July 16, 2010 - Are you getting frequent calls from telemarketers requesting
your credit card statements and monthly totals?
We received a call from a
frustrated reader this morning who says she receives up to five calls a day. The callers (who she suspects are phoning from the U.S.) will ask her to send them her credit card statement — information you should never provide another company that you don't know or trust. Our reader has also received calls where the telemarketer has requested the total amount of credit card sales she does monthly at her shop. The telemarketer uses this total to determine what size of loan they can provide the retailer with. The money from the loan is then culled from the credit card transactions made each month — an illegal operation that no retailer should take part in.
At the end of March, the Retail Council of Canada released a merchant
alert warning retailers about these companies — you can read the alert here.
Our reader alerted us to these practices so we could pass the information along to other florists. She is also looking for ways to end the calls. Unfortunately, the telemarketers do not provide a phone number or contact information so there's nothing she can report to authorities.
Are you receiving these calls at your shops? Do you have a similar warning to share with other florists? Or tips to help put a stop to these calls? Share your strategies by commenting on our blog or emailing
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