They call my office an average of 3 times a month - they called back-to-back days this week.

I have the same system every time. I ask them their physical address so I can process the call. To their credit, they always have one handy.. likely because they're looking at a call down list... so I google map the random address they give me and ask them when they moved into the (fill in the blank) building I'm looking at on google maps.

Most of the time - it turns out to be a vacant land or burned down building... sometimes it's a strip club or today was my favorite... when they gave me the address of my SECOND JOB.  I said "I work there, that's (fill in the blank company)" and they said "Yeah, we're in a different suite than you"... I reminded them that there are no suites at that job and they hung up.

just recieved a call from the State of Texas Business Development Office, from a woman with an Indian accent.  I asked her who this was calling again, and she said the Texas State Business D.O.  I then asked her for her web address, wanting to get a .gov and of course she ignored my question.  She became flustered, then repeated that she was from the State B.D.O.  I again asked who she was and for her www.  address, she continues talking over me asking if we are still at 123456 ABC St. or if we are planning on moving.  I told her we were an apartment complex, so that wasn't very likely, and again demanded her web address or contact information - no answer.  crickets.  I asked again, and nothing.  They hung up.  DO NOT TAKE THESE CALLS AND DO  NOT GIVE THEM YOUR INFORMATION.

I'll give Jen Collins your regards if you give James a hello from the woman he just called back to call her an uneducated b****. ;) I really hate these people.

It'd been about a month since the last time. Normally, I put them on hold then pick it back up and say please hold and let them sit a little longer and repeat until they hang up. However, today I was busy so I just hung up. The guy "James" (please give him my regards) called me back to call me an uneducated b**** and hung up. I'm in Seattle, WA so I called my counterpart in Portland, OR and she'd been getting the calls today too. I hate these guys!!

I just had another one (they call daily) and I hung up. He called back immediately and called me an "uneducated b****". Funny coming from a harassing telemarketer. haha!

I have received several calls from this number identifying themselves as the "Ontario Business Office".  When I ask any questions they immediately hang up.  They have called several times int he past few months.  Scam.  No real business would refuse to give out any information and hang up on the person they just contacted?!  

Before I was even able to send this comment they contacted me again with a different name!?  Wowza!  I asked the woman how she sleeps at night and she was speechless.

Like your style. I will convey your greetings to "Jen Collins" should their computer dial us up again to waste our time.

Second call in two days from "State of Washington Business Development Office" asking if our Company had relocated. Trudy called yesterday. Judy called today. I asked for Judy's phone number and she would not give it to me. I told both callers I would not answer questions because the State of WA does not do business like this. My caller ID showed "private" when both calls came in. This is definitely a scam! :(

please block parties from my carrier. Thank u.

I'm located in Toronto. I get these phone calls at least once a month. Each caller has had a Filipino accent.
They always say they are from the "Ontario Business Development Office, followed by "Are you still looking for an office space or have you already moved?"

Once again I told them to stop calling, take us off their list, etc. to which the guy responded:
"How old are you?".
I said "Excuse me? That's none of your business."
He said "I need to know to verify."
So I told him I was 5 years old, and hung up.

SCAM!

On the "Caller" section I didn't read the description and put my own company by mistake.  I include this only so no one will call Foss Maritime which is a legit company and does not call random companys about moving, instead we drive tugboats and barges.

Got a similar call to all the rest here, except in Washington State.

Our company had moved in the past year, so it sounded semi-legit at first.  Typically the call comes from a woman with an asian accent, but has also come from others without an accent.

The last time this occured I got a name: Jen Collins.  When I asked to speak to a supervisor, she hung up.

Please feel free if any of you get calls to try to mess with this person.  Next time they call your company ask to speak to Jen Collins, tell her I said, "Hi"

When they ask about your company moving simply reply with, "Aren't we all moving, if you really think about it.  This world is so transient. We are all moving all the time, transitioning from one phase to another, over and over in an endless circle..."

For a good sport see how long you can keep them on the line with this kind of hippy dippy nonsense.

Found out who is behind all of these calls.  His real name is Robert Ellis Belcher, but he uses several aliases, including Richard Zamboni.

See this post of his: http://www.mcaforums.com/sales-leads/60580-fr ... ting-leads.html

Mr Belcher's phone numbers, just in case you would like to call him and let him know what you think:

Home: (713)777-7889
Business: (713) 776-8060
Cell: (832) 368-4880

THIRD CALL TODAY, next line on our telephone bank;
9/19/12  800-247-4047 - Pennsylvania Business Development Call....
1.   She doesn't speak English well.
2.   She asked to I own, rent and am I still looking for a new location?
         I asked what does that have to do with developing my business.
3.   Says she is located in the town of Pennsylvania ... Dead give away she
         is not an American
4.   When I said she is not making any sense, she just hung up
     and called back again.

Don't Give them any information and ask to be removed from their
calling list.

9/19/12  800-247-4047 - Pennsylvania Business Development Call....
1.   She doesn't speak English well.
2.   She asked to I own, rent and am I still looking for a new location?
         I asked what does that have to do with developing my business.
3.   Says she is located in the town of Pennsylvania ... Dead give away she
         is not an American
4.   When I said she is not making any sense, she just hung up
     and called back again.

Don't Give them any information and ask to be removed from their
calling list.

Amazing aren't they? I never answer questions unless I can verify via Internet that this is legit. I usually begin by looking up the name of who they say they are and end the search with the word "scam." Inevitably, it will come up as a for-sure scam.

that's why I'm giving them a bit of their own medicine.

Good luck next time, cos you know there will be a next time!

Just got a call. Asked what city she was calling from. She said Milton, Washington. Suppose, though, she'd be calling from Olympia where our govt agencies are located, right? Then I'm typing on the computer and saying to her "washington ... state ... department ... of ... business ... " CLICK She hangs up. Can't wait 'til I hear from her again ...

My routine: Put 'em on hold, then pick up the line and say "This is Peggy" in a thick, non-definable accent. Put them on hold, pick it up and sat "this is Peggy" again. "Transferring!" then pick it up again. Have fun with it. Thanks to the credit card commercial that gave me this idea.

I've gotten this call before but I was stupid enough to answer some of their questions in the past...I just received 3 calls in a row from 999-222-8808 and I was lucky enough to look them up and got this page.  The first time it was a lady calling from the "Washington Business Development Office" she had a heavy accent and something didn't feel right.  She asked questions about our office moving anytime soon and in the middle of it, I asked if I could get the right info and call her back...she wouldn't give me her contact info of course.  She just kept on asking the same questions over and over again.  The first time I didn't finish their questions, instead I told them that I had already verified all my info with them several times and I asked them to delete us from their call list and I hung up.  She called back and acted like we didn't just talk, maybe she thought the call would get routed to another person?  Hmmm, anyways I just said NO THANK YOU, PLEASE REMOVE US FROM YOUR LIST! and hung up.  The THIRD call was from yet a different lady and she just kept talking over me as I explained that we didn't want to receive further calls from them!  They are UNBELIEVABLY persistent so DO NOT GIVE IN!  And the other people on here are right, NEVER say "Yes" or "No" to ANY of their questions.  In fact, it's best if you just don't answer their questions.  You can sing a song, you can curse, you can just ask them to repeat what they said over and over again to piss them off but never give them the satisfaction.  These people are scumbags and deserve a slow and painful death.

state of Massachusetts economic development office. MAJOR scam.  If you ask them any questions they hang up.

So I answer the calls here at work.

I like asking questions like where are you located? One lady told me 5th avenue - i said that she was in NY not Toronto and she hung up lol. Other times times I just keep asking silly about their company. They always hangup when they run out of answers.

Today she asked whether or not we were moving so I said we dont give out that info. She said dont worry I wont tell anyone!! After she repeated the question 3 times she said F-U!!

I admit messing with these guys is fun but its starting to get annoying.

The company (or companies) who engage in these calls are now disguising their phone number. They now show up as "000000" in my caller id.

The gist of the call is always the same. They pretend to be a government agency, in whatever region or state that the target phone number lives in. In my case, they posed as the "Washington State Business Authority". (No such office exists, if you trust Google.) And they are calling to ask if we have found a new location for our office. I always explain that we have been in a long term lease and aren't looking for a new office. Of course, then they will start asking when our lease expires, presumably so they can update their records. Still not sure what exact service they are trying to provide, but it's definitely fishy because they are lying about who they are.

The thing is, I suspect that we get on these call lists because lease records aren't private documents. We started getting these calls a couple years ago when we were about to renew our lease. At that time, I was getting at least a call a day from companies like the one in this thread. Now, I only get these calls every couple of months.

Today, I managed to get the caller to cough up a fake url before she terminated the phone call. So yeah, they are definitely misrepresenting themselves, probably for the purpose of scamming businesses somehow.

Got a call this morning from someone identifying themselves as Chris from the State of Texas Business Development office.  Our caller ID identified the phone number as 1-800-247-4047. A lady with a heavy accent asked if we were "still planning to move".  When I tried to question her, she demanded to speak to someone.  When I refused to transfer her call without further information, i.e. her phone number, she said, "I going to come out there and talk to your manager and then we fire you, ok?"  When I dialed the phone number, a recording came on saying the number was disconnected and no further info was available.  Perhaps the company issuing the phone number is aware of the of the scam, thereby condoning the company's actions.  And yes, Chris, to answer your question I AM JUST THE RECEPTIONIST.

We got harrassed by 2 people from this number for over 3 hours today. A male who had an Indain accent and a female with an asian accent. I hung up on them when they started calling which really made him mad. He kept calling me everytime! I told him to stop calling he told me he was going to call back everytime! He then claimed to be from the BBB and wouldnt tell us what he wanted. This went on for over an hour. Then they called once saying they were the San Diego Police Dept calling us!!! He got one of his co workers to call too, a female and they began saying sexually explicit things. At one point he told us we were all going to die and there was a bomb in our office. I called the police. Of course they never called while the police were here. Then later the calls started up again and his accomplice, the female asked me if the pizza came and I said no and she said wait for it. Sure enough, a pizza and cab came within the hour!!! These people are absolutley CRAZY!!! they are still calling on and off saying dirty things. We were able to get this 800 number from the can company but oddly the number now says its been disconnected. Who are these people?? why cant we trace it!!!!????

Got this same call saying they were from Pennsylvania business something or other. Background noise, heavy accents. Hung up. They proceeded to call me back three more times and then leave a voicemail with a bunch of static.

Caller says they work for the Economic Development Department for the State of California.  I refused to answer their questions.  She said I was required and I don't have the right to refuse.  She called several times trying to get another person to answer the line.

The woman called saying she is calling from the state of NJ Business Bureau. I asked why she wanted to know if we were moving. She said they are conducting a survey for the state. I said it makes no sense and that there is not need for the state for such information as on moving every business files the change form with the correct authorities.
She continues with some bull crap for 3-4 mins and then asks to talk to someone else in my business. I told her to send me an email requesting the information. She told me that if you are a legitimate business you would give me this information. The she got all snippy and told me that I will regret it and that my business will be listed as and illegitimate business and they will shut me down in 5 days! When I had asked moved from where to where she had not idea of anything.
I think if you made inquiries about office space with any company maybe they have someone on it. When I call the number back its been disconnected. Stupid con artists.

Received a telephone call today from 1-800-247-4047 and they claimed to be from "Alberta Business Development Office". She was asking questions like, "When will you be moving your business?" and then repeated my old business name. I told her that I changed my business name and location already... and I asked her, why are you asking these questions? Is this a questionaire? She refused to answer and kept on asking me, "When will you relocate your business in the near future?" And I told her, "I just moved here... why would I move?" and she asked, "When will you move? Are you staying there?" And I said, "Well if the economy tanks, i'll close my business. Why are you asking? Who is this?". In the middle of the telephone call I put her on speaker phone and then when my husband said something, she promptly hung up. It's a scam, I'm sure of it.

Just got the same call ie  are you still planning on moving? Stupidly, said 'no'. Same as others, I asked who they were and when I pressed they hung up. My guess is it's a list company 'verifying' that a business exists (they don't care if you move or not), then they will 'sell' it to other telemarketers with this 'verified' list. hope I'm wrong, because then we'll be in for a slew of unwanted calls.

Wish I had just hung up :-(

If anyone knows the origin of these calls please let me know. I suspect it's the same place I get area code 210 calls from...

We received a call from 1-800-249-2782 and asked if we are planning to move or stay in our office. The caller identify herself calling from Ontario Economic Development Office. I asked if it is NGO or The Government of Ontario and her response was from the Government of Ontario. I told her lease issue is between the landlord and the corporation and it is none of the government's business and asked why she is calling and where is her office located-she hung up! We called our business phone line provider to register a complaint of the call and to avoid if any charges are being added to our phone bill for "service" they may claim they provide, as per the Attorney General of Oregon's alert of April, 2011 about the same phone number calling business!

These people have called our office several times in the past. Mary called today and when I told her that I have done some research on the internet and this was a scam. I advised her not to call our office again and I hung up. She called FOUR more times. I wish someone would do something about these jerks.