“Hey boss, I heard you are looking for online betting wanna bet and lose or take a high-interest loan and become the latest prey to a loan shark?”
Yeah, somehow we still get these messages every day. Does anyone actually respond to them? After all the loan shark compositions we were forced to write in primary school?
70K Complaints Made against Telemarketing in 20 Months
The Do Not Call Registry was first launched in 2014 for consumers who do not wish to receive telemarketing messages by calls, messages, or fax.
However, telemarketing efforts, often advertising dubious services like gambling and loans, persist to harass phone users, with more than 70,000 complaints lodged at the Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) in the past 20 months.
Channel NewsAsia explains that this is because such messages frequently originate from an overseas source, where the Singaporean law pertaining to the Do Not Call Registry does not apply.
Such numbers often add the “+65” prefix to mislead recipients into believing they originate from Singapore.
From 15 April, the Infocomm Media Development Authority has required that the “+” prefix be displayed in front of all overseas calls to help the public differentiate scam calls from abroad. Local calls will not have the prefix attached.
The law furthermore applies only to organisations engaging in large-scale marketing; personal messages, even if broadcast to recipients to promote a service, are not restricted by the Do Not Call Registry.
These messages have even taken to impersonate established organisations: in February, real estate agency PropNex was forced to publish a disclaimer cautioning customers after unsolicited messages surfaced bearing its name.
Steve Tan, Director of Rajah & Tann Technologies, advises the public that the best way to curb scam calls would be to lodge a complaint at the PDPC, since it has been granted all the necessary powers of enforcement within Singaporean borders.
However, experts caution that such illegitimate marketing messages cannot be fully eradicated without similar levels of enforcement in overseas jurisdictions, which may not see it a priority to take action.
So, if you get a scam call, just be ready to waste their time by pretending to be a Nigerian prince. Or shout a list of censored words into the phone if the call comes from China. They’ll hang up in no time.
Featured Image: Free_styler/ Shutterstock.com
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