The phone calls came from “Stacey with account holder services.” She prompted consumers to “press 1″ to get more information. Waiting on the other end was a live telemarketer who pitched worthless car warranty extensions or interest-reduction programs.
It was all bogus. And now it’s all over.
On Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission put a stop to Stacey and the major telemarketing operation behind her. Since January 2008, the Los Angeles-based operation carpet-bombed U.S. consumers with more than 2 billion illegal phone calls. In April 2009, the company made 2.4 million calls in one day alone–that is the equivalent of 27 calls per second–according to information a telephone service provider shared with the FTC.
