I've been bugged by this for some time, so... here goes.
I've been "lucky" to be bombarded by all sorts of marekting scam calls lately, and thanks ever so much to TELUS and the rest of the telecommuncation giants such as Shaw, Rogers, Bell etc... for allowing this to happen.
This latest call came from 250-930-9988, coming into call display as "Brit. Columbia". When the phone was answered, a rather crappy computer voice stated "Since you are a respected TELUS customer, press 1 for 3,000 air miles free". Of course, I never did... and I waited to hear more... and the call was disconnected. Since the phone number is flagged within TELUS as 'no not even telus is authorized to make marekting calls', I did call them to complain. I will leave the matter of being frustrated beyond belief in using Telus's assinine automated system, and state that eventually I was finally able to reach a human.
I explained, they checked the number but it wasn't theirs... it was registered to SHAW. I was then passed to the Telus privacy office to confirm some things. And this is what I found out.
Several phone numbers are set aside (TELUS here in Edmonton uses.. I think... 424-5841) so that 'network routing calls'... those from computers around the world, services like Skype, etc.. have a place to dial into so their internet calls can be passed through to the local exchanges for connection. TELUS says they have no control over who connects, and they can't track this either. (Now thats a huge crock of bullshit.. ops.. I mean El Toro PooPoo.)
This one from BC was one of those types of numbers, but its under Shaws control. Anyway, I had a huge discussion, which turned into an arguement, with the Privacy Commissioners office. Anyone who isn't within the realm of being gullible will instantly know that there is NO way that some company from the USA can extend your vehicle warranty (hey, the caller said it was about to expire, right?) or can offer you lower rates on your credit cards. And of course, this is JUST the surface of these scams.
I tried to explain to TELUS that it could EASILY be controlled but they say that the Government.. aka the CRTC, won't let them. Um.. excuse me?? WTF! So ok, TELUS has no balls, and as usual, could really care LESS about customer support (like you already didn't know that eh?). So here is the 25 cent solution. All it needs is for all of these carriers (Telus, Bell, Shaw, etc) to get off their asses and use their industry voices to MAKE it happen.
1) TRACK the calls coming into the network.
2) When customers start complaining about calls coming from these network routing numbers, LOOK at the logs of the network.
3) DENY access to any further incoming calls "from that network".
4) LOBBY the CRTC for rules that will ALLOW these types of scams to be dealt with IMMEDIATELY.
Hey.. ya know if ya don't... chances are it's going to be the seniors that will end up getting scammed the most. Course, that would mean that the Government and the CRTC and the various carriers would acutally want to care.
