Comment Calling company may be 2nd or 3rd party (Score 1) 614
I've been looking into (just a bit) the most annoying of the ones that gets to me -- the fake "CARD SERVICES" calls. These are the ones that robocall numbers, ignoring the donotcall lists, play the recording calling themselves "card services" and offer a lower rate. Pressing to be removed does no good. If you do hold or press to talk to an operator, if you try to ask for a supervisor, a company name, a call back number, or to be removed from the list, they hang up (often cursing at you first).
If you do play along, they will pre-screen you and eventually pass you on to some kind of debt consolidation company. I don't yet know if it's one company or a group of them, but I do know that the telemarketers are not employees of that company. I believe they get paid either based on the number of successful transfers, or more standard "lead generation" once they capture your information.
The problem with playing along to find out who is ultimately making the money from the scam, is that to get to that group of people requires you to turn over too much private information to be worth the risk.
The company which profits from this kind of activity should, IMCO, but subject to RICO forfeitures.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racketeer_Influenced_and_Corrupt_Organizations_Act
You have to go after whoever profits from the calls, and do it aggressively.