Annoying or not,the Historica Dominion is a real chartiy.I have donated a couple of times in the past because I like what they are doing.But yes,I also grow weary of telemarketers and people sociliting for donations.I give when I can.That's all.To that end,I bought an answering machine and calll display.I almost never answer if I don't know who is calling.Calls from the USA annoy me the most.I NEVER answer them.
Never give out money or info to anyone who calls you. This "historical research centre" sounds dangerous because it could be phishing for your personal info like your family tree (names, living or dead, etc.) that can be used to run the family emergency scam http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt111.pdf
After a shpeel that seemed to last anywhere from 5-10 minutes the woman suddenly gets to the point to ask me for a donation... of $200!!!! I was like "You're f@#$ing crazy if you think anyone's going to suddenly roll over and give you THAT sort of sum for a donation!" Then the lady proceeded to try to get something out of me from $100, to $50, to $25... persistent woman for sure. I had to end the call with at the rate she was going, I wouldn't give her the shirt off my back, she totally crossed the line.
I received this call this afternoon by who claimed to be the Historica Dominion Institute for the Memory Project, and it was from a 416-238-1249 number and doing a yellowpages search by phone number, the number is registered to a Joshua Lee at 60 Brian Harrison Way,Toronto ON, but calling the number it has the same automated message claiming to the the Historica Dominion etc. It's all too easy for fraudsters to tamper with phone lines and messaging services so I really highly doubt that the caller was from the Historica Dominion.
I would have been convinced that they probably were had they not asked me for $200 off the bat anyway, but that's too suspicious in my eyes. I've reported the number to Phone Busters and if any of you are as suspicious of some of these calls I would suggest having it looked into. It's really peculiar and you can't be too careful out there now since these fraud scams are becoming more frequent and easily developed. If any of you choose to go the Phone Busters route, their number is 1-888-495-8501 and their website is www.phonebusters.com.
I did some research and the Historica Dominion is a real charitable organization, but I'm convinced that they were not responsible for the phone call I received this afternoon. As I mentioned it's all too easy for fraudsters to tamper with phone lines and messaging services.
Just got a call from this number -- 8:29 at night -- told her she woke me up and I had to go to work at 11pm -- told her to not EVER call this number again, lol!! I work daytime shift, but felt like giving her grief.