Meet Christopher, James, Damian, and Maureen. They are allegedly behind the three companies responsible for 3 billion robocalls.
From Fox News:
Meet the main players behind the alleged scheme:
- Christopher D. Cowart, 47, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., owns Transcontinental Warranty, a Delaware company based in Fort Lauderdale. A graduate of Southeastern Louisiana University, Cowart likes to read, travel and play golf in his spare time. He also maintains a Facebook page and uses a LinkedIn profile to advertise his latest business ventures.
- James A. Dunne, 36, of Daytona Beach, Fla., owns Florida-based Voice Touch with his wife, Maureen. Dunne has a checkered legal past, including charges of filing a false report of a bomb that landed him six months in jail in 1991. He was most recently arrested in 2001 for indecent exposure, but those charges were later dismissed.
- Maureen E. Dunne, nee Maureen Geisen, is James Dunne's wife. Little information can be found pertaining to her.
- Damian P. Kohlfeld, 35, of Valparaiso, Ind., is the owner of Network Foundations, which is based in Chicago. Kohlfeld allegedly supplied the technical know-how for the alleged telemarketing scheme employed by all three companies. The Arizona State University graduate has more than a decade of experience writing software and building computer networks. His latest hit, according to the FTC, was a "spoofing" device that tricked caller ID systems.
They've all denied wrongdoing, but the FTC seems fairly certain that they've got the right people. FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz says consumers have already started to notice that the calls have stopped.
"I have never seen an issue that resonated so much," Leibowitz told FOXNews.com. "When I was at my daughter's soccer game, people came up to me and said, 'Thank you so much for stopping these guys.' It resonates because this is all about protecting Americans' privacy."
Have you gotten any car warranty robocalls lately?
Behind a Massive Robocall Scam, Four Human Faces [Fox News] (Thanks, Justin!)
(Photo:betaart.com)
Not having a land line is a good start, but the other secret I have is... be poor! No one wants to call you when they figure out you don't have money :)
I actually had a telemarketer hang up on me when I told them how much I made once.
]]>Add film producer to Damian P. Kohlfeld's credits:
[www.screendoorfilms.com]
CREDITS
Directed by John Versical
Written by John Versical and Bryan Carmody (take note of Mr. Carmody you'll see him below)
Executive Producers Christie Carmody, John Versical, and Bryan Carmody
Produced by Albert Grychowski and Damian Kohlfeld (her is our Network Foundations guy)
Director of Photography Kimmer Olesak
Production Designer Merje Veski
Original score by Bryan Carmody (pretty involved)
Title theme by Dustin O'Halloran
Edited by David Lynch (is it really that "David Lynch"?)
A related site to screen door films is:
[www.screendoorlights.com] which lists Bryan Carmody's contact PHONE NUMBER!!!oops
And why do you care about Mr. Carmody?
Brian Carmody is also listed via Spoke.com as:
[www.spoke.com]
Bryan Carmody
Director of Business Development at Network Foundations Llc
2440 Sw 56th Avenue
Hollywood, FL 33023-4017
And on Linkedin he downgraded his Network Foundations experience:
[www.linkedin.com]
Network Foundations, LLC - Chicago, IL
Independent Sales Consultant - November 2005 - March 2008
And guess who Mr. Kohlfeld has as coworkers?
[www.spoke.com]
Damian Kohlfeld
Partner at Network Foundations Llc
2440 Sw 56th Avenue
Hollywood, FL 33023-4017
CoworkersJoin to view all (8)
Catherine Dennis
V.P., Sales and O...
Albert Grychowski
Partner
Bryan Carmody
Director of Business...
Another of Kohlfelds prior companies:
[www.spoke.com]
Damian Kohlfeld
Director of Systems at Anobi Technology Corporation
601 South La Salle Street 333
Chicago, IL 60605-1725
Anobi also shows up on Carmody's Linkedin profile.
What if I said that when the Kohlfeld robo call story broke last month that someone found out the above info? Wouldn't it have been funny if someone called Mr. Carmody's phone number and offered the voicemail a car warranty? Sure would have been funny...
]]>@rpm773: @rpm773: Yeah, theres one out on TV right now that has a famous NASCAR driver on it.
]]>It is possible the tow company sold my number ... or that the number was recycled from a previous owner ... I just reported what happened to me.
]]>I never use it to call anyone.
The first time I had ever used that phone, or even turn it on after activation and loading minutes, was to call AAA.
Draw your own conclusions.
]]>@kbarrett: I've got family members who have gotten these calls. In Canada. None of them are even CAA members, and at least one does not and never has owned a car.
]]>We do have AT&T calling on our landline somewhere around once a week (the worst was twice a day for awhile) trying to get us to switch. The weird thing is the landline isn't supposed to work. We never signed up for service (we use our cellphones), and the crappy phone that is in our apartment was placed there by the landlord, since it originally was supposed to ring when someone buzzed the front door of the building (that doesn't work whatsoever). I don't know who is paying our service since we still get a dialtone, but it sure isn't us.
]]>Found out this company is behind it, and they were already cited for breaking the law in 2004:
Family Care Inc.
a/k/a Family Health
11111 Richmond Ave, Suite 200
Houston, Texas 77082-6602
Toll Free: 1-800-323-4057
Another direct number is:
281-567-9499
And a guy named Dylan is at extension 2027, should you wish to have a conversation with him :-)
I suggest complaining to the FCC as well.
]]>StopPoliticalCalls.org is fighting for the privacy of the American voter.
1 - Creating a Political Do Not Call Registry
2 - Testifying in the US Senate about robo calls (Sen. Feinstein's Robocall Privacy Act)
3 - Forcing states to enforce existing robo call laws (CA, MN, NJ, etc..)
4 - Getting politicians to take a do not robo call pledge (7 have)
Here is a quote from a member recently:
"I'm a shift worker, working variable shifts. I depend on my sleep to be able to do my job safely and efficiently. I'm a locomotive engineer. Imagine the disaster were I to fall asleep, operating a freight train carrying hazardous materials in your neighborhood, due to fatigue from being awoken in my middle of the night on a continuous basis during election season. Please stop.."
Learn more.
Shaun Dakin
CEO
[www.stoppoliticalcalls.org]
A non-profit fighting for the privacy of the American voter
Anyone getting these?
]]>Always the same thing, "second notice," and all that jazz even when it was the fourth or fifth time they've called.
Yeah, I'm looking to extend the warranty on my '96 Accord EX with nearly 215,000 miles on it. I'm also the third owner of the vehicle.
I'd just like to know which jagoff sold them my phone number.
]]>My point is that *most* people don't need both - YMMV, of course.
]]>I still get them at work; mostly from the credit card debt people. I don't even know if they are targeting a specific person; I hang up the second I get them.
]]>No option to call someone, no one picked up. It made me want to stop answering my phone at work.
]]>English, though.
]]>the company sounded intentionally generic: "Heath Services Inc", which when googled, just comes up with distributor of various hospital supplies, and is probably not the company that made the call.
]]>Those car warranty calls I used to get have dropped off precipitously.
Yeah, it's technically incorrect. Wanna fight about it?
]]>I just got a call from Dan the carpet cleaner. For the first 5 times they didn't even spoo fa complete phone number, just 9 digits with area code.
]]>No more warranty or credit card calls though.
]]>@rpm773: companies probably thinking of any way they can increase margins, considering the economy.
]]>@GuinevereRucker: Same here. I've never had a landline, just my cell.
]]>@vladthepaler: Me too. Emma Thompson is who the automated voice constantly asks for. If I'm Emma Thompson, I should press 1 for an important message. These calls come into my voicemail on a phone that's always turned off (ported the number to a cell phone to save $$ over maintaining a separate office landline until I can notify clients of the change to cell-only).
Today I received a new message on that cell from "Rebecca" with an outfit promising "unlimited, unlimited, unlimited income" as an E-Associate of theirs.
So I went to the site she gave on the message and it says "Learn the Secret That's Keeping Cell Phone Companies Up At Night & How You Can Make Money From It". I guess the secret is the answer to "Who are these %#@& robo-callers?"
]]>Now that I think about it I haven't gotten any of those calls for nearly a week, but I suspect that could be due to being in areas with poor cell phone reception.
]]>No robocalls from auto warranty companies for me for a while now. Thank god. But I got a call from a similar credit card debt reduction company. They offered to get my APR reduced on all major credit cards. It was automated with a menu, 1) to speak to someone, and 2) remove from the list. So I hit 2, let's see if I get another call.
]]>i've never gotten a robocall about a car warranty.
]]>/rimshot
]]>*sigh*
]]>You could always direct them to an address of a person you don't like...
]]>@I Love New Jersey: I got it.
]]>car warranties stopped a few weeks ago
we still get calls for:
Health Insurance
Credit Card Rate Reductions
Mortage Rate Reductions
NCO financial (collections company)
and
Men calling wanting to make an appointment for a "massage"
Why the massage?
When I got TWC digital cable, I got the phone with the package. They gave me the phone number that once belonged to this hooker -> [www.news-herald.com]
Needless to say, the voicemail box is still full.
]]>Mine have stopped within the last month actually... It's nice b/ they got my work desk # some how and I would always get calls on a daily basis..
]]>(Let's just say I'm skeptical, same for the comment in the Wired article.)
]]>I got mine within ten minutes of giving the AAA operator the number of a trac-fone cell that I kept in the glovebox for emergencies only.
]]>However, anyone wanting to mess with 786-347-6129 or 443-345-1636 (which conveniently started calling me with the same pitch once I told the first number to remove me), you will have my eternal gratitude.
]]>@mtarget: Im with you on this one, 2-3 times a day easily. I think the worst I had it was 11 calls from the same number in sequence in the same day, then they tried 2 different ones. I have been saved from this telephone hell known as robo-callers and I for one am grateful!
]]>I haven't gotten the car warranty calls lately, but I've received several robo calls at work trying to sell credit card debt "reduction" services. (FWIW, my work number is a US government number that is unpublished. Alas no, I'm no secret agent or anything, just a data center grunt but its unpublished anyway.)
Everytime I pressed "one" to speak to a representative and tell them to tell me more about them and thier company in a remotely authoritative voice, they hang up immediately, the cowards. (Last caller ID number was 214-221-9430....apparently according to google, I'm far from the only one getting calls with this seemingly spoofed ANI.)
]]>I just got a call today that has a google record of selling auto insurance, except this time it was offering me life insurance. o_0
Still have it recorded on my voicemail.
I'm just saying.... I believe in the philosophy of take and recv...
]]>"We were told that it was co-registration data," Cowart told FOXNews.com. "We gave him a test and he delivered. We had no reason not to believe what was said.""
Riiiiiiiight. You had no clue that the numbers transferred to you might be folks who were on the DNC list or were cell phone numbers (a no-no in itself with regard to robocalls)... but yet your employees wouldn't tell the prospective customer the name of the company they worked for, other than to say things like "Warranty Services". Yep, totally innocent.
]]>I have the deep urge to look up their home phone numbers and start dialing them 1000 times a day! :-)
]]>It's not just about the calls people! These people are scammers! My dad was a victim! The car "warranty" they sell is a bottle of cheap engine oil and a list of stipulations so thick, the warranty is useless. Luckily before my dad opened the bottle he came to me for help when he realized that he'd paid hundreds of dollars for a bottle of oil. I was able to get his money back...but I'm still traumatized from the hassle.
]]>Well, actually the really funny part is that I didn't receive it. A party line for the IT dept. here at work received it. Where do I work? A Hospital. I think i'm convered on the health insurance front, thanks.
So... I really hope someone didn't take inspiration from these jackasses and decide to start selling health insurance the same way.
]]>Yes, I have gotten some robocalls, just yesterday. I'm not sure what they were trying to sell me, as they were speaking in spanish.
]]>I've actually never been robocalled by car warranty companies or anything. All the calls I've gotten are from companies I do business with, and it's usually relevant!
]]>