NCJ Number
189999
Journal
Security Journal Volume: 14 Issue: 3 Dated: 2001 Pages: 7-26
Date Published
2001
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This article focused on the tactics and traits of persons who engage in telemarketing fraud. It examined the demographics and work style of those engaged in the trade of fraud and linked the findings to related theories, particularly white collar crime and confidence games.
Abstract
There are an estimated 140,000 telemarketing firms in the United States. These firms generate higher annual sales than magazines, yellow pages, radio, television, or direct-mail advertising. About 10 percent are believed to engage in fraudulent activities. Americans are said to lose about 40 billion dollars a year to the fraudulent organizations. A considerable amount of research exists that identifies victims and suggests ways to avoid falling prey to telemarketing scammers. However, little research attention was paid to the offenders engaged in these scams. This article used a variety of research tactics to reveal telemarketing scammers and the deceptions they employ. The article sought to locate the behavior within the typological family of criminal behavior. This article examined the investigation of the California Department of Corporations (DOC) on the telemarketing operations of two leading salesmen, known as the “two Daves.” Information was gathered from 162 salespersons that worked for 6 or more months from 1984 to mid-1991 for one of the two Daves’ oil and gas telemarketing schemes. The examination showed that the earnings to be made represented the primary driving force behind the work, yet, there appeared to be a considerable element of the “sneaky thrill” involved in outsmarting others. The salespersons in operations run by the two Daves did not comfortably fall under the traditional white-collar crime definitions, but they did come within the revisionist categorization of “crimes of the middle class.” Telescamming was seen as an inventive offshoot of legitimate enterprise, understood in terms of a capitalist social structure that encouraged the accumulation of money by any tactic, but imposed a penalty if the effort was illegal. The analysis showed little difference in the offense patterns of telemarketing salespersons in terms of age. Also, telescammers typically had unsavory records, but continued to be authorized by the State to engage in sales, often duplicating their earlier violations. This research showed new directions to be taken in the study of telemarketing scammers. One of these new directions looks at the rise in the use of the Internet and scammers’ techniques shifting to a new medium. In addition, the areas of prevention and the impact of these new schemes on victims suggest further research.