Why can't the government shut down these scammers? (agent, complaint, credit card)

[Lizita]

Several times a week for months now I've been getting phone calls, usually from Washington or Oregon area codes, from a "company" that are calling themselves "Card Services" with a recording saying that they can lower my credit card interest rate and that this is my final notice. The recording tells me to press 1 to talk to a representative or 2 to stop getting notices. Of course pressing 2 doesn't stop the "notices" at all.
If you press 1 you get a person who is claiming to check if you qualify to lower your interest rate to as little as 3%. To qualify, they say, you have to have an interest rate of at least 10%, a balance of at least $3000 and be in good standing. Your cards cannot be maxed out. They ask for a bunch of info but mainly want your credit card number, your zip code and the last four digits of your SS#. They make a point of mentioning that they don't ask for your security code like it's proof that it's not a scam. Once they've "verified" that you qualify you get to talk to another person.

I've talked to these people several times playing along with their scam. When you ask them questions about their company you get different lies every time. If you push them they hang up. When you ask for a call back number they'll either hang up or give you the number to Visa's customer service line. If you ask them to stop calling you they also hang up. On one occasion a man cussed me out when I asked them questions about their scam.

This is clearly a scam and they are calling people all over the country all the time. They are obviously fishing for credit card numbers and other personal info in order to steal money. I and many other people have filed complaints against this "company" but nothing is happening. It's not only annoying to keep getting these calls but some people fall for the scam and end up losing money. According to an internet search this scam has been going on since 2008, at least.
So why can't the government shut these scammers down or do something to warn people? Why can this be allowed to go on for years? What can be done to stop these punks?

[WannaliveinGreenville]

There is a post already here : Credit Card Services" is a total scam!

[evilnewbie]

Why? Cause the government is stupid, lazy, and doesn't really care.. these companies have been around for a while... the government loses millions each year to scams and they don't even try to really find and punish the criminals... why should they? Its not like its their money, if they lose it, they just raise your taxes and call it even...

[sweetana3]

Cause they are smarter than the government and people continue to fall for the idea of an easy "out".

I have gotten hundreds of these calls, tried everything to stop them, and failed. At least they call during the day.

Funny thing is we have not paid interest in over 20 years so their data is flawed. Maybe they are buying credit card company info?

[azoria]

Originally Posted by Lizita

What can be done to stop these punks?

Ignore them?

You win.

Easy. Done.

[stepka]

Imagine a fire in a national park out west somewhere. It's not really a wildfire, but it keeps springing up in pockets all over the place and there are not quite enough firefighters to actually put it out, so every time they get one or even several put out, another will spring up over there. And there. And over there again. The truth is there are more scammers than there are federal, state, or county agents to stop them and they're more flexible and can move more quickly while the govt gets itself mired down in paperwork.

[AlfredB1979]

Here's an idea...take your number OFF of the DNC list.

I get an occasional call from losers-who from researching the numbers I don't recognize-calls peddling cruise scams under the guise of political surveys that are allowed on the DNC guidelines...or they are just robodialing to see who answers so they know what lines are active.

I am pretty sure that the DNC loopholes are being put to use here.

Funny that folks want the gubmint's help when this is their smart idea.

[Lizita]

Originally Posted by AlfredB1979

Here's an idea...take your number OFF of the DNC list.

I get an occasional call from losers-who from researching the numbers I don't recognize-calls peddling cruise scams under the guise of political surveys that are allowed on the DNC guidelines...or they are just robodialing to see who answers so they know what lines are active.

I am pretty sure that the DNC loopholes are being put to use here.

Funny that folks want the gubmint's help when this is their smart idea.

I highly doubt that the chosen tactics have anything to do with the DNC loopholes. These people are criminals and could care less if they break the law by calling numbers on the DNC list. What's anyone going to do about it? Fine them? The government can't even find them.
The political survey is just done to make the scam sound legit.

I don't get how taking your number off the DNC list is going to help anything. Will these people stop calling me and others and scam people if I take my number off the list? That makes no sense. Even if it would stop the calls, which I highly doubt, there is no way I would take my number off the DNC list. I have absolutely no interest in getting dozens of calls from telemarketers all day long like I did before they created the list. I think stopping all those calls was a very smart idea.

[Lizita]

Originally Posted by azoria

Ignore them?

You win.

Easy. Done.

How does ignore them stop them? I'm not mainly concerned about the annoyance of them calling me. I'm concerned that they call people who don't understand that it's a scam and scam them out of money. The next call they make may be to my grandma, or your grandma, and most grandmas don't have enough money to afford losing some in a scam.

I understand that the government don't have the resources to go after every scammer everywhere but I wish that they at least did something to warn the public about the big ones like these.