got a call from the "state of colorado business development office" they asked to verify our business address, and when i declined and inquired as to the purpose of their call they had a blanked response of just repeating the question.  when i said i'm not authorized to comment, they asked when we'd be moving and also replied with i'm not authorized to comment.  then they proceeded to ask how long it will be until we move so I hung up.  

Same deal. Completely Bogus.  I asked if she was with a State Government Agency and she said "Absolutely".  Complete lies.

8880104321 State of Oregon Business Development office, FYI.. That does not exist.. Scammer alert.. I called the state AG and they said they know, they can't do anything because it's a company that calls from Canada.

I get these calls at my place of business regularly. I have repeatedly asked them to take us off of their list - that we are, in fact, NOT looking for space - etc. I've just started hanging up on them. I don't know what else to do, It is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO annoying. She states she is with the Oregon Business Development office. I figured if this were any type of legitimate government office, they would not make these calls repeatedly. I'm guessing 50 calls a year for the last three years. ugh!

I get these calls EVERY WEEK, sometimes twice a day. Usually the same women with a thick accent saying she is from the "Oregon Business Development Office" and asking if we have found a location to move. Every single time she calls I ask to be taken off their list, and then she simply hangs up on me! It's driving me crazy. Does anyone know how to make this madness stop?

Want to call this guy back and return the favor?

2 More phone numbers for this guy, both from this post of his:

http://www.mcaforums.com/sales-leads/60580-fr ... ting-leads.html

(713) 776-8060 or cell (832) 368-4880

Got tired of phone calls from this guy, so I did some research and found the owner's real name and real phone number.

His real name is ROBERT ELLIS BELCHER, but he uses "Robert W Zamboni" as an alias.

If you would like to return his favor, and call him at home, the phone number is 713-777-7889.

His Company, as filed with the Texas Secretary of State is "TBDC, Inc".   The listed address for the company is:

7811 CLAREWOOD DR,
HOUSTON, TX  77036

His Alias:
Name
Robert W Zamboni
Age
52
Date of Birth
10/27/1960
Phone Number
713-777-7889

A post from Mr Belcher: http://www.mcaforums.com/sales-leads/16100-le ... d-ca-leads.html

I receive several calls from this number - about 1 a week. Clearly a scam. First they said they were with the IL Business Development Office (No such dept. exists) and they wanted to know if we are still planning to move. After I asked for the IL office supervisor's name and where this office is located - Springfield,IL or Chicago,IL the caller hung up. On the next call, I told him that it was a felony to impersonate a state official, that I would call the IL State police and the he would go to jail. He called back the following week with the same story.
The same caller from the same number has changed his scam. Now they claim to be doing some sort of free design for office furniture or office space layout or something.
Recently, I have been hanging-up as soon as I detect the caller's voice as the familiar scammer. Currently, I starting looking for their caller ID and no longer accept calls from this number.
It seems that they are working for some commercial real estate database company trying to identify prospects for actual US-based real estate agents to call at a later time. Don't know for sure - just a guess. Though, this scam is highly annoying and a huge waste of my time.
Can't someone put these guys in prison for a few years. Make a highly visible example case of one of these guys. If we could find Osama Bin Laden and snatch him we can probably find these guys. I wonder what it costs US industry to deal with this type of nonsense.
Can't the US extradite these guys or at least can't the phone companies block these obvious scam calls.  It is all very disappointing.

Here's why they are calling.

SCAM ALERT: SCAM TELEMARKETERS TARGETING OREGON BUSINESSES

April 13, 2011

In recent days the Oregon Department of Justice has received numerous complaints about a phone scam targeting Oregon businesses. The fake telemarketers pose as state employees calling from Business Oregon, the Oregon Business Development Department, or similar name variations of the state's lead economic development agency. The callers inquire whether the business has moved recently and the size of their workforce. Oregon Attorney General John Kroger and Business Oregon warn businesses not to respond to these fake phone calls.

Based on the complaints received to date, the scam telemarketers are calling from: 1-800-247-4047. If your business receives a call from 1-800-247-4047 do not answer and inquire with your phone company about how to block receiving calls from this number.

Oregon businesses are not the sole target of this telemarketing scam, rather, similar calls have been made to Washington, Minnesota, California, Colorado and Canadian businesses. In each instance, the fake telemarketers tell businesses they are with the state economic development office and ask for moving and employee information. In several cases, when a business has responded to the questions asked, new monthly charges appeared on the business' phone bill. Oregon Department of Justice investigators are looking into this scam right now, but one theory is that the callers are trying to "cram" new services onto the business' phone bill. "Cramming" has been around since the deregulation of the telephone industry and happens when a company adds a charge to a phone bill for a service that was never requested, agreed to, or used.

If your business received a call from the fake telemarketers and your business answered any questions both Attorney General Kroger and Business Oregon recommend contacting your phone service provider immediately to prevent erroneous charges from being added to your phone bill.

I just received a call for this very woman, with a thick accent. She said she was with the State of Florida Business Development office, and identified herself as Crystal. I repeated what she said, amd she hung up. Funny thing, today is a Federal holiday, "Memorial Day" Nothing Federal, State or Local is open today, right down to the banks and schools. Beware, this is a scam of sorts, not sure of what but it is.

Yes, I received this call as  well, the heavily accented woman said she was from the Department of Economics and that her office was in Minneapolis (all state offices in MN are in St. Paul!) and I gleefully said, "Wow, THIS scam call, I haven't heard from you guys in a while, how do you feel about working for a company that tries to scam people."  I countered her every attempt just for fun, she swore at me, insulted me, and after I hung up, she called back 7 times, once telling me I was "satan's mistress" - seriously!  What is their end game, what do they try to acquire?  I can't figure out what it is that they try to get from this call.

I have no idea who they are but they call weekly. I've asked to speak to a supervisor, and they either hang up, or transfer me, then hang up. Once they left the mic live while talking to a manager. I gather they aren't happy to have anyone look behind the curtain at the Great and Powerful Oz.

Much like others here, we have been receiving calls almost daily from these people for the last year or two.
I had asked several of their agents to remove us from their list and they said they would do so. Or when I confront them with "You people call here constantly and I've told you before that we are not moving nor do we have any intention to move, please remove us" they act dumb with "Oh, really? That must have been another company. Not us."

Even on occasions when I feel like humoring them they continue to push it with "Well how about next year? Or the year after that?"  or "Do you plan on opening an additional branch?" Frustrating..

They asked me if I found a new location, I answered Yes, because yes or no is correct answer in my case and they hung up.Very weird!

SAME AS ALL THE OTHER COMPLAINTS.

Well today after a call everyday for a week, I refused to put them through to who the lovely man asked for. And he called me a Dirty W***e and told me he killed people like me and then ate them.  He called back 15-20 more times, and we let it go to voice mail. Thank god for caller ID.  When you try to call the number back it won't go through.  I was shocked by the comment, but more bothered that I can't call him back !!!!!!!!!

These guys call every other day "from the state of California business development"
have you found a new building yet?

We tell them we are not looking and they continue to call

If I could find a number for them I would rig up an auto dialer to call them every 5 mins for the next week.

Same spiel, also Minnesota.  Told them to take us off their list and never call us again.  She said "I don't want to talk to you!" and hung up.  Called right back and hung up again.

I got a call from a lady claiming to be Erica Jones from the State of Minnesota Business development center:  (it sounded like a foreign call center and the lady had an indian accent)

She asked me if my business had found a new location yet or not.  
She said the State of Minnesota was conducting it's anual survey of businesses and wanted to know this information.I asked her if she was with the State of Minnesota and she said "Yes."  I told her we weren't planning on moving and she hung up.

The same lady called back within 1 min.  Same speach but she hessitated on which state to say.  I started talking to her again and she realized it was the same person again and she hung up on me.

I reported the call by dialing *57 on my phone.  Fraud Call, they said the number was sucessfully traced and I got charged $1.  Well worth it.  Too bad I didn't dial it quicker and get them twice. (you can only report the last call)

I just got a call from a guy (i think it was a guy) from this number with a very thick accent. I assumed it was a "google search engine" call and i hung up. 2 seconds later the phone rang again, same number (we have caller id) i answered and same voice said "F*** YOU". and of course i couldnt call the number back.

Same, Caller indentifies themselves as "State Of Florida"

Same thing as above.

Except I'm in California

Have been getting a few calls from them through out the month, its really weird. If it is a scam thats one weird scam. Same as everyone else said he was from the CA Business Development Office and he wanted to know when we were moving? I just started to make stuff up to see where it was going he gathered all the info and then that was it? I don't know what an address and phone # for a business will get you? All of out company info is on Google.

Just finished up some more research on this 888-010-4321 phone number...it is a mobile number from India...it and MANY more numbers are listed on Bizwise website.

I have experienced the same thing here in Missouri.  I have been answering the phones for this company for 2 weeks and I have received the same call a minimum of 6 times a day!  When I asked what his name is he says it's Chris Harris...a very american name for someone who can hardly speak any english.  He claims he is from the State of Missouri and is updating their records.  When I asked him what he is updating he flip flops back and forth between our interest in moving offices within the next 6 months (which we are not) and updating his records for the IT manager...He calls from this number and from 214-716-0270 which is located near Dallas, TX.  I called the Dallas number back and he answered.  Something needs to be done about this...it is turning into harassment as far as I am concerned!

We JUST got a call from this number... caller identified themselves as "Sherman Design" asking if we have found a new office location as of yet... when probed, the caller insisted a colleague from their office had called us a year ago and they were just checking back to see if we had found a new location so they could update their information.  When I said I was confused by this call as we had never spoken to anyone about a potential move, the caller said, "F*** YOU" and hung up...

Just got a call saying she was calling from State of Illinois Economic Division and wanted to know if we found new location for our business. When asked where they got info she (with the accent) said from us. When I pushed and asked for a supervisor she said "that's okay ma'am" and hung up. When I called the number back recording from phone company says "not a valid number".

Got a phone call today from this number, no message. Will not reply to this caller. Thanks for your postings.

She said I'm from the State of Illinois Business Office. I replied, I'm not moving, she kept saying.. Hello, hello, and the call ended

They have called our office 3 times even after I have told them that we are not interested. They say they work for the state of Michigan when they call us.