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Telemarketing scams a police concern By Oksana Buhel Those people who do not pay attention while being solicited on the telephone may later file one of the thousands of complaints received annually by the police, Science Canada and provincial consumer pro- tection ministries. Halton Regional Police Services (HRPS) Sergeant Joe Martin said many peo- ple do not pay a sufficient amount of attention to callers who try to sell goods or services over the telephone. “It (telemarket- ing scams) is something people think about from time to time, but not some- thing people really pay attention to until they hear about an especially sub- stantial fraud,” Martin pointed out. A Georgetown telemar- keting company was inves- tigated in July when an employee became suspi- cious of the goods offered by the company. The com- pany was. selling time shares at Ontario resorts, but allegedly denied this when attempting to make the sale. HRPS Detective Constable Bob Percy, who was investigating the case, pointed out since no mem- ber of the public com- plained, the case did not fall under the Criminal Code. It was referred to the Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Relations, where it is still being inves- tigated for claim misrepre- sentation. two is illegitimate telemar- keting occurs between 25 - 100 times more frequently. Those who have fallen rey. to telemarketing frauds may be more suscep- tible to future scams because their names are “reloaded”, or exchanged, between telemarketers. Assuming the company identifies itself and gives its telephone number, indi- viduals should be wary of companies based in Monueal, since close to 90 per cent of illegal telemar- keting companies operate out of the city. If the com- pany identifies itself, indi- viduals are advised to thor- oughly investigate the enterprise and verify data. They are also advised to request names of satisfied customers in the area. Illicit telemarketers often promise “free” prizes for those who purchase a good or service, but the prizes are usually poor quality or only redeemable under very inflexible conditions. “Nothing is for free - do not be tricked by offers of free vacations or promotions designed to lure your into -purchasing goods,” said HRPS Deputy Chief A. John Barratt. A final precautionary measure is to avoid giving any credit card information over the phone. Through the “reloading” process, one telemarketer’ may obtain an individual’s cred- it card number, and another - the expiry date. The com- bination may be used as an is becom- ing an incre: gly lucra- tive business. Statistics pro- vided by HRPS indicate one of every 10 telemarket- ing calls, legitimate or ille- gitimate, results in a sale. The difference between the Is hise ‘c 3 =| 3° SLL Pri com] = Exerc [— Ce | _PETS Professional dog and cat grooming.-Save 10%. 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