How law enforcement works
The courts have been crystal clear that unsolicited, commercial calls to cell phones constitute fraud. We’ve also been told the magical “Do Not Call” list will prevent telemarketers from pestering you. So when most Americans on land-lines and cell phones, even to those on the DNC list, get calls from telemarkers pretending to be some “agency” claiming their car warranty is about to expire…nothing happens. Even the fact that many called had warranties not expiring, or in some cases—no car—obvious examples of fraud. Nothing happened.
I’ve been getting calls like this, sporadically over the past 6 months. I tried finding out who it is that’s calling but they won’t say. I’ve tried reporting it to my cell phone company, but they did nothing.
Six months.
The reason nothing happened is that those who are paid to enforce the law, rarely do so unless they are either threatened (by loss of their job) or get some added benefit (like collecting fines) or victimized themselves. Otherwise the taxpayer that pays their salaries are screwed.
What happened this time is that the cretins running the scam, in their eagerness to reach a wider market, were calling numbers at random. According to the Associated Press, they managed to call the personal cell phones of two Democrat Senators, Charles Schumer and Mark Warner.
Federal regulators are close to filing lawsuits against companies behind a national wave of spam "robo-calls" that warn people their auto warranties are about to expire and offer new service plans, two senators said Tuesday.
The Federal Trade Commission has started investigations into several companies involved in the deceptive calls, and the agency expects to bring cases against them within days, Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Mark Warner, D-Va., said at a news conference. The FTC also is providing a link on its Web site for consumers to file complaints....
The calls target people regardless of whether they have warranties or even own cars and have become such a nuisance that officials in 40 states are investigating the companies behind them.
About three dozen companies offer contracts similar to insurance policies, pledging to pay for car repairs in exchange for fees paid up front, according to the Better Business Bureau. They call numbers randomly and leave messages with a computerized voice telling people, falsely, that their auto warranties are about to expire.
I expect after a lengthy investigation heavy fines will be levied and if public outcry is loud enough, the companies will be allowed to select some scapegoats to go to prison while those who actually committed the crimes will continue to think of other ways to defraud the public.
Posted by Danny Carlton at May 13, 2009 6:35 AM