SCAM SCAM...eventually they ask for your credit card numbers. THEY HAVE NO STREET ADDRESS AND NO WAY TO HAVE YOU CALL THEM. The only recourse, I've found, is to report the number to the FTC. FIrst, register your number on the do not call list at http://www.donotcall.gov Once you have been registered, report each and every call, the date and time of call. It takes 2 minutes to do it. This company uses numbers in many, many area codes. I've googled at least 10 or more. All the same. I talked to the guy today and told him to take me off the list and he said I had to call my bank to request that. THIS IS ILLEGAL, people. According to donotcall.gov, You may file a complaint if you received an unwanted call after your number was on the National Registry for 31 days. You may also file a complaint if you received a call that used a recorded message instead of a live person (whether or not your number was on the Registry). AND I FIND THIS INTERESTING... "A consumer who receives a telemarketing call despite being on the registry will be able to file a complaint with the FTC, either online or by calling a toll-free number. Violators could be fined up to $16,000 per incident. "

One has to look at the cumulative actions of the entire financial sector over the last ten years or so...or even the last five. IMO, it is not coincidence that everything they are cited for in terms of what is considered to be wrong doing by those outside the loop is invariably an action that added considerable millions if not more to their coffers, while it bleeds the overall economy dry. These companies have a tremendous amount of capital at their disposal...as well as some of the most brilliant financial players, business managers, analysts, statisticians, etc at their disposal....not to mention a good number of politicians in their pockets. If they are nailed on something, the fine is a mere tiny drop in the bucket compared to the profit that is made. It is simply the cost of doing business. They apologize..the gullible fall for it...and they proceed with business as usual. Remember, these are the entities that profited to the tune of trillions on the destruction of the global economy, manipulated a taxpayer bailout, and are now wealthier beyond imagining, while most everyone else struggles to pay their every day expenses. Don't be fooled into thinking that they made yet another mistake that just so happened to make them yet another bundle. The only reason they are admitting it now is because they finally got caught. And very possibly the appointment of Holly Petraeus, wife of Gen. Petraeus to head up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may have played a very important part as well in JPMorgan Chase all of a sudden magically seeing the light on screwing over active duty troops.

I had a car for sale two years ago on craig's list. I had a scammer of some sort contact me via email. At first they seemed to be making legitimate inquiries about the car. The person said they were representing someone in England, who wanted the car, and they were buying it for them here in the U.S. to be shipped back to England. Then they said they wanted to buy it with a cashier's check but the amount would be over the purchase price and I would need to send the difference before shipping etc, etc. Since this was April of 2005, the scam was new at the time but I still knew it was a scam of some sort. I researched it online on the FBI's website. Sure enough, there were big warnings about the new scam. I reported this person but never heard anything from the FBI. However, they didn't use an international address. They actually used the address of a bed and breakfast in michigan. But the phone number they gave me always went straight to voice mail. And when I called the B&B, they had no idea who that person was. Since the money was to be wired to them instead of sending it to the B&B, I think they just picked an address at random that seemed legitimate. They weren't planning on getting any mail or money at that address. But having a U.S. address made them seem more legitimate, I suppose. One of the things that made me curious at the very beginning was it made no sense for anyone in England to want to buy a used car in the U.S., especially a gas guzzling Ford Explorer. So big for a country with such narrow streets and sky high gas prices. How much is the equivalent of a gallon of gas there? Isn't it around $6? And plus, the steering wheel would be on the wrong side of the car! Anyway, I never did tell the guy that I'd busted him. I wanted to see if the FBI would catch him. But they didn't do anything. No one ever contacted me. I did find an article at the time in the Chicago Sun Times on this then new scam. So I emailed the reporter to give him the details on how they'd tried to scam me. He emailed me back and I forwarded him the emails. I thought at least a reporter could make use of the info to get the news out.

I've actually had a similar idea to yours cynic, but with a slight change that might actually make the solution workable. Whenever a call is received, the recipient has the option of hanging up and dialing similar to *69 (I'll call it *96) which would cause some amount (say 50 cents) to be added to the callers bill, and that amount would be credited to the recipient's bill. Think about it. You've just got a call from 'Bridget at card services" or from "Microsoft" or from some annoying survey or from the opposing political party regarding their reprehensible candidate, and rather than merely hanging up and walking away silently fuming (like I did moments ago in the middle of writing this message) Instead imagine hanging up, dialing *96 and walking away slightly smirking because you've actually affected the annoying caller, and your phone bill will be slightly smaller this month. Imagine the smile when you think, "Five more of them, and this month is free!" The details of the plan would need some careful thought to avoid creating a new mode of abuse wherein some scammer calls you leaving a message saying "Its an emergency, call me back at this number ASAP" and then when you do, they *96 you and garner 50 cents from you. Maybe each caller gets a handful of *96 calls in a given month before they are debited. Or perhaps the caller is notified that the recipient has done a *96, and the caller has the option of dialing *97 and negating the charge back, but only a couple of times a month. It would take decision at the Federal level to force the phone companies to implement this, since I'm sure they'll fight it tooth and nail. Furthermore the telemarketing industry will surely claim it would affect their business, and jobs of all the poor schlubs they employ, but ... duh, that's the entire point of the measure. The one issue I see with the measure is that it would be so effective, that perhaps within a year of being implemented, the need for it and the use of it would drop to near zero. (Note if a lawmaker reads this and wants to implement this scheme, I'll gladly license the design for a meager 1/100th of a cent per call that is *96'ed :-)