No more calls!

Well, it seems like what I did worked as planned. So if you find yourself on this website because you are being telemarketed by the company I posted or by others, do the following steps.

1. Pretend to be interested, specially if it's a robocall.
2. Tell them a false name and false address for them to ship whatever they want to send.
3. After shipping, they will call you from their real numbers DESPERATELY (expect 20 calls a day).
4. Write down their real numbers and report them to:

• http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0108-national-do-not-call-registry
• https://www.fldnc.com/ (if from Florida, which 4ULIFE is located in)

5. Block all their real numbers so they can't reach you

By doing the steps I mentioned, your number will go from a list of numbers they telemarket using spoofed numbers regularly to a "customer" database. Therefore, your number will not be dialed randomly anymore. Instead, your number will be dialed by their salespeople who are trying to push the product and later collect your money. But since they will lose $50-100 in shipping fees to send you the "winning package", you will most likely just get calls to threaten you, etc. But since they do not have your real name, nor address, they are just wasting their time. They will say they have your number, but it's not good to them anymore since you will block them. Obviously, if they are stupid enough, they will send your number to the dialers again but they are looking to lose more money by doing that :)

Hope this helps people who are constantly annoyed by these scam artists. Scam the scammer!

Reporting Telemarketing and Mail Fraud

I did some research on the internet to see what alternatives I had besides the FTC's do not call registry report and found this very useful link to report scams.

http://www.stopfraud.gov/report.html

Also, since in the case of 4ULIFE they are claiming to be collecting a "tax" on behalf of the state and using Fedex to send packages. I am thinking this could be reported to the Postal Inspectors as well, but I am going to call tomorrow and find out. If you are a victim of fraud, that involved postal services in any shape or form, be sure to contact the USPS Inspector in your area.

https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/contactUs/filecomplaint.aspx

Using Spoofed Numbers to Telemarket

Now that I have blocked the real numbers from the 4ULife telemarketing company in Florida, they have resorted to call me using spoofed number. This crime is punishable by law and it is just a matter of time before someone gets to them to put the ones responsible in prison.

http://www.fcc.gov/guides/caller-id-and-spoofing

Additionally, I reported them to US Customs and Border protection since I suspect the people making these calls are not here legally. I told the telemarketer I had filed a report and she said she didn't care.. so we'll see. If anyone else would like to report them, here is the link.

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/735/~/reporting-illegal-activity

4ULIFE Called me 28 times today!

Per my post yesterday, I pretended to be interested in 4ULIFE's offer of a free English language course and $2,500 that I "won". So they went ahead and sent a Fedex package COD, expecting to collect $129 in a Money Order made to 4ULIFE. I gave them the wrong address and a fake name and as you can see, their system took me off their robocall system that used spoofing to avoid being detected and now my number is in their "customer" database. The numbers that called me today are their real numbers and these are:

954-800-4324
954-800-4325
954-800-4326
954-800-4327
305-908-1685
305-704-9058

If you looks at the screen capture from the calls I did not answer on my phone, you can see there are 22 times they called me just on this screen. In total, they called me 28 times but I can't even fit the entire history on my phone screen. The reason for their call was to make sure I had a money order ready for the Fedex COD shipment. Towards the end of the day, I called them and spoke to them to extract more information so I can file a very detailed complaint to the FTC. I will be posting the address they told me and a recording of their threats for everyone to hear.

I am not sure what country the owner of that operation is from but it seems like they don't understand the legal consequences of using caller id spoofing and harassment to defraud the public. Below is a statement from the FCC:

FCC Rules

• Prohibit any person or entity from transmitting misleading or inaccurate caller ID information with the intent to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value.
• Subject violators to a penalty of up to $10,000 for each violation of the rules.
• Exempt authorized activities by law enforcement agencies and situations where courts have authorized caller ID manipulation to occur.

http://www.fcc.gov/guides/caller-id-and-spoofing

These people must have spoofed their calls to me to scam me at least 100 times in the last couple of months. So I could technically sue them for $1,000,000! LOL.. And I would totally sue if I knew I was going to collect, but I highly doubt an individual can make them pay. This is why I am hoping the FTC will come down on them, forfeit their assets, and maybe them a class action lawsuit can be filed to collect damages. 

Telemarketing Scam - Calls from 954-800-4324 and 954-800-4325

I have resorted to publishing a blog on this particular entity because I haven't been able to stop them from telemarketing me. My number is on the National No Call Registry (http://www.donotcall.gov), but this company simply doesn't care.

This company is different from other telemarketers in the sense that they target only Spanish speaking people, they are searching for the most vulnerable to pull their scam on them. Fortunately, I speak Spanish very well so I went along with their pitch the last time they called me after being hung up on several times after telling them my number was on the Do Not Call List. What makes their technical operation particularly irritating is that they resort to spoofing their caller id, meaning they use someone else's number to appear on your caller id. So if you call the number back, you get the actual owner of the number but not them. However, I was able to extract the main number they answer by pretending to fall for their scam. The number is 954-800-4324.

Operation

They basically tell people they have won $2,500 dollars and an English Language course by Don Francisco from Univision (a popular celebrity in the Spanish speaking community in America).  They say that everything one has "won" is free but a State Tax is due and has to be paid by way of money order when they send their welcome package. In my case, they said they would send it thru FedEx and instructed me to write the money order to 4ULIFE, which I assume is a fly by night company set up to collect money and run before dealing with Litigation.

How to Fight Them
 
The first thing I did was to report them to the FTC at https://complaints.donotcall.gov/complaint. But since I am dealing with scammers who do ignore the Do Not Call Registry and are out to rob the vulnerable, what I did was give them a false name and address for them to ship their package. By doing this, this company incurs a cost of about $50. In addition, I noticed that my fake name was inputted into their database since when I called back, they were able to identify me by the fake name I gave them. So their robocall system will not dial my number in the future since it will assume I am a customer already. If anything, they might call to harass me but I noticed they use their main line 954-800-4324 for official calls, so I can block that on my phone. Theoretically, they could use one of their ghost numbers but I think those numbers are being used by their robocall system exclusively and like I said earlier, that system should have me in its "do not call list".

Additional Ways to Fight Them

If you are in Florida, it would be very easy to sue them since one is entitled to $1,500 per call violation once your number is in the do not call list. You call take them to small claims and most likely win, the problem however will be collecting. I think the ultimate entity to come down on them and put them in prison is the Federal Trade Commision.

Additional Information

This is the information I have found on the web on this company, in case you are in a position to sue them.

Florida Limited Liability Company
4ULIFE, LLC.
Filing Information
Document Number
L14000090604
FEI/EIN Number
NONE

Date Filed
06/05/2014

State
FL

Status
ACTIVE

Effective Date
06/05/2014

Principal Address
8601 NW 27TH STREET
SUITE 051-513489
DORAL, FL 33122

Mailing Address
8601 NW 27TH STREET
SUITE 051-513489
DORAL, FL 33122

Registered Agent Name & Address
GARCIA, MARIA A
5112 NW 79TH AVENUE
APT. 305
DORAL, FL 33166

Authorized Person(s) Detail
Name & Address

Title MGRM
GARCIA, MARIA A
5112 NW 79TH AVENUE. APT. 305
DORAL, FL 33166

Serve Maria Garcia at her 5112 NW 79th Ave address.  She is the registered agent and MUST accept service of process (the documents you serve someone when you are suing them).

Article on similar operation, which makes me wonder if its the same people?

http://www.news4jax.com/news/victim-of-telemarketing-scam-shares-story/25396716