![]() ![]() That raises the question of why Cap One is sending out this bizarre contract language in the first place rather than explaining in plain English, as Girardo did, what its true intentions are. Let’s accept that the company isn’t as menacing as it sounds. It says, ominously, that Cap One can “modify or suppress” people’s caller ID capabilities and identify itself “in any manner we choose.”īut let’s give Cap One the benefit of the doubt. That’s not what the contract update says, though. This is beyond our control, and we want our cardholders to be aware of that potential occurrence.” “However, some local phone exchanges may display our number differently. “Actually, we want our calls to display as Capital One on caller ID, and that’s the way they are programmed,” she replied. So Cap One is saying it’s more “Repo Man” than “Fatal Attraction.” “As a last resort, we may go to a customer’s home after appropriate notification if it becomes necessary to repossess the sports vehicle,” Girardo said. Cap One has partnerships with makers of gear like Jet Skis and Snowmobiles. The exception to that, she said, is when it comes to big-ticket sporting goods. “Capital One does not visit our cardholders, nor do we send debt collectors to their homes or work,” Girardo said. ![]() Pam Girardo, a company spokeswoman, told me that Cap One isn’t quite as much like Glenn Close in “Fatal Attraction” as the company’s contract lingo might suggest. “Now more than ever, consumers need to be able to trust companies,” she said. It’s weird, to say the least, for this practice to be so publicly adopted by a major credit card issuer.Įmily Rusch, executive director of the California Public Interest Research Group, a consumer advocacy organization, said it’s especially troubling for Cap One to declare itself a spoofer as people grapple with recent security breaches involving Target, Neiman Marcus and other businesses. Such corporate spoofing is employed primarily by telemarketers. As I’ve written before, the federal Truth in Caller ID Act makes it a crime to use a phony number or caller ID message to commit fraud or cause harm to others.īut it’s not against the law to engage in what courts have called “non-harmful spoofing,” which includes businesses wearing digital disguises to penetrate a consumer’s phone defenses. This is known as spoofing, and it’s perfectly legal. Cap One is saying it can trick you into picking up the phone by using what looks like a local number or masquerading as something it’s not, such as Save the Puppies or a similarly friendly-seeming bogus organization. “We may modify or suppress caller ID and similar services and identify ourselves on these services in any manner we choose.” The company’s contract update also includes this little road apple: Incredibly, Cap One’s aggressiveness doesn’t stop with personal visits. ![]() A credit card company, in theory, could reserve the right to visit your home or office without a court order, Kann said.īut he emphasized that there are laws against harassment, not to mention stalking, and Cap One could be held accountable under such statutes if, say, it took to inviting itself over for dinner or hanging around your cubicle. He explained that the amendment applies primarily to searches and seizures by law enforcement, not civilians. ![]() Kann, a Santa Clarita lawyer who specializes in illegal-search cases. “It sounds really invasive, but I don’t think it’s a violation of your 4th Amendment rights,” said Daniel E. Indeed, you’d think the 4th Amendment of the Constitution, which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures, would make this sort of thing verboten. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |