Posted on 10/27/2007 7:39:27 AM PDT by shrinkermd
Mailings Fool Seniors Into Accepting Pitches; States Launch Charges
Older Americans around the country are getting duped by a seemingly innocuous tactic that can expose them to hard-sell pitches from the insurance industry.
The technique is centered on a marketing tool called the lead card, and it became popular after the federal government created its Do Not Call Registry in 2003 to shield consumers from unwanted solicitors. Sent through the mail, the lead card invites the recipient to mail off an enclosed reply for free information about, say, estate planning.
"It's a huge loophole," says Pam Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum, a San Diego nonprofit researcher of privacy issues including commercial use of personal information.
The technique is prompting legal action from states across the country. Because the loophole itself violates no law in most states, prosecutors are focusing their cases on other lead-card deceptions. The cards often falsely imply an affiliation with the federal government or with advocacy groups such as AARP, for instance. Many of the cards also fail to mention that replies will be turned over to insurance salespeople.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
You forgot junk faxes. Those cost me real money.
UPS Shipping requires it. I think Fedex may also. DHL does not...or the PO does not either.
Dial 1-800-333-9956
My dad used to collect sets of phone numbers.....when a aluminum siding company rang him he would say....”call me on the other line”.....and give the rival company phone no.
I’m pretty shrewd now at 54, but I guess 20 years from now I’ll have reverted to the innocence of my youth.
I routinely get recorded Hispanic telemarketing calls on my cellphone. Cellphones aren't the safe haven they used to be.
This statement is a prime example of how Big Government gives us just the kind of tyranny we demand of it. People who will not take care of themselves are always demanding a new law for this and a new law for that -- demands which are usually prefaced by how they "feel" about the issue at hand. "Feelings" are strangling us with government solutions to ordinary issues of everyday life, and are making grown adults pitifully dependent upon government to manage their own affairs.
I do not mean to pick on you personally, but I'm sick of hearing about how people "feel" about issues. Free men need to check their selfish "feelings" at the door, and focus of what they THINK should be done -- or not done. I contend that if people THINK more about government than they FEEL about government, we will enjoy a lot less government. We each have two feet; let us stand on them.
I have been doing this for years also. I do not remove my name and address from the junk mail before returning. After a few times they will remove you by themselves.
Hmmmm... Freedom. I want to be free of these phone calls.
These guys bring it on themselves. It’s like they are calling at random everyone with the same last name as the person who’s bill they are trying to collect. If they do that, then they pretty much deserve what they get, and they can hardly be surprised at the result.
***Better watch your next bill or so - cause Verizon just announced that unless you sign an op-out, they are going to sell your calling info - who called, when, how long, etc. - to other outfits who will then use it to target you for advertising -***
Thank you, with all the junk they send with each bill, that notice will probably be printed so small I’d have missed it.
Darn..I really like that one.
When I get a very rare phone solicitation, I strongly let them know I’m on the Federal No-Call, State No-Call, and My (Personal Name) No-Call. I then tell them if they ever call me again, I’ll kick their AZZ to the Curb. It seems to work very well.
They're the same people that open the spam in their inbox.
Bless their hearts-—they must be truly lonely people.
That was funny!
Do you have caller ID?
Write down the telephone number, then go to the Google search box and type it in, then click search.
You will be surprised what you find.
There is one called AACC (that has been calling me) and they are scam artists in Mesa, AZ, according to what I uncovered from my search. (IIRC)
Monday, I am calling the AG’s office about them. I will give them all the dates and times they have called, and they should be fined big time, since I am on the DNC list, and these guys don’t give up. (I have never answered the phone when they call - but they leave messages on my voice mail, filling up my space, every week.)
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