Oh, Daddy: How to handle telemarketers
A Coeur d’Alene caller asked about the company Water Daddy, Inc. She had received four calls from this company over two days and wanted to know if they were a legitimate or a scam company. She became suspicious because three of the calls were from males who spoke poor English. Also, when she asked them what services the company was offering, it was unclear other than they needed access to her home.
Water Daddy, Inc. is located in Spokane. It offers comprehensive water treatment solutions which include a water filtration system. It does run an analysis of your water as part of its services, which requires it to collect water from your tap. This on its own makes sense, but what about the excessive unsolicited calls over a short period of time to our reader?
The calls originated from the number listed on the Water Daddy website, but as we have learned, the numbers could have been spoofed. We would also expect that a company representative would be able to tell you what product/service the company provides so the potential customer could determine the need for the product or service.
A call to the company indicated that reps are aware of the service provided. So could these calls have been made from a scammer just trying to gain access to someone’s home? It is possible. And here’s another thing to keep in mind: It is illegal for companies to make unsolicited calls to you if you’re on the National Do Not Call Registry.
Bottom line: If you’re receiving an unsolicited call from a telemarketer, just hang up. You can also file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission at https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us.
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ROMANCE SCAM WARNINGS: As online dating is becoming more commonplace and a more acceptable way to meet a potential partner, scammers have found their way into this arena to tug at the heartstrings of their victims and then extort money from them. This type of scam requires the crook to invest some time with the victim but not so surprising, all the communication is done online.
From speaking with those involved with online dating, it seems (at least in the Pacific Northwest) that men are targeted more often with these romance scams than women. Men have told me they think scammers believe them to be either more gullible or have more money.
In fact, the scam has gotten so prevalent or crooks are so lazy that they will put up multiple profiles on a dating site with the same words, just different pictures of women. And these ladies rarely live near their targets or are the initiator of the contact.
Either way, here are a couple of warning signs to watch out for:
1. You never meet in person: Someone starts an online conversation with you but for various reasons they can never meet you in person or have all kinds of excuses if they miss a “date.” Often their travel schedule makes it hard to meet up or they claim to be in the armed forces.
2. They want money: After they’ve spent some time winning your trust, the crook ends up in a situation that requires them to need money wired to them for an emergency or they claim they would like to meet the victim but need money for travel expenses.
Eventually, the victim grows suspicious and refuses to send money (or more money) and reports the scam. That’s how the scheme finally falls apart, but sometimes not before thousands of dollars have been lost.
If you believe you have been involved in an online scam, the best thing to do is file a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crimes Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov and report the profile to the online dating site organizer. You can contact the local police department but if the scammers are in another state or jurisdiction, there won’t be much the police can do to help.
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UNUSED GIFT CARDS: Did you know that in the U.S alone, there’s more than $20 billion in unused gift cards and other credit sitting in people’s drawers? In a recent Bankrate survey, more than half of those asked said they had unredeemed gift cards, store credit or airline redemption vouchers hanging around in their drawers collecting dust.
That’s like leaving money on the table. If you don’t like the store you hold a gift card with, you can either re-gift it, donate it, use it to buy a gift for someone else or sell it. There are websites like CardCash.com where you can sell unwanted and unused gift cards.
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Remember: I’m on your side.
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If you have encountered a consumer issue that you have questions about or think our readers should know about, please send me an email at terridickersonadvocate@gmail.com or call me at 208-274-4458. As The CDA Press Consumer Gal, I’m here to help. I’m a full-time copywriter working with businesses on marketing strategy, a columnist and a consumer advocate living in Coeur d’Alene.