Sunday, May 20, 2007
Thieves welcome here.
The New York Times has a front page article on criminal telemarketers that prey on the elderly, sick and gullible using commercially available information. Calling people who are lonely, confused or just not aware, the get these folks to give them the information needed to loot their bank accounts.
Telemarketing fraud, once limited to small-time thieves, has become a global criminal enterprise preying upon millions of elderly and other Americans every year, authorities say. Vast databases of names and personal information, sold to thieves by large publicly traded companies, have put almost anyone within reach of fraudulent telemarketers. And major banks have made it possible for criminals to dip into victims’ accounts without their authorization, according to court records.And the various corporate accomplices never will change their ways as long as the profits exceed the expense. Just one of the costs of business, like appearing to cooperate with the authorities. And the thieves know this very well.
The banks and companies that sell such services often confront evidence that they are used for fraud, according to thousands of banking documents, court filings and e-mail messages reviewed by The New York Times.
Although some companies, including Wachovia, have made refunds to victims who have complained, neither that bank nor infoUSA stopped working with criminals even after executives were warned that they were aiding continuing crimes, according to government investigators. Instead, those companies collected millions of dollars in fees from scam artists. (Neither company has been formally accused of wrongdoing by the authorities.)
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