# I'm getting bloody sick of Account Services!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-bloody-sick-of-account-services/628869>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [July 20, 2012, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-bloody-sick-of-account-services/628869 "2012-07-20T17:55:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 19\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-bloody-sick-of-account-services/628869/21 "2012-11-16T14:12:17Z")

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Who said anything about wishing death on anyone?

I only said he could Drop It And Flee. Or that a violent, deadly person might frighten him a bit.

😛

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**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-bloody-sick-of-account-services/628869/22 "2012-11-16T16:20:53Z")

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> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#):
>
> I like to tell these people, and also the fuckers that accost you as you’re walking along at the mall, that they should get a job that has more honesty and integrity, like prostitute or drug dealer.

At least prostitutes and drug dealers are providing something that somebody wants. Not like these fuckers.

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**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-bloody-sick-of-account-services/628869/23 "2012-11-16T16:29:14Z")

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Now I’m getting calls from some guy with a South Asian accent from “IT services” telling me they’ve detected unauthorized software that’s damaging my computer.

I tell him “Thanks for calling. I’ll certainly have that checked,” and hang up immediately.

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**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-bloody-sick-of-account-services/628869/24 "2012-11-16T16:34:53Z")

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Dumb question, but how do the people behind Account Services (or Card Services, which is what my caller ID usually says) make money? I’ve tried pressing 1 a couple of times to get a human being, and usually the call disconnected. So what’s the scam? It is just an attempt at getting people’s credit card numbers so they can run up fraudulent charges? If that’s the case, aren’t there much easier ways to steal credit card numbers?

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**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-bloody-sick-of-account-services/628869/25 "2012-11-17T03:23:59Z")

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The way I figure it, the people making those calls are actually souls in hell, and this is their punishment. I’m not sure what _we’re_ being punished for, though.

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**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-bloody-sick-of-account-services/628869/26 "2012-11-17T07:11:22Z")

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There’s another side to this. Why does the State of Florida allow these scumbags to operate? Methinks Florida state officials should be called into question why their consumer protection laws are so lax so as to allow this scum to operate for so long without stopping them. Don’t their own taxpayers suffer from the same twits?

When we were in Florida about a year ago, we got scammed by a restaurant owner (He claimed it was a “western style” prime rib. No, it was a cheap sirloin steak.) He didn’t give a shit, despite us and other patrons all complaining about it. (“Yeah, so sue me.”) At the time I looked into Florida consumer protection laws and not only found them full of crap, but anti-consumer. If I filed a consumer protection complaint and the state found it lacking, Florida has the right to sue me for wasting their time! WTF?

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**Author:** ![ptr2void](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ptr2void/32/3406_2.png) [@ptr2void](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ptr2void)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-bloody-sick-of-account-services/628869/27 "2012-11-17T11:54:12Z")

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> [@kunilou](#):
>
> Now I’m getting calls from some guy with a South Asian accent from “IT services” telling me they’ve detected unauthorized software that’s damaging my computer.
> 
> I tell him “Thanks for calling. I’ll certainly have that checked,” and hang up immediately.

[Scamming the Scammers](http://www.troyhunt.com/2012/02/scamming-scammers-catching-virus-call.html), a good read 🙂

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**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-bloody-sick-of-account-services/628869/28 "2012-11-17T12:51:00Z")

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> [@Dewey\_Finn](#):
>
> Dumb question, but how do the people behind Account Services (or Card Services, which is what my caller ID usually says) make money? I’ve tried pressing 1 a couple of times to get a human being, and usually the call disconnected. So what’s the scam? It is just an attempt at getting people’s credit card numbers so they can run up fraudulent charges? If that’s the case, aren’t there much easier ways to steal credit card numbers?

From the FTS notice about the complaints that they’ve filed linked above:

> [@](#):
>
> \*\*Rachel from Cardholder Services  
> \*\*  
> In the robocall cases announced today, the FTC alleges that the defendants place automated calls to consumers, typically with a prerecorded message from “Rachel” or someone else from “Cardholder Services.” The calls purport to have an “important message” regarding an opportunity to reduce high credit card interest rates. Consumers are urged to “press 1” to connect with a live representative, or “press 2” to discontinue getting such calls. Consumers who press 1 are connected to live telemarketers. Most consumers have no way to screen the calls using Caller ID, as the incoming number allegedly is often “spoofed,” or displayed as a false number. In many cases, the name displayed on the Caller ID is so generic, such as “Card Services,” that it provides little information about who is calling.
> 
> According to the FTC, consumers who reach a live telemarketer are then pitched allegedly deceptive offers to have their credit card interest rates substantially reduced, sometimes to as low as 6.9 or even zero percent. The telemarketers allegedly guarantee that lowering card interest rates will save the consumers thousands of dollars in finance charges in a short period of time and will allow them to pay off the balances more quickly. Some telemarketers allegedly claim that consumers will save at least $2,500 in finance charges and will be able to pay off their balances two to three times faster, without increasing their monthly payments.
> 
> In some cases, according to the FTC, the telemarketers claim to be calling from the consumer’s credit card company. In other cases, they use “Cardholder Services” to suggest a relationship with a bank or credit card company. If the consumer expresses an interest in the rate reduction offer, the telemarketer sometimes conducts a purported “audit” to determine whether the consumer qualifies. Consumers provide their financial and personal information, and are then put on hold while the “audit” is completed. According to the FTC, the “audit” typically is used only to determine whether consumers have enough credit available on their credit cards to pay the company’s fee.
> 
> After consumers have been “approved” for the program, according to the FTC, the telemarketer informs them that there is an up-front fee, typically ranging from several hundred dollars to nearly $3,000. To convince them to pay the fee, telemarketers often say that it will be more than offset by the money the consumer will save through the program. In some cases, the FTC alleges that consumers’ credit cards were charged even if they did not agree to pay for the service. In other cases, the defendants allegedly do not disclose a fee at all, or claim there will be no fee.
> 
> The companies allegedly often claim to have a no-risk guarantee, saying that if they don’t provide consumers with the promised rate reductions and finance charge savings, they will refund the fee. However, consumers who later complain to the companies find it difficult, if not impossible, to get their money back.
> 
> After consumers pay the up-front fee, the FTC alleges, they typically find that the companies do little or nothing to lower their credit card interest rates. The only thing that some companies do, according to the FTC, is to initiate three-way calls with consumers’ credit card issuers and orally request a rate reduction, a request that consumers could make on their own and that invariably is denied. In some cases, the companies may also apply in the consumer’s name for a new credit card with a low- or zero percent introductory interest rate. But according to the FTC, even if a new card is issued, the consumer is unlikely to see the promised savings, as the credit limits likely are low and the introductory rate often goes up after six or 12 months. Consumers often find that they cannot transfer their balances to these new cards.

(Note, extensive quoting is because this is a government communication that is not copyrighted)

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**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-bloody-sick-of-account-services/628869/29 "2012-11-17T12:53:55Z")

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> [@Duckster](#):
>
> There’s another side to this. Why does the State of Florida allow these scumbags to operate? Methinks Florida state officials should be called into question why their consumer protection laws are so lax so as to allow this scum to operate for so long without stopping them. Don’t their own taxpayers suffer from the same twits?

FL is a cesspool of scammers. I’d vote for trenching a big moat across the top of that state and setting them adrift. Just about every scam I’ve ever dealt with is headquartered in FL.

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**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-bloody-sick-of-account-services/628869/30 "2012-11-17T23:29:49Z")

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> [@kunilou](#):
>
> Now I’m getting calls from some guy with a South Asian accent from “IT services” telling me they’ve detected unauthorized software that’s damaging my computer.
> 
> I tell him “Thanks for calling. I’ll certainly have that checked,” and hang up immediately.

I say, “Really?! I don’t own a Windows computer and the Apple product I do own is off.” They hang up.

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**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2012, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-bloody-sick-of-account-services/628869/31 "2012-11-18T00:19:43Z")

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I have to confess that I’ve never had a call from them. I don’t have a landline because it was mostly used to profit telemarkerters. So far, my cell has been safe.

I probably shouldn’t have posted this, because I will now start getting calls ☹

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**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2012, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-bloody-sick-of-account-services/628869/32 "2012-11-18T00:45:36Z")

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> [@kunilou](#):
>
> Now I’m getting calls from some guy with a South Asian accent from “IT services” telling me they’ve detected unauthorized software that’s damaging my computer.
> 
> I tell him “Thanks for calling. I’ll certainly have that checked,” and hang up immediately.

> [@picunurse](#):
>
> I say, “Really?! I don’t own a Windows computer and the Apple product I do own is off.” They hang up.

I got a call from some guy with an Asian accent (not sure of anything more specific) who claimed that he was with Microsoft and they’d had a report about my computer being infected with viruses. As it happens, I WAS having a problem with at least one virus, and I was waiting for my husband to come home and take the computer to the shop, and it was possible that my husband had called in for tech support.

However, when the guy started phishing for info, my scam alert went off. It turns out that he was trying to reach the person who had previously had our phone number. Then he tried to convince me that my computer was somehow connected with the phone number. By this time I was sure that he was a scammer, and I was pissed off, and I wanted to waste as much of his time as possible. I kept asking him questions until he hung up in disgust.

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**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2012, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-bloody-sick-of-account-services/628869/33 "2012-11-18T01:51:55Z")

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OMG!!! did you try the “confused old lady” act, or the “I live in the basement and have no idea how I gets the interwebz” act?

I’m getting a little jealous here. I’ve got all of these vignettes ready in my mind and never have the option to use them.

Bill just looked over my shoulder and told me that I am too stoopid to have a comp and internet access. I’m now supposed to log off, get on my knees and pray to the TRON gods. Said praying should be done naked…

Is he taking advantage of my blondness?

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**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2012, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-bloody-sick-of-account-services/628869/34 "2012-11-18T06:21:57Z")

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> [@Duckster](#):
>
> There’s another side to this. Why does the State of Florida allow these scumbags to operate? Methinks Florida state officials should be called into question why their consumer protection laws are so lax so as to allow this scum to operate for so long without stopping them. Don’t their own taxpayers suffer from the same twits?

Don’t know about Florida, but some states have laws about things like this. Problem is, state laws can only regulate _in-state_ calls. They can’t regulate inter-state calls because that’s interstate commerce, and only the Fed can regulate that. (Which they kinda-sorta try to do, as with the FTC’s Do-Not-Call list, but they have difficulties.)

So even if Florida has such laws (I don’t know if that’s so), the point is: Phone scammers, if they’re calling from within the US to begin with, understand this. Thus, they do ALL their calling across state lines. E.g., a scammer in Florida will send calls to everywhere but Florida.

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**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2012, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-bloody-sick-of-account-services/628869/35 "2012-11-18T06:41:13Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> OMG!!! did you try the “confused old lady” act, or the “I live in the basement and have no idea how I gets the interwebz” act?

I just kept asking him questions…like who was supposed to be on the account, and what service we used, and the OS that was used, and which virus the computer was supposed to be infected with, etc. Stuff like that. Then I pulled out my trump card…I said that I had to do something (I forget what it was now) and that if he’d just give me a number to call, I swore that I’d call him back in half an hour.

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**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2012, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-bloody-sick-of-account-services/628869/36 "2012-11-18T07:14:56Z")

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I get downright abusive. Abusive and profane. Abusive, profane and obscene.

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**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2012, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-bloody-sick-of-account-services/628869/37 "2012-11-18T18:38:39Z")

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> [@LouisB](#):
>
> I get downright abusive. Abusive and profane. Abusive, profane and obscene.

Ah, yes, the three cornerstones of the Spanish Inquisition.

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**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-bloody-sick-of-account-services/628869/38 "2012-11-19T01:20:17Z")

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> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#):
>
> Ah, yes, the three cornerstones of the Spanish Inquisition.

Actually that was such diverse elements as surprise, fear, and an almost fanatical devotion to the pope.

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**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-bloody-sick-of-account-services/628869/39 "2012-11-19T05:01:14Z")

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Close enough. 🙂

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