Wesrock@aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated Thu, 29 Jun 2006 12:42:04 -0700, AES
> <siegman@stanford.edu> writes:
>> Just received a telemarketing call to my cell phone from (416)
>> 777-9552. Return call to this number is answered by a machine which
>> launches into a pitch for a "special offer", but gives no information
>> as to identity of calling party -- just says they'll call me again.
>> Have received multiple recent calls from what seems to be the same
>> source, under different numbers.
> I have noticed a number of calls in the last few weeks on my land line
> phone with the area code shown as 416, which is Toronto.
I too have received calls from telespamming scum like this. Basically
what happens each time is that they call and only allow it to ring
long enough to register on the caller ID. These scumbags are counting
on the fact that you are going to see the missed call and instead of
them having to pay the call costs to telespam you, you call them, and
they spam for free. I know for a fact that they are simply
sequentially dialing and possibly only targeting blocks of numbers on
mobile carriers. The reason I know this is a few people in our family
got T-Mobile phones which were activated at the same time and the
numbers are almost sequential, each time this happened, all of our
phones received calls from this same unknown number within a few
minutes time.
The last number I got a call from like this was 1(786)264-5272 which
is (or was?) a number provided by "Tcg South Florida" and in Miami,
FL. Each time I called to see what it was there was a recording in
Spanish only saying: "You have just won a vacation" or "You have just
won prizes". Unlike the number mentioned in the original post this is
not a Canadian number, but what US laws apply to this type of
telephone spamming tactic? They are clearly sequentially dialing
without the intention to connect the call at all and only providing a
machine/recording when you call back. I'm not sure what would have
happened if the call was caught soon enough to connect it, but I can
guess they would have simply hung up.
B. Wright (bmwright@xmission.com)