Scams have advanced almost as rapidly as technology, and thousands of Mississippians have been taken in, according to Northern District Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley.
Presley, who addressed the Columbus Rotary Club on Tuesday, said the state is working more than 3,000 complaints now about telemarketers.
“There are people getting taken in,” Presley, 33, told the crowd at the Columbus Country Club. “We don”t go a week without getting a call from someone who has been taken in.”
Lately, the so-called “Jamaican Lottery” calls have been the most prevalent, he said.
The calls, which are from Jamaica and outside the PSC”s jurisdiction, tell people they”ve won $3 million and just have to send $1,000 to collect, he said. The calls have targeted senior citizens.
“These thugs — and that”s what they are — have no respect,” he said. “It is ridiculous what they”re doing.”
Presley, who was elected to his position in November 2007 after serving seven years as the mayor of Nettleton, said people should contact the PSC if they receive questionable calls or if they”re on the no-call list.
The PSC, he continued, depends on the public to report privacy invasions and consumer issues.
“We have to have your help,” he told the crowd Tuesday. “There”s no way we can built a case without the public”s help.”
Along with the number of complaints, state action has increased also, he said. In the past three years, the state has taken more action than the national commission has in the past seven.
In one of the PSC”s recent major victories, the state fined telemarketer firm SVM Inc. $455,000 in the most punitive ruling in history against violators of the no-call law.
Although the state has yet to collect the money, and likely won”t, the ruling stopped the “invasive calls” from the company, Presley said.
Presley also spoke Tuesday of consumer protection, which he said is one of the most important missions of the PSC.
“Every day, we come back to consumer protection,” he said. “That”s the vein that runs through everything we do.”
Consumers could be protected better if the state passed stronger privacy laws, he said, but recent legislation to strengthen privacy laws in the state has been struck down due, in part, to phone company lobbyists.
REPORT A SCAM
· State Public Service Commission: www.psc.state.ms.us
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