Telemarketers: Tracking down the people who call you up (CBC Marketplace)

this week on marketplace they're harassing us from telemarketers from hell sexually harassing people of the phone that's disgusting we're out to catch them breaking the rules I'm on the do not call it and boldly go where we've never gone before taking you undercover half a world away inside a call center that might have called you I'm fighting you from an affirmative and we take your complaints the Canada's watchdog we've talked to Canadians on the Do Not Call list they're frustrated and exasperated and angry in this tiny room at the CBC we're about to embark on our biggest undercover mission yet Center it up a little bit more a little bit back to the your left okay right there that's Suhail and he's in Pakistan perfect that's where our secret assignment is taking place we need to get you a job in a call center as a telemarketer and you have to bring hidden cameras is that okay with you yes absolutely I'm ready funny okay Hey you're a brave man Suhail is a freelance journalist and now we've got a job for him we found a call center in Karachi that's hiring here's your mission you're going to apply for a job selling air duct cleaning services to Canadians air duct cleaning services yes air ducts okay okay and duct cleaning houses to the Canadians you know air ducts those things that carry hot and cold air from your furnace through your house sometimes they need cleaning you have your mission are you ready to accept it oh yes that's that's the mission I'll take it like a mission okay Sohail goodbye good luck take care thank you tom goodbye why do we want Suhail to get a job selling air duct cleaning because the telemarketers who sell these services have a lot of you venting to us cannot make the call stop this is Sam from the cleaning service so would you like to know the price they are harassing us $99 for the hold on stop cleaning do not call here again please I am begging you stop calling me I've had enough stop calling here I'm calling you Heather David and Andrew have been telling these telemarketers to stop calling for more than two years you Aster's you are driving me crazy will you please get off the goddamn phone I have to go to work why are you wasting my time I have to countless times stop calling me stop bothering me you I'm going to nail you bastards to the wall what makes it even worse we are on do not on do not call this not supposed to be calling me it is illegal for you to be called Ottawa created the Do Not Call list to stop companies from calling us at home but it's not stopping these duct cleaning telemarketers they're relentless even obscene as Andrews wife found out when she asked for a manager telemarketer who she was speaking to said that she she would be able to speak to this person's manager if she sucked it sexually harassing people over the phone that's disgusting we did call the police the police put it into a report we've never heard back from them he's also complained to the people who police the Do Not Call list the CRTC hello but so far nada same story for David and Heather the fact that the CRTC has done nothing about this is raging in the meantime I'm on the Do Not Call list you're not supposed to be calling me the calls don't stop I'll try anything just to get them to stop once I even picked up my whistle I feel as though I'm losing grip on unreality you say no no no no no no no thanks and then eventually you say you and it still doesn't work if they're in front of me and perhaps I would put my hands closer to their neck can I say that on the camera yeah I'm a pacifist I'm not a violent man I just want them to stop please somebody out there please start taking this seriously seriously David's about to lose it so angry I could spit they call sometimes as frequently as two or three times a day David recorded some recent telemarketing calls so we can listen as they break the rules yes I must believe him David's believed them before but it never fails just when he thinks the tough talk scares him off the CRTC would you please figure out a way to track down and put these telemarketing companies out of business time to find out what the do-not-call List police are doing about these calls we go to Ottawa to talk to the CRTC we meet Andrea Rosen Tom Harrington for marketplace the CRTC's chief of compliance and enforcement we've talked to Canadians on the Do Not Call list and these people I pity them are getting called all the time they're frustrated and exasperated and angry and they've even complained to the CRTC what are you doing about that what we're seeing now is an influx of telemarketing calls from offshore you're spoofing the numbers that they're using and spoofing is when you don't have the number displayed on the dial that is real and the problem with that for law enforcement is that it's very difficult to detect who those people are and find out where they're calling from if we can't find them we can't act but we found them in Karachi Pakistan that's how far we go to catch a telemarketer this is where those duct cleaning telemarketers have set up shop in one of the most dangerous cities in the world as the workday ends and night falls the telemarketers are just getting started and in this rough neighborhood sue Hales undercover mission begins we've tracked down a call center maybe it's the one bugging David it's located on the third floor of a shopping center we send our man in armed with his resume and our hidden cameras he's hired on the spot part one of his missions accomplished when we come back I'm undercover in the call center oh can I go I'll go frazzled Canadians on the other end of the line we're on the trail of telemarketers calling Canadians on the Do Not Call list I cannot make the call stop our pursuit has taken us to Karachi the biggest city in Pakistan we've been able to get hired inside this call center dozens are on the phone here at the other end of the line frazzled Canadians carrying their pitch for air duct cleaning our man on the inside Suhail hits the phones hello with his script in hand he gets to work ah miss can i report out of the house yes this is Michael here Michael is two Hales alias the telemarketers don't use their real names I'm calling from air duct cleaning services how you doing today that's right air duct cleaning services the name of the company David's been hearing back in Toronto and then the diesel of the carbon comude if we are running a grid from which in another area sounds just like the same pitch David gets again and again regarding complete air duct cleaning of your house any house in Ontario could be a target of these telemarketers they do nothing and now we're starting to get an idea of how they do it how are you doing today a computer dials numbers for Suhail and makes hundreds and hundreds of calls an hour drop appealing from the line but this time he reaches someone on the Do Not Call list and then another one I'm sorry and another okay I'm sorry it's clear the trainer at the call center knows there are rules the Canadian government maintains a list called do not call this and the people who police it there is a CRTC Department but when so he'll ask the trainer why they're calling people on the Do Not Call list do you know who's on the DNC I don't either numbers just get caught the phone number doesn't specify who is on the DNC and who isn't and if someone complains you don't have to respond to that just hang up and what's really obvious is the trainer is not afraid of getting caught if they get a call they can report the company to the government there is no need to worry the customer will not be able to record us they can trace us how do they make sure of that the telemarketers never tell people they're in Pakistan they're told to lie and say there's somewhere in Ontario so ah that's what Sohail does I did taunt REO and that's why back in Toronto David can't track them down he's tried more than once we listened in to another call he recorded for us they do give David a number but he doesn't get air duct cleaning services we're sorry the number you have reached is not in service why am I not surprised back with Suhail in Karachi we learned why that number doesn't work we don't give customers our phone number if we give customers our number those on the DNC you know they will take our business phone number and report us they've got it all figured out no one can touch them because of those fake numbers remember the CRTC calls that spoofing they even use fake names no wonder the trainer brags are the CRTC rules are toothless here there's no need to be scared if someone says I trace your number I do this or I'll do that they can go and try I've been here two and a half years and I've never seen someone report us they don't have a company name they don't have a contact number and you haven't met them in person either so they can't trace you oh really we've traced you time for air duct cleaning services to get a call from us the company behind the Karachi call center is called via connections I'm trying to reach via connections yeah this is my connection go ahead yes my name is Tom Harrington I'm calling from CBC marketplace in Toronto I'm calling on behalf of Canadians who want you to stop calling them about air duct cleaning services you're violating the do-not-call list in Canada you'd be fine thousands of dollars hold on a second stop running everything is in my mouth and pay attention to what I'm going to ask you I need get in my name is Tom Harrington I'm the host of marketplace and what's your name missing email me some PVC that we are violating your call rules or whatever first of all I don't know messages I want to be there what's your name listen email me from CBC's domain first of all we don't have anything to do with whatever you are bullshitting about why are you using fake phone numbers with your company why are using fake names well why don't you just admit that's what you're doing calling Canadians and hassling him people rather do not call this want you to stop they've had it PC I want you to email me from PCC email address and then I'll speak about it okay but he refuses to give us the company email address won't even tell us his name and he's gone well turns out this call center isn't the only one in town you won't believe this but Karachi is probably the duct cleaning telemarketer capital of the world we find out there may be 20 call centers here all selling one thing duct cleaning maybe that's why there are so many repeat calls to Canadians as for our man in Pakistan he doesn't make one sale they let Suhail go and we still can't be sure if these guys are the ones who keep calling David back in Toronto he gets in the last word or so he thinks of course we know he means the CRTC when we come back we found air duct cleaning telemarketers in Karachi Pakistan if we can do it why can't the police or the CRTC do it we've just caught these telemarketers red-handed I'm talking duct inserted for violating the do-not-call list you bastards you are driving me crazy but the CRTC hasn't been able to catch them we put that to Andria Rosen the CRTC's chief of compliance and enforcement we found air duct cleaning telemarketers in Karachi Pakistan and they are calling people them to do a call list in Canada and it's actually been going on for years why is nothing been happening well if we found them we would have taken action if we can do it why can't the police or the CRTC do it we can only action what we receive as information we pass on our information we also pass along the complaints of Canadians who want these calls to stop people are frustrated and they have a message that they wanted me to deliver I guess to the CRTC about their frustration I'd like you to listen to them because I think it's important that you hear it in my opinion the Do Not Call list is not working at all use it or lose it if you're the CRTC how can you let this keep going on you have so much power to prevent this kind of activity and yet you're doing nothing I just can't understand how the CRTC can't close in on a company like this I expected the Do Not Call list would have solved this problem and it hasn't I feel for these people I definitely agree that it is a terrible thing to be have this sort of invasion of your privacy at home but we are working here on on behalf of Canadians so we are very pleased with the program and the progress we have made these people are not it's not working for them that may be in Utah for a few people that may be the case tomorrow it's more than a few I'm I'm sure that there are a number that are dealing with the kinds of calls that I'm talking about today where we have seen that we cannot reach the identity and location of the caller in which case it's not a crtc matter it's really in truly a police matter nobody has a solution right now that's right it's cold comfort for the people on the other end of the phone that's why we're trying to find a solution Heather's hoping that solution comes sooner than later I would love to see them hauled away in handcuffs and taken away to jail and processed and absolutely forced to pay a huge fine Heather's dreams on hold and our story's not over yet this is what your test is on tonight another Canadian family is not waiting for someone else to act again really really the same people from before duck couch enough with the calls six days they've called seven times in those six days she's booked a cleaning just so she can let them have it face to face and that's enough she waits and waits and waits I'm annoyed right now but the duct cleaners are a no-show but I'm wondering even if they're a real business even if they have a truck they're gonna be here any minute we're wondering the same thing let's hurry up no problem find out next week on marketplace here we go hi there watch what happens when the duct cleaners we call show up at our house oh my lord are they up to the job this is a hole dust storm now in the furnace room is there kind of making a mess or up to no good oh my gosh look good job well you know what I don't think you did

Channel: CBC News

Views: 1,960,611

Rating: 4.6083145 out of 5

Keywords: CBC News, CBCNews, CBC broadcasting media, public broadcasting news, Canadian News, Canadian Broadcasting Corportation (TV network), CBC News Network

Id: O13Vv4n__J8

Length: 19min 15sec (1155 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 08 2015