IBA - the notorioius $200 million-a-year telemarketing scam

[Colonel Panic]

There's a company based in Buffalo Grove, IL called "IBA" or "IPA."

It's a huge telemarketing scam that generates over $200,000,000 annually. They telemarket to small mom & pop companies all around the US, posing as a variety of different types of organizations seeking to do legitimate business. Then, when they get the company's owner on the phone to consent to an appointment with them, they send in a series of high-pressure salesmen to coerce the owner into signing contracts making him liable for tens of thousands of dollars in fees for "consulting." In the end, the poor small business owner is left with basically a 3-ring binder full of handouts from 1st-year business school classes and an exhorbitant bill he's contractually obligated to pay.

Inc Magazine had them in their list of top 500 privately-owned companies way back in 1998, and they received such a deluge of angry letters from scammed business owners that they did an investigative follow-up report, an entertaining piece of journalism which is published on their website here.

This John Burgess guy's a real piece of work!

There's a whole slew of reports from former employees and business owners who got taken by this scam at www.ripoffreport.com here.

I think it's funny that this guy took "IBA" as the name for his business. I wonder if he's a Phonelosers fan...

[z09]

Has anyone heard of ICC

[rbcp]

Has anyone heard of ICC

Is it anything like OCC, where nothing is possible?

[z09]

Is it anything like OCC, where nothing is possible?

No, we get calls everyday by somebody who shows up on the caller id as ICC telephone number 702-553-0596 , they have our credit card numbers, names, address, ss #, and they all got that by Social Engeneering my clueless parents.  They try to fool me everyday asking for weird information.  Has anybody had this experience.

[rbcp]

When I first moved here I was getting telemarketing calls from some 702 numbers.  There were 2 or 3 different numbers showing up on the caller ID and they were calling every evening.  I ended up Googling the numbers and there were quite a few people asking about them on message boards. 

I finally answered one of the calls and I forget what the lady was trying to sell me, but she claimed to be a local Albany representative.  But she pronounced Albany very wrong so I asked her how long she'd lived here and why hadn't anyone taught her how to pronounce the name of the city correctly.  I said she must feel like a fool, now knowing that she's been walking around Albany and pronouncing it wrong everywhere.

I think that may have been my last call from 702.  I don't remember if I asked to be taken off their list or not.  But definitely no new calls from them lately.

[z09]

Yeah, I googled the numbers and nothing came up.  I called them back and got some weird automated thing.  I think the numbers were spoofed.  702 is Nevada by the way.

[ljc]

If they've got your or your parents (or anyone in your family's SS numbers for that matter), you should call the credit bureaus and place a fraud report on your credit if you haven't done already. Who knows what they would do with your SS# if they actually have it.

But telemarketers are on my favorite list of things to do. I love to mess with them.

[Colonel Panic]

Yeah, I thought people in OC are smarter than that!

[rbcp]

WWSD?

(What would Summer do?)

[z09]

Yeah, we got differnet credit card numbers now but the same lady keeps calling me up asking for it.

The lady originally called my mom saying she was from Visa.  She did the standard, "Our systems just had a glitch and we need your information.".  And of cource my mom bought into that.  The lady asked if there was anyone else in her family that had a Visa and of cource she was like "Oh, my son has one want his number?" Then she looked though bills and got my credit card number and gave the lady my number thinking she was saving me a phone call.  She told me about it when I came back from a trip and I was like,"You idiot.  I call and get a new number.  It turns out that they only spent about $50.00 total.  Now they keep calling back posing as differnet things trying to get the new number.   They are also calling from 727-541-0001.

[ljc]

Tell them you'll call the number on the back of your card and give them the information.