: gatoraid@sympatico.ca Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2007 8:11 AM Subject: Misleading Advertising Law Misleading Advertising Law One Way to Prevent Telemarketing Fraud - Call Senator Obama for an Example. May 21 Sen. Obama Wants FTC to Crack-down on Fraud Aimed at Seniors from Sen. Obama's press office WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today sent a letter to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras raising serious concerns about whether the FTC has adequately protected America's seniors from abusive telemarketing fraud schemes. According to a report in Sunday’s New York Times, millions of our nation’s senior citizens are at risk of being robbed of their good credit standing, life savings and privacy. In the letter, Senator Obama says that while telemarketing may help seniors maintain access to products and services, seniors must be protected from exploitation, identity theft, and privacy violations. He calls on the FTC to aggressively enforce the law to ensure that the consumer protection challenges faced by vulnerable populations like seniors are addressed. The full text of the letter is below: The Honorable Deborah Platt Majoras Chairman Federal Trade Commission 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580 Dear Chairman Majoras: Yesterday, the New York Times published an investigation into telemarketing fraud schemes that exploit vulnerable American seniors, often robbing them of their dignity, their good credit, and even the life savings and financial resources they rely on to pay for food or medication. I am writing to express my concern that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is not doing more to deter such schemes and to protect elderly consumers from abusive and fraudulent telemarketing practices. The New York Times story highlighted the ways in which scam artists purchase databases of names of elderly Americans. These lists include names of: "Elderly Opportunity Seekers" (seniors "looking for ways to make money"); "Suffering Seniors" (people with cancer or Alzheimer's disease); and "Oldies but Goodies" (gamblers over 55 years old). Armed with these lists, criminals are able to prey on vulnerable seniors – people like Iowan Richard Guthrie, a 92-year-old Army veteran, who lost $100,000 from scams. There is no question that telemarketing and electronic commerce represent important ways for many seniors to participate in the economy as merchants and consumers. But there is also no question that remote transactions present new risks of privacy violations, identity theft, and exploitation of potentially vulnerable consumers. The government must ensure that consumer protection and law enforcement authorities have the right priorities, tools, technologies, and resources to keep up with the evolving threats faced by American consumers. We cannot allow our elderly parents and grandparents to be so easily preyed upon by unscrupulous data brokers and others complicit in deceptive mailings, marketing scams, and outright fraud. | ||
| gatordave New member Username: gatordave Post Number: 23 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 72.39.120.51 |
The FTC is charged with protecting consumers from fraud, deception, and unfair business practices. The Commission is responsible for enforcing our nation's consumer protection laws and developing rules and procedures to protect and educate consumers. Given this clear mandate, the widespread and sophisticated abuse of many seniors raises a number of questions: What if anything is the FTC doing to a$sess and address the particular consumer protection challenges faced by seniors or other groups of American consumers who may be especially vulnerable to abuse? In particular, what is the FTC doing to regulate the sale of telemarketing databases to companies that are under investigation or have been prosecuted for fraud? How have FTC resources been allocated to protect rising numbers of seniors who are conducting remote consumer transactions at increasing rates? Are additional resources necessary and for what priority purposes? What if any programs exist to assist seniors with questions or complaints about marketing practices of which they may have been victims? What are the utilization rates of these programs over the past ten years? Have these programs been evaluated, and with what results? Is there adequate coordination between the FTC, the Federal Reserve, and the Department of Justice to ensure effective prevention and prosecution of marketing abuse? What if any multi-agency initiatives are currently underway or planned for the near future? Please give specific examples of enforcement actions that have been taken recently against data brokers, telemarketers, or enabling financial institutions. What if any changes to regulatory authority or direction are necessary to enable the FTC to fulfill its consumer protection mandate in light of evolving marketing, communication, and transaction technologies? An FTC that is aggressively enforcing the law is critical to protecting American consumers in a vibrant, fast-paced economy. Please respond to the questions above by June 8, 2007. I look forward to working with your office to ensure that consumers of all ages can have confidence in their conversations with telemarketers and in all their consumer transactions. Sincerely, Barack Obama United States Senator dave www.crimebustersnow.com gatoraid@sympatico.ca 905-963-3389 24/7 we return your calls anywhere in North America and 22 countries world-wide.}} |
