While the average smartphone user is making fewer phone calls than ever before, incoming telemarketing and scam calls continue to reach people in both business and personal settings. Canada has several departments, including the U.S.-Canadian agreement called the Centre of Operations Linked to Telemarketing Fraud (COLT), to help find and stop fraudulent telemarketers.
One such case that was finally shut down way back in 2006 has finally started to see some criminal consequences for those involved. This week, the third of a group of five deceptive telemarketers was sentenced to eight months of house arrest and eight more months of curfew for nine counts of fraud. The sentence also prohibits any telemarketing of any kind for 10 years.
The activities described in the case related to telemarketing office supplies and medical kits. The Competition Bureau’s investigation showed that the scheme included behavior such as implying an existing business relationship between telemarketer and caller that did not exist, falsely claiming that products they offered are required by law, and implying that calls were made on behalf of a government agency.
There are still two members of the operation who have not yet been sentenced, after charges were initially laid back in 2012. All defendants in this case have been charged with at least nine counts of fraud or deceptive telemarketing.
[source]Government of Canada[/source]
