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  • 15
    Jun
    2010
    9:00am, EDT

    Hear telemarketer browbeat consumer

    A caller who says he works for Third Tier Financial tries to persuade Jerry Trowbridge, a retired journalist and blogger, to enter his personal information on a website so he can collect $1,500 that he claims is being offered to taxpayers. During three calls lasting a total of 30 minutes, four different Third Tier representatives become increasingly insistent, with one telling Trowbridge at one point, "Don't ask unnecessary questions. We won't beg you to receive this money." Click to listen to one exchange between the caller and Trowbridge.

     

    "You are a regular taxpayer," the caller says, "that's why you are qualified to receive this $1,500. Are you interested in receiving $1,500?"

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Bob Sullivan, Columnist, NBC News

I'm a reporter for msnbc.com and I try to write stories that make the world a little bit more fair. My blog, The Red Tape Chronicles, is among the most popular consumer affairs columns on the Web. My recent book, Gotcha Capitalism, was a New York Times best seller. Since 1995, I've written about the troubles created for consumers by both technology, covering topics like privacy, identity theft, computer viruses and hackers.

Bob Sullivan, Columnist, NBC News Blogroll

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