Telemarketer calling with my mastercard number, offering free gift card?

Question

i keep getting these calls, all beginning the same way:

are you so-and-so? we would like to thank you for being a loyal mastercard user and offer you a free $25 gift card.

they then proceed to tell me my card will be charged a one-time fee for some trial membership, and so on.

i took the bait once, got my membership package to something i didn't need, cancelled it, read the fine print and found out i had to be a member for a certain amount of time to claim the free gift card. oh well. i should have known better.

ANYWAY. now, i try to decline everytime one of these people call -- i say they have the wrong number, etc. -- but some of them get pretty pushy. one called back and hung up on me several times.

i'm getting tired of this. i am on the do-not-call registry, and i know now not to put my phone number on any online forms, but how did this happen in the first place? who gave them my mastercard number and contact details? what can i do to stop these calls??

Answer 1

I am so sorry. It is such a pain when this happens. I just wrote an article about how to get off lists permanantly.

I really hope it helps you. Good Luck!

http://www.ehow.com/how_2267575_stop-tel...

Answer 2

usually you can call the telemarketing company or the company they are soliciting for and demand that you be on their no call list....you give consent to share your information so easily you are not aware like opening a bank account they ask you if you are fine with them marketing your information..it is an option ..in canada it is mandatory for bankers to ask this question and i know of some stores if you shop there theyshare you card number and info too....you have to out in some time to read those fine print ...this is something we might never be able to get rid of: telemarketing!