OMG - what should we do now

[theworm[$]]

I'm just a little bit freaked out and shocked, and I don't know what if anything to do about it.

I don't know how short I can make this.

For the last week or so I've been getting calls at work from some people (they sound Indian) who claim to work for BellSouth and who want to verify our listing for the yellow pages. I didn't trust them, so on several occassions I told them I couldn't give them information and they would have to speak to the office manager. They called me about 4 times - finally they said they just wanted me to verify the address that they had on tape. I started to do it, but then they asked too much and I ended the calls.

They say that they want to offer us a website and we have to call and turn it on and after 30 days if we don't want it we can cancel at no charge. I told them we didn't want to. They said "fine, we'll send you a welcome letter". I kept telling them no. Then they got the office manager - same situation - she told them no - she verified some info and ended up hanging up. They called me back and told me that the system automatically redials and that until the verification goes through it will recall and I need to verify. I said no. The said just answer yes or no - confirmed the address etc - then asked if I'm 18 and very quickly asked if I'm authorized to make changes to the company phone. I said no. He said goodbye.
Then the lady called back and yelled at me - why did I hang up. I told her that I didn't hang up, that he ended the call, that this is a place of business and they are interupting and not to call back. Then she called the office manager twice and they had the same exchange.
Then another man called and asked for me. Asked me to verify. I told him that he was wasting my time. We go through the song and dance - we asks me the questions - I say no. He says but the only thing this question means is that you're 18 and can pass on the info to the owner. I said, that's not what you asked, and the answer to what you asked is "no". I told him not to call again. We don't have time. He said that if I would just stay quiet and listen he could get his job done.
I said, "now you are being rude and disrespectful, I'm ending this call".
That's when he called me a b$tch. I should have just hung up, but I asked if he called me a "b%tch. He said yes, then he told me that I need to sleep with him and I would enjoy it and he would change my attitude. He called me a whore and said he would pay me and what do I charge.
I stayed calm, told him that we were going to make a compaint about their harrassment. He said that he was going to make a harrasment complaint againg me because I'm rude.
I hung up. He called back - and wanted sex. I hung up. He called back - I picked up the phone, didn't say anything and eventually he hung up.

CCW called the phone company to report harrasment. They said they can't do anything - we should call the cops, but these people didn't threaten us - they were just obnoxious and rude and harrassing us. They obviously used false names, and they gave us several different company names.

We should just forget it and hope they don't call back, but they know the company name, address and phone number, and know the line of business we're in. In all my life, I have NEVER been spoken to the way this man spoke to me.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

Call the police anyway, because it's still harrassment even if they didn't threaten you. Does your phone system have caller ID?

[theworm[$]]

No. We tried *69 but it didn't work.
All I have is a bunch of fake names and BellSouth, the Yellow Pages, Netoptions.com, netoffers.com, netopus.com and the FBI - (well he said that he has connections to the FBI and was going to file a complaint about me for interupting him when he was doing his job)

[Vince]

I agree. Call the police. You may find that similar complaints have been lodged against these people by other companies/individuals.

[amykhar]

The cops may be able to do something. It sounds like a scam.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

All I have is a bunch of fake names

Doesn't matter. Call the police anyway and file a report. Maybe they can check phone records and/or set up some sort of phone monitoring. At the very least, you have it on record in case the problem persists or crops up again next week or month or whatever.

Do you have voicemail?

[taurusmoon]

Yep. Call the police.

I'm so sorry you had such a rotten experience.

[cristina1]

Definitely call the cops. It sounds like a scam.

How awful for you!

[Redlass]

Man, I'm sorry. I can only imagine how shaken you are.

I agree with what others said--call the police. If nothing else, he solicited sex with you and offered to pay for it. That's illegal in Florida, right? There's also the economic damage they are calling in keeping you and your office manager from being able to get your work done.

[theworm[$]]

I filed a complaint with the police. I have a case# so if they call back we can add to the complaint, but without really knowing who they are, there isn't much the police can do. We don't know the real name of the people or the company, and when I asked for his phone number is when he called me a B&tch.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

Wormie, do you have a voicemail system there? If so, I'd say let all calls go to voicemail for the next few days.

[theworm[$]]

All the calls come into one number and then bounces to 3 different phone lines. If we don't answer the boss would go balistic. He called when I was on the phone with the police. Said that if they call back say, "we've filed a report and the police are monitoring our calls, so keep talking, Pal" I really don't think they'll call again.

[pippadaisy[$]]

Wormie, I just fired off an email to my girlfriend who's a telcom goddess. Worked in the industry for centuries. It sounds like slamming (where they try to get you to switch your service to theirs) but I'm sure she'll have better ideas of what it is and how to get it to stop.

[theworm[$]]

It was definately slamming - when they transferred us to the "verification" office (the next desk) they spoke very quickly and gave a different company name. I tried to verify the name, but couldn't understand with their thick accents. Then they ask if you're authorized to change the phone system. When I kept saying know they said, "Yes, I know you can't make any decisions - you're just a manager. This is just to confirm you're 18". Yes, I'm 18, but no, I'm not authorized to make changes. I'm sure many many people fall for these scams. They are pretty good at what they do.

[jgibson2[$]]

The other thing you need to do is to make sure your phone service cannot be changed in ANY way unless it's done in writing.

Really. I've been told by business owners that these folks want you to say "yes" to any question. They record that one word, then cut and paste until you've agreed to change your long distance to theirs, or any other thing they care to "sell" you.

[theworm[$]]

scary.
I bet they screw up a lot of people with this nonsense.
They were so darned persistant in calling back every time we said no. Yikes!

[Joubert[$]]

Did the calls come in on an 800 line? They weren't that dumb, were they?

Edited to add: excuse me, a toll-free line. I'm old.

[mtomm[$]]

Gross and icky and at work!

[pippadaisy[$]]

Wormie... here is her response:

Hey - several things to do.
File a police complaint, which has been done.
File a complaint with the Phone Company and PUC, Public Utilities Commission for your state. They in turn should either request the phone company to trace the call via a subpeona. We deal with subpeona requests all of the time, in fact, have a separate department that does nothing but deal with these requests. They generally come to us from the FBI or PUC or municipial/state/federal agency.
She could call the FTC if someone is soliciting services or file a complaint with the FCC, if she's been harassed.
But to have the police say that they can't do anything unless you know who is calling is bullspit. The phone company can tell who is calling, even if Caller ID is not enabled on the customer's lines.

[theworm[$]]

Joubert said

Did the calls come in on an 800 line? They weren't that dumb, were they?

Edited to add: excuse me, a toll-free line. I'm old.

No idea where they came from. My phone doesn't have caller ID and *69 didn't work.

[slick4591[$]]

I had a call sort of like that yesterday. The Indian accented lady wanted me to confirm two domain names that I had. I told her they were no longer any good. She then wanted to know if I held any new domains. I told her that was none of her business. She was getting insistant and got very irritated when I told her I wasn't going to answer any of her questions. She hung up before I had a chance to. Don't really know what to think of it. But after reading your experience, wormie, I kinda wished she would have offered me sex.

[theworm[$]]

pippadaisy said

Wormie... here is her response:

Thanks, Pip.
Maybe we'll call back the phone company and give them the police report #.