Security system scam moves across the U.S.
By SSN Staff
Updated Tue May 28, 2013
ESSEX, Mass.—A scam that plagued Arizona earlier in 2013 has crept east, according to an article from the Gloucester Times, a newspaper based in Gloucester, Mass.
At least one resident in Essex, Mass., received an unsolicited “robocall” claiming the local police department was encouraging residents to buy home security systems, and recommending an Arizona company to do the installation work, the article noted.
Suspicious, the resident reported the call to police, who found that the call was the product of caller-ID spoofing technology, which allows callers to use automated dialers to place hundreds of calls while disguising the original phone number.
Upon being called by police, the company named in the robocall, while a legitimate business, said it was not placing the phony calls. The company, according to an Essex detective's findings, had already filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission for such calls placed in Arizona, the article noted.
According to the Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona, the robocalls violate most, if not all, of the Do Not Call Registry provisions, as well as a 2009 federal law forbidding the use of robocall solicitations, according to the article.
Essex's detectives continue to investigate the calls, the report noted.
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