Daily BrewCRTC powerless to stop international telemarketers from harassing Canadians
Unwanted telemarketing calls can be obnoxious and frustrating, especially for those who have signed onto Canada’s Do Not Call List, but they remain a reality.
And it doesn’t look like they are going away any time soon, according to a report that suggests the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is powerless to stop foreign telemarketers.
A new investigation by CBC Marketplace found that overseas telemarketing companies continue to harass Canadians who have signed on to the federal do-not-call list.
As part of the investigation, the network took hidden cameras into a Pakistan call centre and caught managers telling employees not to worry about the DNC list while trying to sell duct cleaning services.
[ Related: Offshore telemarketers defy Canada's do-not-call list ]
According to the report, the Pakistan call centre also masked their location, and instructed employees to tell their targets they were calling from Ontario.
CBC says that as many as 20 duct-cleaning call services are set up in Karachi, Pakistan, all of them calling Canadians. The one targeted in the CBC investigation used a process called “spoofing,” which hides the actual location and phone number of the caller.
A CRTC enforcement chief told CBC:
The problem … is that it's very difficult to detect who those people are and find out where they're calling from. If we can’t find them, we can’t act.
The CRTC launched its Do Not Call list in 2008 to crack down on unwanted telemarketers, but its powers are rather limited outside Canada.
In October, two telemarketing outfits in India were sued by the CRTC for making unsolicited calls to the Do Not Call List. The success gave hope that foreign callers could be stopped. But they have to be caught first.
The issue of spoofing is a current focus of the International Do Not Call Network, of which Canada is a member.
If telemarketers can be caught, often there are steps victims can take.
Last year, a UK man successfully sued a telemarketer in small-claims court after warning he would begin charging them for his time. But that was a local telemarketer.
[ Related: Liberals, NDP call for legislation to loosen cellphone contract restrictions ]
If they can't be tracked, perhaps the best course of action is for victims to mess with them.
This video of a child holding a conversation with a frustrated telemarketer should give victims some inspiration.
