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I have been getting calls that immediately start with, "Thank you for choosing Marriot Hotels!" for a couple years now. The message goes on to say how I am getting this great offer because I am a valued customer. On a couple occasions, I stayed on the line to get a human, they ask yes/no questions (are you over 28? do you have a valid credit card?). I just replied with questions of my own, and they immediately hung up. I can continue to ignore the calls, but they are always from a random local number and I get nearly twice as many of these calls than I get legitimate calls.
I did a search and found this has been around for a while and Marriot is aware:
http://news.marriott.com/2015/05/marriott-international-responds-to-continued-phone-scam-updated-oct-20-2015/
I have deliberated about posting, but I don't see the FCC [US Federal Communications Commission] as being able to act unless I can provide them something more than the spoofed phone number. Providing the number(s) probably won't help as they are spoofing the caller ID. I know that this is a long shot, but is there anything anyone can suggest beyond creating a spreadsheet of phone numbers, dates, and times to log these calls? Would that even be useful?
It seems that something is fundamentally broken with the current phone system, if this spoofing is even possible. But that is a side topic here, the real question is, what can I do, if anything, to get the data the FCC would need to shut this down?
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Kromagv0 on Wednesday March 15 2017, @01:39PM (5 children)
I would send off a complaint to my state's Attorney General and include as much information as I could. The phone company has more information on the caller than is provided by caller ID and will provide it to law enforcement. That can be used to track it back to the originator who unfortunately will likely be in China, India, or Pakistan. Parasites like these and other dodgy companies like bottom of the barrel debt collectors need a scorched earth approach.
Last year I had a bottom of the barrel debt collector that called constantly from a fixed number but with fake caller ID info and never had anyone on the line multiple times a day. I didn't know it was a debt collector so I started recording the times of the calls for a month. After that I started telling them to never contact me again when I would answer, I would record these calls, and would also inform them that this is harassment. After doing this a few times I contacted my state's Attorney General who informed me that this was a debt collector and that they are allowed to call me in an attempt to collect a debt and that the state's department of commerce deals with debt collectors. Being that the only debt I have is my mortgage and that is paid current I went and filed a complaint with the CFPB, and state department of commerce. When one files a complaint with the CFPB you have to provide information on your self that is provided to the debt collector so that they can confirm that this is your debt and the CFPB sends written notification that the collector is to no longer contact you by phone. Once they have contacted the debt collector you receive a notification that the debt collector has been contacted in writing. A day after submitting my complaint I received confirmation from the CFPB that the debt collector was contacted in writing but I continued to receive calls for 2 more days. Each time I was called I filed a new complaint with the CFPB, state department of commerce, and state Attorney General as at this point the company is breaking the law and in each case received notification that the company was contacted again by the CFPB has been told in writing to not contact me by phone. Going forward several days I get a notification from the CFPB the the debt collector has responded to my initial complaint. Turns out their response was "proof" that I was the owner of the debt but the documents presented listed someone who only shared my first name and lived in states I have never been to. They also insisted that they did stop calling when the received the first notification and that they had never contacted me multiple times in a single day. Did you know it is illegal for debt collectors to lie to an individual, because at this point they have now committed multiple crimes. The debt collector also demanded that I make payment arrangements with them withing 7 days or they would file a lawsuit against me to collect this debt. To make matters worse for the debt collector they provided all of the documentation they had on the debt including the original application, and applicants drivers license. This included all sorts of juicy info like SSN, birth date, birth city, mother's maiden name, drivers license number, original loan amount, current outstanding balance, original lender, etc. This becomes worse for the debt collector because they are legally not allowed to disclose any information about the debt to an unauthorized 3rd party, which I clearly was as I provided information showing that. At this point I went full on scorched earth and sent a letter (registered mail requiring signature and delivery confirmation) demanding the following:
1. That I receive a notarized letter stating that this debt is not my and never has been mine withing 1 week of their receipt of this letter
2. That after I receive their response letter from #1 I am never to be contacted about this debt again
3. That if I am ever contacted in an attempt to collect this debt I will view that as an attempt to defraud me and will immediately peruse criminal charges and they will be named as a co-conspirator to commit fraud
4. They they contact the actual owner of the debt and inform them of their illegal disclosure of their debt information and that the debt collector now legally has to canceled the debt.
Additionally I informed them that I would be informing my state Attorney General, state department of commerce, and CFPB of these further transgression and I will be forwarding all material they have currently provided as well as any future communication. I further laid out exactly what their transgressions were and the multiple places where they lied in attempting to collect this debt from me. Furthermore I pointed out that had their company done their proper due diligence, or even the most basic check, I would have never been contacted in the first place as there are public records that would have proved to them that I am not the correct person, especially given that the first name was the only thing that matched. Two days later I received my notarized letter where the stated that this debt was not mine but they also spewed out a bunch of other crap about their internal process and how they can't be held accountable for their automated systems. Being the dick I am I sent copies of that letter along to my state Attorney General, state department of commerce, and CFPB as well. A couple of weeks later I get letters from my state Attorney General, state department of commerce, and CFPB, all within a couple of days, stating that they have all begun investigations into this company and that the information I provided was exceptional in perusing these actions.
It is not approaching a year and I haven't heard from them again but I do wonder if they ever did track down that guy who actually owned the debt or not. I half wonder if I should do so as I probably have enough information to track him down myself with ease and let him know. I might actually do so just to let him know that he may want to have his state Attorney General look into this company as well.
T-Shirts and bumper stickers [zazzle.com] to offend someone
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 15 2017, @02:46PM (3 children)
You sound like kind of a dick.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 15 2017, @03:34PM (1 child)
Ahhh, but this is the kind of dick I'd like to have on my side!
(Score: 2) by Hyperturtle on Wednesday March 15 2017, @05:31PM
I think he posted about this before; it was good reading then, too, or whoever had done it wherever I read it.
(Also, it's "pursue", but we can let this minor transgression slide for otherwise being excellently documented! No one cited that yet so I figured I'll take the hit to help prevent future errors that pass spell check.)
(Score: 3, Informative) by Kromagv0 on Wednesday March 15 2017, @04:10PM
Good. Maybe if more people were dicks to companies like these society wouldn't have the problems with them we do. And yes I am proud of my ability to be a dick and will use it for good. Just ask any of my elected representatives (current or former), random dick cop I have had a run in with (only 2 of these), roving TSA agents, etc.
T-Shirts and bumper stickers [zazzle.com] to offend someone
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Oakenshield on Wednesday March 15 2017, @03:43PM
I did get a couple more calls a year or so later asking for the same name. I assume the deadbeat ran up more debt or they sold the debt to another bottom feeder.
A few years later, I starting getting debt collection calls for my ex-wife asking for her maiden name. We had been divorced for over five years at the time. Now I have NoMoRobo and I don't get any telemarketers, scammers, or debt collectors. Fuck 'em all!