Telemarketers

First of all PJP is a fantastic charming guy. He was dealt a bad hand but he made the best of it! He is so charming and passionate. Doing documentaries, being a spokesman is something that he has talent in, he is just lacking that upper-class training that most elite get.

Sam and Pat did a great freelance documentary! This is what real freelance journalism is, this is probably the best that it can be. And I was so exited to see you guys do your work.

The investigation was very interesting and I could feel it piecing together. It is one of those situations where you kind of need to be much more awareness to the public. It is in their interest to avoid giving them the donations.

In poorer countries we have something similar on much smaller scale: the begger scheme, where people give money to beggers thinking that they are helping a poor homeless person. In reality most of them are like a network that travel city to city and collect money for some kind of mafia boss. It is basically the same type of crime.

Anyway, I hope you guys made some money from this. I hope PJP and Sam might work on something more. Maybe I don't know, start a YT channel and review stuff they know and love.

Holy crap this is some interesting stuff. From the very first line to the end of the first episode I was hanging on every word! Pat is absolutely hilarious! I think what has drawn me to this is how human it all is and extremely dysfunctional. The people in these telemarketing centers are just absolutely entertaining I don't really know any other way to put it. The fact that these guys started making a documentary or investigating telemarketers almost 20 years ago is amazing! I for one am glad they stuck with it, I cannot wait to see what all they uncover and where this goes. And I will say in all honesty, I had a fraternal order police sticker on my car year after year after year hahahahha. So they absolutely got me! Truthfully I never thought about Fraternal Order of Police being a scam. I knew others were but I did trusted this. Because they said they were the actual police, so yeah I believed it! What scumbags! Living the highlife while others scrounge just in order to help families of fallen officers! You're a special kind of as$hole to come up with this! I haven't donated to anything in a very long time and I never answer my cell phone if I don't know who's calling. I ended up getting a different cell and number for my business, and I don't know who had that number before me but I get multiple text messages almost daily from people trying to scam, usually offering money and/or loans. So telemarketing just has a new look. Same scam, just not on a landline! There's 2 more episodes so I'll come change my review if need be. But so far, yeah this is very informative.

Had little idea how the telemarketing industry was ran. Probably my not all like this shows, but just WOW!

After watching just the first episode last night, I am really looking forward to the next two.

It will make you angry to find out that very little is dome by the government to shut these boiler room scammers down. They get a slap on the wrist and a fine and continue on with taking/conning money out of people who can't afford to give, but because they have a soft heart and think they are actually helping someone in their community, they give over and over.

I also didn't realize that they are operating all over America and not in some foreign country.

As "Telemarketers" (2023 release; 3 episodes of about an hour each) opens, it is "2010" and we are introduced to Sam, a former telemarketer at Civic Development Group. Sam had worked there for seven years. We then go to "Seven Years Earlier", as young Sam (then only 14 yo), a school drop-out, is given a chance to solicit donation on behalf of charitable organizations. CDG does no background checks on anyone, and many have a criminal record. At this point we are 10 minutes into Episode 1.

Couple of comments: this documentary mini-series is co-directed by Sam Lipman-Stern (one of the man subjects of the documentary) and long-time documentarian Adam Bhala Lough. Here they dive deep into the massive grift of telemarketing groups like Civic Development Group. They prey on unsuspecting victims who donate because they believe the funds will go to a good cause, when in reality 90% of the donation goes straight into the pockets of CDG. It is absolutely surreal what we are witnessing here. Episode 1 contains a ton of archive footage as, for reasons unknown, someone decide to videotape a bunch of this stuff starting in 2003. By the end of Episode 1, I was left with the feeling that surely it can't turn worse than this, but of course with still 2 episodes to go, I'm not holding my breath. Can't wait to how all of this plays out.

Episode 1 of "Telemarketers" started streaming on Mx on August 13, 2023 and the remaining 2 episodes will be released on August 20 and 27. This mini-series has received critical acclaim, and there is good reason why it is currently rate 94% Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. If you are in the mood for a hard-hitting documentary mini-series on how telemarketers really operate, I'd readily suggest you check it out and draw your own conclusion.

UPDATE Just saw Episode 2 and as I had expected, this now goes into a vert different direction, namely how the "charity" entities like the FOB are also into the scheme, wow. Cannot wait for EP3.

Like the negative reviews have stated, there are a lot of straight up scumbags interviewed, and maybe it's not as polished and focused as a professional documentary, but it is certainly succeeds at what it sets out to do, which is expose the industry that takes advantage of vulnerable and/or naive Americans to the tone of billions every year. It was really cool to see how CDG evolved, and the footage was complimented by the frank, unscripted interviews they did with the various former employees.

I actually found the approach this documentary takes really entertaining, and I developed a sincere admiration for Pat for his dedication and tenacity. Sure he's not a seasoned journalistic pro, but you could tell he was super passionate about the project, and it showed in the end result. Good stuff, and I actually learned a few things and had many suspicions confirmed about how the industry works.