PLDT E-happy TV scam

This is not beauty-related but I figured there aren't enough victims who speak up and take a stand. I am not actually a victim, but I could have been one if not for:

1. I once worked in sales and the reason I no longer is because companies are so gung-ho about making sales, they encourage their sales frontliners to employ deceptive means and this is something that doesn't sit well with my morals. Sell at all costs is the underlying motto of these companies. I wasn't victimized because I was once trained to victimize. I know all the tricks up their sleeves.
2. The caller wasn't convincing.
1. She was talking fast and was stumbling over her spiel, a well-trained scammer is a smooth talker
2. Talking fast is also a trick to overwhelm the victim with confusing information, and to discourage the overwhelmed victim from asking questions. Typical cheap trick from newbie scammers.
3. When I started playing along with her spiel, she relaxed and must have thought I have bitten the bait. I acted all stupid and spoke with such an innocent voice to encourage her further. I could have told her off right then, but it really was amusing to play with them players.
4. She mentioned: "Ma'am hindi po kayo nanalo sa promo ha, wala naman po kayong sinalihan na raffle, clarify ko lang po, anniversary gift po ito." (Ma'am just to clarify, you didn't win a promotion because you didn't join any raffle, you are just receiving a gift from us.) I found this hilarious, they must have been asked this question dozens of times already from smart suspecting "winners"

I think I know where they get the phone numbers from. I only pay our PLDT DSL bill at a local Cebuana Lhuillier. We never received cold callers. Also because we never use the phone! We never call and we never get called. Last month, I got too lazy to fall in line at Cebuana Lhuillier, and decided to pay it a Western Union stall, which had no customers. Either that particular Western Union was involved, or the employees there who handle phone line bills, or their system is hacked to retrieve phone numbers of possible victims in their locality. This needs to be investigated. But it's best that possible victims be educated.

If somebody ever cold calls you to inform you that

• you have won from a promo you don't remember joining
• you are receiving a gift because your phone number won a raffle
• your phone number qualifies to receive a gift from PLDT (or any phone/cable/internet service provider) for your subscription or for paying your bills on time

BE ALERT AND DO NOT GET CARRIED AWAY WITH THEIR SMOOTH/FAST TALKING

I know there are more sophisticated syndicates out there that train their scammers to employ hypnotism (or at least tricks similar to hypnotism that control the victim's mind in some way), and so being alert and trying to not get carried away are not always doable. So it pays to be suspicious and to be wary of ALL cold callers. If an offer is too good to be true, it always is.

If you are the kind, easily-swayed, happy-go-lucky type who's easily excited by the thought of winning and receiving gifts, DROP ANY SUSPICIOUS CALL ASAP. If it's an important call, the person will call you again. If it's a scammer, they will not call you again for fear of being caught.

If you are like me who find it sickly amusing to play with players lol, do like I did:

They called us on a weekday (not gonna get specific as they might pester us again if they find out my identity!) and as soon as I picked up, the talking went from a 30 kph greeting to a 120 kph salestalking.

The woman introduced herself as ANDREA BUSTAMANTE - they always use pretty generic names, ya know, names you'd pick for yourself if you'd be born all over again. They'll probably use aliases like PATRICIA, ANNA, MAXINE, AMANDA, to give an impression of prettiness (I've read countless studies that confirm that beautiful people are more trusted regardless if they're really trustworthy or not) plus a sosyal sounding last name like SY, LOPEZ, MONREAL, or ARANETA if they're that daring. I've searched the net, and from the comments to this post, these are other names they use:

NIKKI DELA CRUZ

ANGEL REYES
MAY REYES
HEART MENDEZ

ALEXA TAN

 MAUREEN CUSTODIO

Sosyal.

Sosyal and very fictitious-sounding.

Too bad her name didn't suit her voice and diction. There's a glaring disconnect. People with pretty names should sound pretty over the phone, too, don't they?

She went on babbling about how our landline number won. And to note that we didn't join any raffle, this is actually just an anniversary gift. A third year anniversary gift. More than year ago, in my parents' house, I picked up their globe landline phone, the one that comes with the internet bundle, and it's the same shit, only back then it was their third year anniversary gift too. 

I kept on prodding her, repeating to her what she just said, just to idk make her listen to her own lies. The call lasted for about 5 minutes as she went over and over her spiel, making sure I was hooked.

She didn't sound happy with what she's doing. But I guess that's how most people who are stuck in shitty jobs are. 

Like the phone call at my parent's number, the caller insisted urgency. The gift can only be claimed that day or the next or it will be forfeited. I had no intention to go, but my mom-in-law was sold on the promise that her PLDT landline number qualified for a gadget or a health product. I thought, okay I'd drop by Starmall and buy stuff at Watson's and have fun playing with the scammers.

I am not 100% sure if these people are under the same syndicate, but there are dozens other legit-seeming health and gadget sellers in malls that operate similarly. They usually rent stall spaces in malls, beside tiangges, cheap beauty product stalls, and herbal supplement shops. Their products are the same: EXTREMELY OVERPRICED MASSAGE CHAIRS, VIBRATING BELTS, EXERCISE MACHINES, HIGH-TECH COOKWARE, AND COPIES OF STUFF SOLD ON TV SHOPPING. There's one in Fisher Mall near the food court. I've seen a couple too in Divisoria malls, and low-end malls like Victory Mall and Starmall. I've seen one in Glorietta many years ago, back when they still had that space for tiange. Their sales frontliners talk the same way, and are very very eager to talk you senseless as soon as they find out you have a credit card.  

I told them I didn't have a credit card.

I also made sure I looked poor. (Chinelas always works!)

I also brought my child along so I'll have plenty of excuses to leave.

I came in their "redemption center" which they said is not related to the caller's company which they said is not related to PLDT. And two agents were already busy scamming a middle-aged man who they sat on a massage chair (P78,000 if you wish to buy, payable in terms since you have a credit card, you can turn it into business by having it rented by neighbors, blah blah blah) Middle-aged man was also being given a facial massage and being told how good looking he was.

A gay salesperson looked me up and down (Chinelas always works!) and knew that instant I won't be scammed - I didn't look like I have a credit card! I told him I left my code (I searched the net and other victims were given random alphanumeric codes too.) so we had to wait until my mom-in-law texted me the code for them to finally get rid of me.

They looked like they couldn't wait to get rid of me. I was mentally rofl-ing.

After 10 minutes of waiting, I was sat on a massage chair. His partner, another gay salesperson (they work in pairs! one is for presenting prizes, the other is for reacting "wow!" "grabe!") started asking probing questions. Phase II, I suppose. I was asked about where I work, I said I'm a housewife. They asked where my husband worked, I said he's a low-level employee. If I were naive, I'd have fallen for their tricks, but since I knew they were asking questions to gauge how much money I have, I started deliberatly telling them gravely disappointing stuff. They asked, "Buti ma'am hindi traffic? Ikaw nagdrive?" to see if I owned a car. By the time they've asked questions to gauge how much money my parents and in laws have, I have already killed their interest. lol

They asked where I used to work before settling down. Possibly to gauge if I have savings. I told them I once worked as a call center agent. Their eyes twinkled. I don't know about you, but where I now live, people's eyes twinkle when they hear I once worked as a call center agent. It's both weird and sad.

The twinkle in the partners' eyes was gone as soon as they remembered I was in chinelas. They asked what company I worked for. They asked where that was. They asked what account I used to be part of. Questions that were asked in a way that suggested they were doubting that I once was a call center agent. They had such high regard for call center agents and think they're what we, people from a higher strata, must think of bankers and CEOs.

My mom-in-law finally sends me the code and Gay Salesperson 1 goes into the boss's room to claim my prize. Which is basically a useless card:

Photo not mine. Found it on google. Past "winners" are actually reselling it! Ridiculous.

After about 10 minutes of being asked probing questions in the massage chair, I was finally released. And then Gay Salesperson 1 goes, wait, there's more, ala TV Shopping. He went to the boss's room and came back with three envelopes. He said inside were 2 thank yous and 1 prize (a gadget or a beauty product). I picked one which said thank you and I was ushered out. I think all three had thank yous in them.

Before I was let out, I was able to observe the middle-aged man they held hostage at the massage chair. He was smiling silly, like he just won a million dollars. The pair assigned to him (a girl and a female-looking gay) were making faces to each other. They pointed towards me and said, "Ayan sir, thank you lang nakuha nya, ikaw ang swerte swerte mo!"

As for the actual prize, I never bothered to visit the e-happy TV website. For all I know, aside from possibly victimizing me by convincing me to buy P78,000 worth of useless massage chairs and P65,000 cookware, they might also be involved in cybercrimes. I mean, that's not impossible considering how desperate they are to make money off of scamming people. And I'm sure they have scammed a lot of people already considering how much it costs to rent mall spaces and pay their salespeople and cold callers.

Here's a list of links to other people's experiences from getting scammed by Hilton / Greentop Marketing / Asia Network Development Corporation / Philippine Monitoring Company / Arysta / Homesonic :

http://abrilya.blogspot.com/2012/03/philippine-monitoring-companygreentop.html

https://astronaut82.wordpress.com/2010/10/01/free-gift-from-their-company-green-top-b/

http://tl.answers.com/Q/Ano_ang_dapat_gawin_kapag_nabiktima_ng_greentop_marketing

http://tl.answers.com/Q/Ano_ang_mga_opinion_tungkol_sa_Greentop_Marketing

http://lolamoeksenaqueen.tumblr.com/post/28611097475/babala-mag-ingat-sa-scam

I was once with a friend who fell prey for this but was lucky to have left her card in the province. The sales manager was willing to drive all the way to the province that very day (it was past 5 pm!) to get her card details. Unbelievable.

CONSIDER YOURSELVES WARNED.