You may be one of the unfortunate people whose name and phone number is on a leads list for telemarketers. I don’t know how one gets on this list, but I do know that once you are on the list, your information has been distributed across the globe and most likely have and will continue to receive numerous phone calls asking you to place an order over the phone with them today. Some of these calls are legitimate and some are scammers.
First off, if you are getting unsolicited calls, meaning that you did not asked to or agreed to be called, you are most likely on a “lead list” which is usually sold to many different companies, so you are getting calls from a number of different organizations. While only a few domestic companies buy leads, a ton of international call centers do. You are probably familiar with call centers that you call into- many US companies have outsource their customer support to call centers across the globe in places in India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Dominican Republic, and other emerging markets. (The movie “Outsourced” is a great movie about a US company that moved their customer service center to India.) There is also a lot of outbound call centers -or telemarketers- that make money by buying leads and then trying making sales on those leads. Most of these outbound call centers are affiliates, so they make money on commissions per sale, not on number of people called, so they only way they get paid is when you get out your credit card. Below is 5 tell-tale signs that you are being contacted by a less-than-trustworthy call center and clear signs that you should not give this person your contact info.
1) Is the phone number they are calling from blocked or does it look like a local area code? Obviously blocked numbers are a little sketchy but the ones you would not suspect is calls from you local area code. Of course, you are more likely to pick up your phone when you see a local number and much more likely to place an order if you think they are right down the street. A lot of international call centers will pay for a call forwarding service that they actually call into and then their call is forwarded on a local number. One way to test if its a call forward service is to try and call them back on the same number. Since it is simply a forwarding service, usually you can’t.
2) Are they claiming to already have your order online and just have a few questions for you? This is probably the easiest way for call center agents who are up to no good to get your information. They will make it seem like they already have your order and try to confuse you, when you know that you have not placed any orders. They might say something like “You are on an automatic re-order so I just need to confirm your billing address and credit card number to process your order”. Don’t fall for this one, if you did not place an order or don’t remember if you did or not, tell them that you want to cancel any pending orders and then call the company that you usually deal with and place a new order. Keep in mind that this is NOT the same type of call as a confirmation calls. Confirmation calls come from the parent company and all they need to know is that you authorized and verify the order, they will not ask you for credit card information.
3) Are they claming to be a doctors or pharmacists? You can be guaranteed that doctors and pharmacists have much better things to do than call you and try to sell you medication. If someone calls you and says “Oh I see that you suffer from male pattern baldness, you should try taking Fluoxetine. Trust me, I’m a doctor.” These people are not doctors or pharmacists and cannot dispense any kind of medical advice. Don’t listen to them, take your health into your own hands and see a local doctor that you trust.
4) Are they promising you an amazing deal or a free bonus gift? This is the #1 scam that most people fall for. What some call centers might do is tell you that you are getting super cheap Viagra for $50 and then when they actually get your credit card number and hang up the phone, they change their mind and decide they want to charge you $800. A more likely scenario is that they say the will charge you $800 and not only will you get the Viagra, but they will also send you two bonus bottles and a bottle of Oxycotin free. Then when the parent company calls you and asked if you verified an order for $800 for Viagra, you will say yes and then you will get your Viagra, but your bonus gifts never show up. In life and in business, there are no free meals.
5) Are they coercing you into placing an order? You would not believe some of the awful, heinous things that some call centers will say to get you to place your order. The worst customer complaint I ever heard what that a man was forced to place the order becasue the call center told him “I know where you live, I will come to your house and rape your wife if you do not place an order”. Not only will call centers use various threats, they will try to get sympathy orders too. I’ve heard “If you do not place the order, my boss will fire me”. Don’t be scared, these are empty threats. Simply say ”No thank you”, politely ask them to remove your name and number from their list and hang up the phone. Remember, they need to make the sale to get paid and they can and will say anything to make that happen.
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