Victims of Cold Calls and Telemarketing Scams

Do you think you will never be a victim of a telephone scam? Don’t let yourself be fooled! Most of us received a Cold Calls before and not only older people fall for it. Who is affected to be scammed and how you can protect you.

Tellows recommends that you should never give personal information or invest in business opportunities when you cannot verify, or do not know with whom you are dealing. If you receive a telephone call from a stranger, it is often difficult or impossible for investigators to ascertain, or verify, the true identity of the person making the offer or promises. Without being able to verify a perpetrator's identity, law enforcement of the individual may be impossible. Tellows is able to verify a telephone call, to see who is calling and what the community of Tellows is thinking about trustworthiness of the caller.

To be a victim of a telephone scam could happen to all of us. A national telephone survey was administered to a representive probability sample of over 1200 respondents aged 18 and older (Titus, 1995). The respondents were asked whether they had been victims of fraud or if an attempt had ever been made to victimize them. 85% percent of the respondents reported that they have been the victim of a successful fraudulent act or an attempted fraudulent act during their lifetime. The evidence from fraud victimization surveys is unanimous that repeat victimization is common.

Indeed greater education is not a protective factor against victimization; the evidence points to the reverse. Much evidence also suggests that older people are not a greater risk of fraud victimization. It may be that younger and better-educated people have wider interests, engage in a broader range of activities, and have more consumer participation in the marketplace than other demographic groups, thereby increasing their exposure to fraudulent solicitations and transactions.

Despite long experience with the ways of the world, older people are especially vulnerable to fraud. The American Association of Retired Persons tested in 1996 a random sample of 865 persons, aged 50 and older, participated in a telephone survey that focused on telemarketing fraud. 57 % of the sample reported that they received a telemarketing call at least once a week from an unknown organization asking them to make a donation or an investment, or requesting them to buy something or enter a sweepstakes or contest. 14% responded to those telemarketing calls by giving a credit card number, sending in money or giving personal informations.

These figures show that a large proportion of the population (of those aged 50 and older are in fact contracted quite frequently by telemarketers, and a respondable to such calls. Forty percent reported that they didn't know how identify whether a call was fraudulent. Finally, over half of respondents were unable to name any organizations that are working to protect people from being victimized by telephone fraud. Tellows is one of these, who is trying to help people and protecting to become a victim of telephone scams.

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