INFOWORLD GRIPE LINE BY ED FOSTER Bookmark this page

  
Replying To:
Similar deceptive ads on the phone (none / 0) (#3)
by Anonymous User on Wed Mar 26, 2008 at 02:24:27 PM PDT

I've been getting similarly scammy spam phone calls lately, perhaps one a week. Someone phones when I'm not around and leaves a recorded message on my voice-mail that says that it's my "final notice" to lower my interest rates.

I don't have any kind of credit card, mortgage, or other sort of loan at this time, so I don't have any preexisting account with interest rates I'd want to lower that might have a problem such as a past-due invoice.

As near as I can tell, it's actually an attempt to sell me a credit card disguised as an urgent notice of an account in arrears. Phoning the number left in the messages, which I haven't done, would probably lead directly to a hard sales pitch. :P

This kind of shenanigan should be regarded as deceptive advertising, IMO. So should television ads that use distinctive sounds like various stations' news-update fanfares, little guitar twangs like Seinfeld uses during scene transitions, and other such "salience indicators" to trick viewers into thinking that the show has come back on or that something else interesting, like a news announcement, is forthcoming.



Post Comment

You are not logged in. If you don't have a user account yet, by all means go make one! If you do have one, you can post as "yourself" by filling in your nickname and password below. Otherwise, your comment will be posted as Anonymous User.

Create Account
Nickname:
Password:

Post Comment: Post your comment below and then please answer the security question. I apologize for the inconvenience, but it does help deter spammers. -- Ed Foster
Subject:
Comment:

To post your comment, please answer the following security question:
 Which of the following is one of the United States?
Minnesota, Quince, Mazda, Guava, Yellow, Red
Allowed HTML: <A [HREF] [NAME]> <DT> <TT></TT> <OL></OL> <CITE></CITE> <CODE></CODE> <I></I> <UL></UL> <BR> <STRONG></STRONG> <BLOCKQUOTE [TYPE]></BLOCKQUOTE> <DD> <EM></EM> <P> <B></B> <LI> <DL></DL>
Menu
· create account
· faq
· search

Login
Make a new account
Username:
Password:

 HOME  NEWS  COLUMNS  BLOGS  PODCASTS  TECHNOLOGIES  TEST CENTER  EVENTS  CAREERS  IT EXEC-CONNECT   About Awards Contact Us 

Copyright © 2006, Reprints, Permissions, Licensing, IDG Network, Privacy Policy.
All Rights reserved. InfoWorld is a leading publisher of technology information and product reviews on topics including viruses,
phishing, worms, firewalls, security, servers, storage, networking, wireless, databases, and web services.

 ComputerWorld :: LinuxWorld :: Network World :: CIO :: PC World :: Darwin :: CMO :: CSO
IT Careers :: JavaWorld :: Macworld :: Mac Central :: Playlist :: GamePro :: GameStar :: Gamerhelp
ITWorld Canada :: Computerwoche :: Techworld UK :: tecChannel :: IDG.se :: IDG.no :: IDG.pl

create account | faq | search