"Hello, this is Rachel from Cardholder Services"- the Government is useless, and can't stop these

I'm sure that if you have a land phone, you have gotten calls from "Rachel, from cardholder services.
I'm pretty sure that most of you have already signed up for the useless "Do not Call" list that the government provides.
Here is my "rant". If the government cannot stop such an obvious scam, how can they possibly manage complex issues like budget, healthcare, military, and social services.
Well, I think that I have answered my own question. Look at the mess this country is in. I'm not about to blame one President, Congress or official. It is the nature of government, to do things much less efficiently than a private for-profit enterprise.
Perhaps they don't even "give a damn" about Rachel and her scam to steal your credit card and social security number. Here is an article from the LA Times about one person who tried to stop these calls.HE was THREATENED with police action.
articles.latimes.com...

Hard to stop telemarketing calls from 'Rachel' A recorded message from 'Rachel' at 'card member services' tells consumers they can lower their credit card rate. For some in the U.S., getting the telemarketing calls to end has been no easy task. November 29, 2011|David Lazarus Howard Cohen has received dozens of calls from "Rachel" at "card member services." At first he thought they must be from his credit card issuer. Now he knows better. "It's a scam," Cohen, 67, of Fontana told me. "All they want is to get you into some new credit card with a higher interest rate — or worse."
The "worse" in this case is possibly having your identity stolen and bogus charges run up on your plastic.

The Web is dripping with complaints from consumers nationwide about the "Rachel" calls. In most cases, a recorded message informs you that you can lower your credit card rate. You're then instructed to press 1 for more information.

Doing so will connect you with a live agent who will request your credit card number and your Social Security number.

Needless to say, those are two numbers you don't want to share with strangers — and you don't want to share your Social with anyone. Period.

"These calls are incredibly deceptive," said Linda Sherry, a spokeswoman for the advocacy group Consumer Action. "You think it's from your bank and then you're not sure what it is."

The sheer volume of calls being made by this outfit speaks to a large and unusually sophisticated operation. Complaints have been lodged by people everywhere from California to Maine.

"It must be an enormous operation for them to be able to do this," said Sherry, who also has received calls from "Rachel" at her home and office, even though both lines are listed with the federal Do Not Call Registry.

Cohen said he understands the nature of the pitch. "I was in sales for half my career," he said. "It's a game of percentages. If you make enough calls, you're going to get a few people who say yes."

In his case, the story gets even more interesting. Cohen said that when he connected with a live agent and started asking to be removed from the company's telemarketing list, the agent hung up on him.

"This occurred dozens of times," Cohen said. "It really bothered me. I'm on the Do Not Call list. I don't want to be getting calls like this."
He finally told a card member services agent that if they didn't stop bugging him, he'd come to their office "and beat some heads in."

A few seconds later, Cohen said, his phone rang again and a male voice warned that Cohen would be reported to the police for making threats.

Welcome to the world of government, where up is down, in is out, and nothing makes sense.

I have the DO NOT CALL REGISTRY on my favorites tab. When I get a call from these idiots, I ask who is calling and record the number if visible. If not, I let it go through and find out the company. I tell them I am on the do not call list and they are being reported. Most just hang up immediately. I then make a formal complaint against the company on the registry. My spam calls have decrease significantly with this procedure.

My post on this very issue a couple of days ago: www.abovetopsecret.com...

There is some additional information and links to a couple of articles.

Yep, I've gotten those calls. I reached my breaking point one day and was transfered to a live person. When they asked for my info I told them they called me they should have it. The lady informed me she was calling on behalf of my bank and she needed the information to verify who I was for "privacy reasons". I told her I would call my bank to see what the problem was and to remove me from any list I was on.

I did call my bank & explained the call I got, the bank told me it was a scam and they had nothing in their records that showed I needed to be contacted. "Card Services" has never called back.

As a sidenote: I also get political robo calls. I hate them. I learned that if you press the number 9 when the message starts it should remove you from the call list. I haven't received a robo call in weeks! And pressing 9 should work for any automated call.

OiO

Thanks for all your input. As someone pointed out, they keep changing the number, so blocking a specific number just doesn't work.
My point is that the government should be able to find the exact location of these calls, and should go and shut them down, because, more than an annoyance, they are actually fooling some people into getting credit card numbers and social security numbers. They prey on seniors, specifically.
The fact that the government won't put a stop to this is indicative of a trait which our system encourages-promise voters whatever they want, and then when they get elected, it's every person for themselves.

I had my number added to the Do Not Call list at the Federal Trade Commission, and, after about 6 weeks, the annoying calls have dropped off precipitously (but not totally). However, if "Rachel" or "Heather" keep calling you, hang on until a live person gets on the line, get the name of the company, a return number, and other details you can get, and then file a complaint with the FTC.

Originally posted by Shoonra
I had my number added to the Do Not Call list at the Federal Trade Commission, and, after about 6 weeks, the annoying calls have dropped off precipitously (but not totally). However, if "Rachel" or "Heather" keep calling you, hang on until a live person gets on the line, get the name of the company, a return number, and other details you can get, and then file a complaint with the FTC.

Nice idea. It does not work. At the first sign of "creative thinking," they hang up on you. You won't get any details whatsoever. that's how they work.

Originally posted by schuyler

Originally posted by Shoonra
I had my number added to the Do Not Call list at the Federal Trade Commission, and, after about 6 weeks, the annoying calls have dropped off precipitously (but not totally). However, if "Rachel" or "Heather" keep calling you, hang on until a live person gets on the line, get the name of the company, a return number, and other details you can get, and then file a complaint with the FTC.

Nice idea. It does not work. At the first sign of "creative thinking," they hang up on you. You won't get any details whatsoever. that's how they work.

That's been my experience, too. I even tried to ask what it is they are offering. They hung up. Anything other than you giving your CC and SS numbers ends the call.

They're working on the PT Barnum plan, there's a sucker born every minute. IT does not have to be some huge operation, one computer could run the whole thing, with a boiler room of "live agents" to take the suckers who press one and try to get their info. Probably run out of some con man's garage.

I never answer my land line, because I haven't given the number to anyone, so if it rings it is ONLY telemarketers.

I would be very curious to know exactly how much the "Do Not Call Registry" bureaucracies of the Fed and State governments is costing taxpayers, because like you said, they are completely worthless.

they are completely worthless.

reply to post by WTFover

My good friend, you, as usual, are 100 % correct. Good to hear from you.

This is an update to the "RACHEL"scam:

FTC Hangs Up On “Rachel From Cardholder Services”
1 Nov 2012

For several years, American consumers have been receiving illigal and unwanted robocalls with a recorded message from “Rachel”, "Heather", most recently "Ann" or vaguely named “Cardholder Services.”

Finally today, the Federal Trade Commission announced it had pulled the plug on five companies behind these scammy robocalls: federal courts granted the agency’s request to temporarily halt five robocall operations that allegedly deceived consumers into paying hundreds or thousands of dollars by making phony claims that they could reduce credit card interest rates in return for an upfront fee.

The robocalls purport to have an “important message” regarding an opportunity to reduce high credit card interest rates, and consumers are urged to “press 1” to connect with a live representative, or “press 2” to discontinue getting such calls. Consumers who press 1 are connected to live telemarketers, who then pitch deceptive offers to have the credit card interest rates substantially reduced, sometimes to as low as 6.9 or even zero percent.

In some cases, according to the FTC, the telemarketers claim to be calling from the consumer’s credit card company. In other cases, they use “Cardholder Services” to suggest a relationship with a bank or credit card company. If the consumer expresses an interest in the rate reduction offer, the telemarketer sometimes conducts a purported “audit” to determine whether the consumer qualifies.

Consumers provide their financial and personal information, and are then put on hold while the “audit” is completed. According to the FTC, the “audit” typically is used only to determine whether consumers have enough credit available on their credit cards to pay the company’s fee.

After consumers have been “approved” for the program the telemarketer informs them that there is an up-front fee, typically ranging from several hundred dollars to nearly $3,000. To convince them to pay the fee, telemarketers often say that it will be more than offset by the money the consumer will save through the program. In some cases, the FTC alleges that consumers’ credit cards were charged even if they did not agree to pay for the service. In other cases, the defendants allegedly do not disclose a fee at all, or claim there will be no fee.

After consumers pay the up-front fee they typically find that the companies do little or nothing to lower their credit card interest rates. The only thing that some companies do, according to the FTC, is to initiate three-way calls with consumers’ credit card issuers and orally request a rate reduction, a request that consumers could make on their own and that invariably is denied.

The five complaints announced today were filed against the following companies and their principals:

1) Treasure Your Success

2) Ambrosia Web Design

3) A+ Financial Center

4) The Green Savers, and

5) Key One Solutions

(click on the links above to read the phone call reports made by the community about the defendants.)

800notes.com...