bizarre phone call from "The Franklin Mint"

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

Last night about 8:00 or so, I got a very odd call on my cell phone. Pretty sure it was a large-scale telemarketing operation, machine-dialed: I had to say hello a few times before the caller finally noticed I was on the line and responded. He claimed to be from the Franklin Mint, and started off by saying that someone had recently called them from this (my) phone number, and they were calling back to follow up. I said they must be mistaken, I hadn't called the Franklin Mint at any time. He actually said their records weren't mistaken, which kinda floored me.

 

I suggested that perhaps he had misdialed, thinking maybe someone with a similar phone # had called them. He said he didn't dial the number, it's automatically dialed for him (confirming that, yes, it was prolly a big operation, not just some lone-dude in his mom's basement). I asked him what the number was that he had called. He didn't answer directly, and went off on some tangent, suggesting that perhaps I had recently seen one of their infomercials...and that's about when I hung up.

 

I don't recall whether he ever actually stated my name or not.

If not, I guess that would suggest the number might have been dialed at random (or in sequence...). According to callerID, the caller's number was:

 

610-884-4398

 

Which is odd to begin with, because it's not an 800 number. I Googled it this morning and got nothing useful. Then I Googled "Franklin Mint phone fraud," and got this interesting item. Same area code, different number, similar weird Franklin Mint BS.

 

Anyone here had a call like this?

[David]

Caller ID numbers can be spoofed, too, and frequently they'll use a number that is not toll-free to make it more likely that you'll answer it.

 

The reason he went into the nonsense about you calling them originally is to protect their asses when they get turned into the FCC.

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

Caller ID numbers can be spoofed, too, and frequently they'll use a number that is not toll-free to make it more likely that you'll answer it.

 

The reason he went into the nonsense about you calling them originally is to protect their asses when they get turned into the FCC.

 

Does the Franklin Mint have a reputation for doing this kind of stuff, or was I talking to a boiler-room scam artist who was hoping to swindle some confused old lady out of her nest egg?

[David]

I'm not sure about that. Sometimes, desperate companies hire telemarketing firms (usually from Canada) and then "wink wink" about their methods. In turn, the telemarketing firms give the company hiring them deniable plausability, as they say.

 

That's one reason I have a land line--I can use software to block all that stuff.

[SANTA]

I'm not sure about that. Sometimes, desperate companies hire telemarketing firms (usually from Canada) ...

 

David; your making us canadians all sound like scam artists... and i detest them just as much as you do except i get calls from all over the globe...

[David]

I have nothing against Canadians--I'll be there in a few days--but the truth is that a lot of the telemarketing nonsense does originate there.

[WURTY]

Hoser's

[steveknapp]

NO WAY EH! YOU NEED TO TALK TO MY BROTHER, EH!

[questrider]

Hey, Mitch, just tell them to "Take off, eh!"

 

[chrisolson]

Rough crowd ....

[beemerboy]

I bought a Franklin Mint model car back in '93 and was then hounded with phone calls and junk mail for the next three years. Based on that experience I'd never buy anything from them again. Oh, one more thing, they sold my contact info to the world.

 

Never, ever, ever again.

 

Never.

[ESokoloff]

I had to say hello a few times before the caller finally noticed I was on the line and responded.

 

In the days before Do Not Call lists & caller ID I learned to hang up if I did not get an immediate response after I said Hello.

[Pilgrim]

I like to engage 'em, say "No, thanks," then when they persist I gently set the phone down and let them talk to the air.

 

Pilgrim

[NoHeat]

"FCC regulations prohibit telemarketers from using automated dialers to call cell phone numbers."

 

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt107.shtm