Telemarketing scams to beware of

Telemarketers. Argh. I certainly don't envy their job, but I also don't enjoy getting telemarketing calls at 9 a.m. on Sunday mornings. Usually, a polite "I would prefer not to participate" sends them on their way (though one guy abruptly hung up on me once when I said that). However, there are two recent telemarketing scams Lower Mainlanders should watch out for.

The first one requests donations for children and adults with deafblindness. The Deafblind Services Society of BC announced that this is a scam as neither the Deafblind Services Society of BC nor the Canadian Deafblind and Rubella Association–BC Chapter ever conduct telemarketing.

Both, however, are registered Canadian charities and accept contributions. If you would like to support them, please visit their Web sites. There are 250 people in B.C. who are deafblind.

The second scam is one that has been around before. According to the Better Business Bureau of Mainland B.C. and Telus, an automated caller tells the person answering the phone that they have won a vacation and ask them to press the number 9 in order to accept it, or press number 8 to be removed from marketing lists.

If the call comes into a business that requires employees to dial 9 to use an outside line, pressing 9 can allow the caller to an outside line to make expensive overseas calls.

If the call is received at a residence and the number 9 is pressed, a telemarketer will come on the line and will try to obtain personal information for identity theft.

Pressing number 8 will confirm your phone number and, contrary to what they say, will make you susceptible to being added to marketing lists.

The BBB recommends hanging up right away. They also suggest visiting their Web site before making a purchase or donation.