Travel Agents Direct ripoff, attempts to obtain personal information; fraudulent billing Clearwater Florida
As I can see from others, I'm not the only person to have encountered this scenario.
I was called from a company - naming themselves Travel Agents Direct. The person that I spoke with was named "Kelly Heinzman" and was nice enough; however, there were inconsistencies with her information-gathering questions that immediately put me on the defensive.
When calling she said that my name was entered because of some bank dealings that I had with other vendors. She said that my bank name, routing number and account number had been given to her in some type of list and that my name had been "randomly" chosen to receive a free trip. She also said that I had $400 in free vouchers for this trip.
She then began asking me questions about my bank, bank routing number and account number.
Having worked for a bank in the mortgage industry for 12 years, I knew that she was attempting to ask questions that bankers would not ask. She asked me for the name of my bank and I told her. She asked me for the routing number and I told her that I didn't have my checks so I wasn't sure of the routing number.
It occurred to me that if my name, banking information and other things had been given to her along with other information from other vendors, she should have this information already and didn't need the information from me. So I gave her some incorrect information just to see if she had my information or to find out if this was an "information-finding" phone call.
Just so all of you know, the routing numbers of all banks are listed within a series of books that banking staff members have access to. All a person needs to determine the routing number of a bank (if they have these books) is the name of the bank. The listing for every bank in the world (and all of their out-lying branches) is printed annually and sold to banks for their processing department(s). Not only does it capture the bank name; but it also shows the address, phone number, routing number, financial numbers...etc.
With that being said, I didn't figure that she'd fall into the trap of giving her the wrong routing number so I gave her a 10-digit - rather than 13-digit account number - which she "verified" as being "accurate". I then knew that she was not being truthful with me. My bank doesn't even use 10-digit account numbers.
I made an excuse at that point to end the call and was told that someone would call me back to complete the information.
Philip
Columbia, South Carolina
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Joe
Here,Florida,
U.S.A.
This is the way they do it!
#2UPDATE EX-employee responds
Tue, July 25, 2006
To begin with Suntasia Marketing is located on 8751 Ulmerton Road, Largo, FL 33771 and their corporate website is www.Suntasia.com. Bryon Wolf is President and CEO, Michael Berndgen is the Chief Financial Officer and Roy Eliasson is the Vice President of Management Information Systems.
There are about 8 rooms total that hold about 24 agents in each. Six of those rooms are outbound (an automatic dialer that calls you), the other 2 rooms are for inbound calls (people who call in and are curious about who called them or maybe have a complaint). There is also one big room for customer service only, where they are suppose to handle the cancellations or any other concerns from customers like being billed without having the product in hand. Any phone numbers the agent gives you for their products they're selling(Travel Agents Direct, Floridaway, Prism Communications, Distinct Advantage, Freedom Gold etc), ALL lead to the same place, SUNTASIA MARKETING in Largo.
Your name, address and phone number are obtained through a third party company that they purchase it from. The third party company gets their information by the products you buy, or any other transactions you do that contains your personal information. They DO NOT and are NOT allowed to have or sell your SS#, DOB etc. Once the information is bought by companies like Suntasia, it is put into their dialer system to call you. The dialer clearly labels the list of names that are brand new leads and also how many times that specific list has been called. Unfortunately, this information is only seen by the manager of the room. He or she has access to it from the bridge (the big, high desk overseeing the agents when you enter the room).
Vericheck is a software system connecting them to all the banks nationwide that confirm whether you have an open checking account or not. Grocery stores, retail stores all use them to scan your checks to make sure your account is legit.
The only information the agent has on their computer at the time when they call is your name, address and telephone number. That's it. After they give you their mumbo jumbo script about how you qualified and the free gifts (gas, airline vouchers etc) you'll be receiving, they tell you it's a reward for maintaining an active checking and ONLY active checking account holders qualify. They ask you for your bank name and the city you opened it in. The reason is b/c they can obtain your routing number through what else? That's right Vericheck! It is only then that many are fooled to believe that the agent has your account number as well. The excuse the agent uses is, we need you to verify the number to make sure it's you, but when you call their bluff they either hang up or put a manager on the phone to push for the sale and get the account. Their tactics are slick even downright insulting.
They usually say that you made a purchase through one of their 400, 1000, 1700 affiliates (pick a number yourself) and that is how your name was entered into their system for this special promotion. ALL A BIG LIE! Like I said before, they bought the names and numbers from another company for anywhere from .20 cents to up to .60 cents per name. Oh and by the way this same information can be sold to another company by the people who bought them in the first place.
If you make them mad the agent can recycle your name back into the system. B9 is the code for DNC (Do Not Call List) on their system but unfortunately many times it is not used b/c they want to get back at you. The only way to get these people off your phone is by sending them a CEASE and DESIST letter to their corporate address. Donald Booth is their lawyer and the letter should be addressed to him. When they call again ask them for their FULL name and let them know they need to code your phone call as a B9, Do Not Call, after you hang up with them.
This company was raided by the feds a couple of years ago. They were there to look at what the agents were saying over the phone with their scripts. This is why management are suppose to watch the agents closely to make sure they are not using any other scripts but their own. Sadly some managers turn a blind eye when their top sellers re-word the script to their own liking. I have one of those scripts that are used.