Summary

Four out of five complaints by Americans of phone scams...involve Canadian firms...and there seems to be little the U.S. government...or for that matter...the Canadian government can do about it.

Source CONUS Archive
Record ID 160271
Story Slug CANADIAN PHONE SCAMMERS
Location St. Paul, Minnesota
Format Pkg
Date 5/8/1999
Archive Time 41:25
TRT 5:00
Supers St. Paul, Minnesota 00:49-00:50 Marilyn Buetow, Phone Scam Victim 02:15-02:23 Carolyn Ham, Mn. Assistant Attorney General North BAy, Ontario 03:21-03:31 Cathy, Phonebusters 03:52-04:10 Randy Meier, Reporting 04:10-04:15 Det Barry Elliott, Phonebusters
Video Description Canadian flag waving, beautiful Canadian landscape, Toronto Maple Leaf's hockey team celebrating on ice, Mounties marching, Mckenzie Brothers comedians, aerials of city, phone ringing and being picked up, graphics of complaints on Canadian scammers, Beutow walkshot, sot w/Beutow, Beutow reading newspaper adds, sot w/Beutow, graphics w/documents of scammer's deal, Beutow at table where she works as waitress, packages of money, graphics of scammer's techniques, tape recorder running, voicer of Canadian telemarketer badgering caller, sot w/Assistant Attorney General, surveillance video of scammers at work in their scam office, private company office for Phone Busters, workers at Phone Busters at work, sot w/Cathy, Phone Busters at work, file cabinet being opened by worker, reporter standup, sot w/detective, Phone Buster Cathy at work, sot w/Cathy on line with caller-victim, Beutow at work in restaurant, Beutow sitting in restaurant window reading newspaper, sot w/Beutow.
Description Four out of five complaints by Americans of phone scams...involve Canadian firms...and there seems to be little the U.S. government...or for that matter...the Canadian government can do about it.
Script LEAD: We've all experienced it. The phone rings and it's a telemarketer, usually trying to get you to buy something. (NATS) M ost are legitimate businesses. But a growing number are fraudulent telemarketers. They're trying to convince you to fall for their scam. The story is the same in Candada. But now, fraudulent telemarketers -from- Canada are dialing up a new group of potential victims. Minnesotans. And falling for their line can be an expensive mistake. Randy Meier reports. (Script) (NATS) Canada, our friendly, non-threatening neighbors to the north. Home of the maple leafs... (NATS) ....and the Maple Leafs. The Mounties... (NATS) .... and the McKenzie brothers. But the "great white north" also has a darker side. (NATS) Criminal telemarketers. (NATS) While telemarketing fraud is by no means exclusive to Canada, four out of five times an American complains about a loan scam it involves a -Candadian- company. (NATS) Marilyn Buetow knows first hand what it's like to be scammed by a Canadian crook. She had a tough time paying all her bills...and couldn't get a loan from a local bank. (SOT) That's when Marilyn spotted an ad in the newspaper for a -Canadian- loan company called "Liverpool Investments." (SOT) But there was a catch to this loan...Marilyn had to pay a 610-dollar processing fee -before- she could get it. The company convinced her the loan was a sure thing...despite some ominous small print on the forms saying the 'fee is no way guarnanteed the loan.' Desperate for money, she sent the advace fee. Marilyn never heard from them again. (NATS) Marilyn learned a costly lesson about Canadian telemarketing fraud...and she's not alone. Last year, Canadian -loan scams- which usually target young adults, cost victims an average of 920-dollars. the other big scam primarily targets the elderly. You've won a -prize in the lottery,' ... but first must pay Canadian tax on the winnings. Last year the average victim paid over 5300-dollars. And they're not always nice about trying to get it. Listen to this FBI tape of a Canadian telemarketer badgering an elderly woman who couldn't pay -the fake tax- on -fake winnings.- (SOT) (SOT) Another tactic fraudulent Canadian telemarketers use is to try to get you caught up in the excitement of being a winner. (SOT) This is FBI undercover video of fraudulent Canadian telemarketers, trying to convince Americans to send money. Once you give, your name is sold to others who'll try to scam you again and again....even promising to get the money you lost, back...for a fee. (NATS) This, may look like another Canadian boiler room...but it's actually "Phonebusters"...a task force in Nortyh Bay, ONtario, Canada...created specifically to target fraudulent Canadian telemarketers who victimize Americans. (SOT) Phonebusters gets 50-to-100 calls a day from Americans who've been swindled by fraudulent Canadian telemarketers. Their stories can be heart wrenching...and filled with the shame that comes with bieng tricked. Cathy's talked to hundred of victims. (SOT) The work here is rewarding...and at the same time frustrating. Phonebusters estimate for every fraudulent shop they shut down...five new ones open up. (SOT) Thse cabinets are filled with the case files of fraudulent Canadian telemarketers. The Canadian and American legal systems don't make fighting this crime easy. (Reporter Standup) (SOT) In the meantime... (SOT) Phonebusters answered six-thousand calls by loan scam victims just last year...including this caller from New York. (SOT) Marilyn will likely never see her 610-dollars again...her fraudulent Canadian telemarketer is still on the loose. (SOT) She now works a second job as a waitress to try to recoup her losses...and has learned a lesson from Phonebusters she'll never forget. (SOT) (TAG) If you think you've been victimized by a fraudulent telemarketer, call Phonebusters at: 1-888-495-8501. SWAT FEED-DATE: 99MAY18 SWAT
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