Dodging no call list

CARTER HAYDU
The Moose Jaw Times Herald

Some telemarketers are avoiding Canada’s national “do not call” list by camouflaging the number that shows up on people’s call displays when these telemarketers call.

Michelle Englot, SaskTel spokeswoman, told the Times-Herald the province’s phone service provider received 10 complaints regarding one particular scam since Friday. The complainants come from across Saskatchewan and include people whose phone numbers are being used as a telemarketing cover.

“(Telemarketers) are calling people within Saskatchewan, spoofing other Saskatchewan numbers,” she said. SaskTel is working with Bell Canada (as the calls are coming through Ontario) to find and block the source of the calls.

The problem, according to Englot, is the source of the telemarketing calls is constantly switching. She said it could be originating from the Caribbean or the U.S.

Whoever is making the calls is using technology that usurps phone numbers from within Saskatchewan, so when the telemarketers call someone, the number shows up on the call display as a number from somewhere else within the province.

Englot said one telemarketing routine is to tell a person he or she won a free cruise, while another routine promotes reduced interest rates.

She added Sasktel is getting complaints from the people whose numbers are being used, because when the telemarketers leave messages on people’s phones, some of those people call the numbers on their call displays, inquiring about the cruises or other scam products.

SaskTel had recently informed the Moose Jaw Police Service of this problem.

The Moose Jaw Times Herald