AUDIO: 'Spoofed' robocall asks about 'support' for Tea Party, Palin
March 11, 2010
Reports suggest call has been widely received
A Raw Story editor received a robocall from an organization claiming to be "Voter Talk 2010" on Thursday asking whether they support the Tea Party and Sarah Palin.
"This is Survey 2010 when a brief survey. Do you consider yourself to be a Tea Party patriot?" asked a voice. After hearing a response, the voice asks a second and final question, "Do you support Sarah Palin?" before pausing, thanking the listener and disconnecting.
Others have reported they received the call this week, too. Among them was blogger Geniusofdespair of Eye On Miami, who uncovered that the phone number from which it was purportedly made has been tagged as a "spoof" by Caller Complaints.
I just got some phony call from Voter Talk 2010. They asked if I was a Tea Party supporter. I said: "Of course." They asked if I supported Sarah Palin. I said "Of course" again. Whatever they are up to on this, I did my duty of supplying misinformation.
CallerComplaints.com confirms this and, as of Thursday afternoon, contains eleven complaints from people who claimed to have received the call. The Web site notes:
Caution, 208-991-1227 is a "spoofed" number, which means that whoever called you "tricked" your caller ID to display an incorrect phone number. Telemarketers do this so you cannot complain, but they failed... you can still file a complaint here to fight back against unethical telemarketers.
A user on the progressive forum DemocraticUnderground.com alleges that the voice was Ronald Reagan's son Michael Reagan, a radio host and Republican strategist. The user labeled it a "push poll."
Several others in the thread affirmed they got the same call. One user claimed to live in Orange County, California and another said they reside in "a very blue county in fairly red [North Carolina]."
Twenty-one complaints about the same robocall from the same number have so far been filed at 800notes.com, a "Directory of Unknown Calls." One filing reads:
I don't know what these people are trying to accomplish; maybe scam some people into donating?, maybe develope lists to sell? I don't know for sure, but I doubt that Michael Reagan, Sarah Palin, Tea party organizations, utility companies, or organization for retraining soldiers have any connection to these likely scammers or have authorized them to be making calls on their behalf.
This audio is from VoterTalk2010, recorded March 11, 2010.
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