Familiar Phone Call

Here's the call, received at 5:00 pm yesterday:

Hi, this is Mike from cardholder services, and I'm calling about your credit card accounts. Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with your credit card accounts at this time, but if you press 1 now, I can tell you how to lower your credit card interest rates to as little as 6.9%. To qualify, you must have at least $2500 in credit card bills...

I looked up the number from my caller ID online, and a lot of people have been getting cold calls from these people; most of them rightfully smell a scam. I reported them to the Do Not Call registry (for all the good that will do), but the call had the familiar ring of the NCC's "education campaign" that got them shut down by the FTC. If they are trying to hide behind a "non-profit" exception to the Do Not Call registry, they'll get busted the same way the NCC did. But I'm having such a hard time getting any hard information about the company that I think it's more likely they're just an outright scam and are covering their tracks.

After doing some research, it seems the company is perpetrating a scam, spoofing a disconnected number so it will be harder for the FCC to catch them. Someone on a message board identified them as "Debt Solutions USA" or "American Debt Negotiators," operating out of Florida, but I haven't confirmed that.

I'm assuming if you're smart enough to use the internet to read blogs like mine, you've entered your phone number into the Do Not Call registry. And even if a scammer like this tells you they're exempt from DNC because they're non-profit, report them anyway. They might meet the same fate as the NCC.

Comments

[Funky Dung]

I just got a very similar call a couple hours ago. I didn't get the number, though, because I picked up the call from call waiting (for which I lack caller ID). I'm glad I found this page. Knowing that it was likely a scam call puts my mind at ease.

[David Morgan]

The outfit behind this scam in American Debt Negotiators of Coral Springs FL.

Just in case you'd like to give THEM a call, you can find not only their actual phone number (866-969-44236) but also a list of all the extensions associated with it:

http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/34709834/m/443000327831/p/1