What Do Fraudulent Telemarketers Sound Like?
Fraudulent telemarketers usually sound no different from anyone else with whom you talk on the telephone. People who work in telemarketing schemes may be male or female, relatively young or middle-aged, and come from all areas of the country and many racial and ethnic backgrounds. In addition, many fraudulent telemarketers try to make their prospective victims believe that they genuinely care about the welfare and interests of the victims. In tape-recorded conversations that the FBI made during Operation Disconnect and Operation Senior Sentinel, it is common to hear fraudulent telemarketers try to ingratiate themselves with the people they call, particularly with older people, and to persuade them to rely on the telemarketers to look out for the victim in carrying out the "transaction" for which the victim is to send money.
The reality is that in the experience of law-enforcement and regulatory authorities who have investigated telemarketing fraud, fraudulent telemarketers know, when they contact their victims, that neither they nor their company will do anything to protect a victim's interests or to conduct an honest business transaction with a victim. Indeed, they often express contempt for their victims, and use derogatory terms like "mooch" when they talk about a victim they have contacted.
A telemarketing scheme has only two objects: to obtain as much money as possible from its victims, preferably by the quickest possible means; and to retain as much money as possible from those victims if they later complain to the telemarketer or to the authorities. While larger telemarketing schemes have what they call "customer service departments," the real purpose of these departments is to resist returning any money to the customer for as long as possible. Some "customer service departments" will therefore offer the complaining victim another "gimme gift," or at best a partial refund, rather than cancel the transaction or return the victim's money. Usually, fraudulent telemarketers will make a full refund only if they determine that the victim has complained to a state attorney general or to the FBI or other criminal law-enforcement agency. Consumers therefore cannot rely solely on what they hear over the telephone in deciding whether a telemarketer who calls is legitimate.
Can I Listen to Fraudulent Telemarketers' Taped Conversations?
The excerpts of conversations to which you can listen here were taken from tape recordings of conversations between fraudulent telemarketers and prospective victims. In two major undercover operations against telemarketing fraud, Operation Disconnect and Operation Senior Sentinel, the FBI and other law enforcement authorities made these recordings to help gather evidence that could be used in court to prosecute fraudulent telemarketers.
One noteworthy feature of fraudulent telemarketers' efforts to obtain money from victims is the frequency with which they use the same techniques -- regardless of whether theirs is a charity scheme, investment scheme, prize-promotion scheme, or other scheme -- to try to persuade victims to send money. As you listen to these taped excepts, listen for statements or comments by the telemarketers that touch on one or more of the following concepts, drawn from social psychology:
- Authority The telemarketer falsely states, for example, that he or she is an executive with the company, has a special position with the organization (such as an FBI or Customs agent), or has specialized experience, thereby suggesting that he or she is in a position of authority and that the victim should defer to that authority and accept his or her word.
- Social Proof The telemarketer falsely states, for example, that others who have been in the victim's position in the prize competition have always won the grand prize, implying (without saying so directly) that the victim is also a grand prize winner. In some cases, the telemarketer begins the conversation by speaking to the prospective victim in a loud and excited voice and tries to make the victim excited as well, sometimes even suggesting that the victim should "get excited."
- Liking The telemarketer makes comments to the prospective victim that falsely indicate that the telemarketer's personal background is similar to the victim's, or that the telemarketer likes and cares about the victim.
- Scarcity The telemarketer falsely states, for example, that the item being offered is available for only a limited time or in a limited quantity, and implies that the victim must act immediately to take advantage of the offer.
- Reciprocity The telemarketer falsely states, for example, that he or she has done something beneficial for the prospective victim, such as the telemarketer using his own money to make a partial payment for the victim or giving the victim a special discount, and implies that the victim should reciprocate by sending the money.
- Consistency The telemarketer falsely implies, for example, that the victim has given his word about participating in the transaction and that the victim should keep his word. The concept of consistency is also indirectly invoked in "reload" transactions, where the victim has already sent money to the telemarketer and is now being asked for more money to receive an even greater "prize" or "award."
- Altruism The telemarketer falsely indicates, for example, that the victim's money will be used to help those less fortunate, or that the victim can do something to demonstrate his interest in the less fortunate.
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The following tape excerpts are available at this time:
(In order to download these sound files, please right click with your mouse on the link and then left click on "Save Link As". Save the file to a drive on your pc and then open it from there.)
- Charity Scheme - In this tape, a criminal telemarketer, who is trying to persuade the prospective victim to send money for a supposedly charitable cause, falsely tells the victim that his organization wants to tape-record a brief message from the victim to the children who supposedly will benefit from the victim's donation. Victims of this scheme routinely received prizes of little or no value after paying hundreds and even thousands of dollars to what they believed was a legitimate charity.
- Prize-Promotion Scheme - In this tape, a criminal telemarketer first tries to get the prospective victim to believe that she has won a substantial prize in his company's sweepstakes, then tries to persuade the victim to send money. Like the charity scheme, this scheme involved an effort to obtain substantial amounts of money from victims and providing them with items of little or no value.
- Rip-and-Tear Scheme - In this tape, a criminal telemarketer falsely tells the prospective victim that she has won $50,000, but explains the need for her to send him money immediately. In contrast to the charity and prize-promotion schemes in the preceding tapes, this scheme did not even provide its victims with prizes or gifts, but simply took their money.
Can I See What A Telemarketing "Boiler Room" Looks Like?
The videotape except that you can view here was taken at a fraudulent telemarketing "boiler room" that operated in San Diego in 1993. This excerpt shows a portion of the work area where the fraudulent telemarketers call prospective victims from their cubicles and then transfer compliant victims to "closers" (i.e., experienced telemarketers who ensure that the victims will send money).
What Do "Gimme Gifts" Look Like?
So-called "gimme gifts," as indicated above, are inexpensive merchandise that fraudulent telemarketers buy from wholesalers and provide to victims as the valuable "prizes" or "awards" that the telemarketers have led the victims to believe they will be receiving. Because victims are relying solely on what they hear from the fraudulent telemarketer in deciding whether to send money, they will not realize, until after they receive the "gimme gifts," that the "gimme gifts" are worth many times less than the telemarketer stated or suggested. Here are some "gimme gifts" that fraudulent telemarketers have used in their schemes:
"Gold rings"
- Misrepresented value: Up to $30,000
- True market value $15-$30 each
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"Fisher Space Pen"
- Misrepresented value: $150
- True market value: $7-8
Dolphin statue
- Misrepresented value: Up to several thousand dollars
- True market value: $75-100
Mounted plaque engraved with thanks for
donation to "Express Line Foundation"
- Misrepresented value: Up to thousands of dollars
- Amount typically donated to charity: $0
- Cost to telemarketer: $30
Fraudulent Telemarketers in Their Own Words
The following statements, taken from various tape recordings and tape transcripts used in telemarketing fraud prosecutions by the Department of Justice in the 1990s, provide specific indications of the true feelings of fraudulent telemarketers about their victims and their intent in conducting these transactions:
- " . . . [W]hat you're doing as a salesman, what we are doing is painting a picture. Soon as they pick up the phone, and I get on the phone with them, my hand is on the way. My hand goes, two hands go through that phone. One hand goes up to the wall and starts painting pictures, the other hand is in their checkbook . . . and writing it out." [Transcript of conversation, used in trial of United States v. Leake (Southern District of California)]
- [When asked what "pitch" works for the telemarketer] "Get 'em all excited in the very beginning. Like really put 'em deep in the ether." [Transcript of conversation, used in trial of United States v. Leake (Southern District of California)]
- " . . . I just lawnmower over these people. I know exactly what buttons to hit and if I hit 'em right, they're not gonna say [expletive] except, you know, [yes] the whole time." [Transcript of conversation, used in trial of United States v. Gesmundo (Southern District of California)]
"We targeted to people who were homebound. It was kind of like entertainment for the homebound. Um, there's no dispute about that." [Transcript of sentencing hearing in United States v. St. Marie (Central District of California)]
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