Our love affair with true crime links to their duality as triggering devices and a weird type of comfort. When the crime involves murder, we double-check that our doors are locked and maybe keep a knitting needle handy. When it's a scam we assess our vulnerability and our gullibility. And when we watch stories about either we can take some dark relief in knowing that it happened to somebody else, not us. Surely we would be wiser.
"Telemarketers" pops that fantasy by diving into a type of wrongdoing that's omnipresent, nearly unavoidable and, most frustratingly, impossible to regulate – mainly because the political will simply isn't there. It's also the type of crime where the perps already have your number or that of someone you love, or will find a way to get it, preying on people's loyalty to law enforcement or desire to help the less vulnerable. Keeping our distance is nearly impossible.
