Her agency learned of the fraudulent calls when people hung up on the fake census workers and called her office to complain.

The investigation into fraudulent calls in Guelph revealed that thousands of automated calls telling people their voting location had changed were sent shortly after 10:00 am on election day.

There is no control over calls from outside the UK; many of the most abusive and sometimes fraudulent calls originate from overseas.

Registration with TPS does not stop fraudulent calls, and TPS does not have the authority to investigate such calls.

Legitimate customers whose numbers are stolen are not being held responsible for the cost of the fraudulent calls.

Opposition leaders in small towns have reportedly received fraudulent calls inviting them to fictitious meetings with embassy officials.

"The volume of consumer injury from fraudulent calls is enormous and has grown dramatically over the last decade," said Eileen Harrington, who heads the agency's investigation of telemarketing practices.

A phone is "cloned" when someone steals its ID numbers and is able to make fraudulent calls on the owner's account.

Cahill et al. (2000) design a fraud signature, based on data of fraudulent calls, to detect telecommunications fraud.

A special call barring service has been introduced to prevent fraudulent calls to premium rate services.