HBO (now Max) has had its hand in some of the whackiest and hard-to-believe documentaries out there. The 2020 McDonald’s series, McMillions, depicted the incredible scam that ultimately involved the FBI. That documentary had the benefit of trained investigators to give the series credibility, which is slightly different from the newest investigative series, Telemarketers.
From the onset, Telemarketers seem more at home in the genre of mockumentaries. On par with satirical films such as This Is Spinal Tap, Telemarketers appears to be too strange to be true. But that is exactly what makes it so captivating. Not only is Telemarketers a true story, but it is one that was broken by people who worked on the inside.
Filmmaker Sam Lipman-Stern began his journey of uncovering the fraudulent practices of Civic Development Group when he was only 14 years old. After dropping out of high school, Lipman-Stern’s parents stipulated he get a job, and the only place that would hire someone his age is about where you would expect. CDG was a telemarketing company that claimed to be fundraising for families of police officers killed on duty. As Lipman-Stern would come to find, this was far from the truth, and only the beginning of some of CDG’s worst crimes.
If you want a good idea of what went on at CDG, look no further than the opening titles of the first episode. As soon as you turn on Telemarketers, you will be shocked at the type of activities that go on there. CDG sets its workers to task cold calling customers to allegedly crowdfund for the police. But CDG aren’t actually police officers and only 10% of funds go to the Fraternal Order of Police. Even worse, the amount of money that does go to the FOP isn’t for what they say it is. The funds are more likely to go to their unions for special events rather than widows of fallen officers.
This work is so soul-crushing that employees were essentially allowed to do anything in the offices. Workers such as whistleblower Pat Pespas were casual narcotics users, often taking place directly in the office. When Lipman-Stern started YouTubing the office for fun, that’s all it was; a comical account of a workplace that was unlike any other. But this stoked a fire of uncovering what went on there, and continued to do so even after both Lipman-Stern and Pespas left the company. CDG became more mercenary with their tactics and continued to defraud innocent people. The project that would eventually become Telemarketers depicts everything from the bad to the outrageous.
CDG has since closed its doors because of these fraudulent practices, but that hasn’t stopped more like it from cropping up in its place. Catch all these details and more on Telemarketers, streaming on Max.