Dear Congress, the dirtbag detectives of ‘Telemarketers’ await your response

The third and final episode of the HBO docuseries “Telemarketers” is out this week, bringing to a close one of the most unexpected onscreen journeys in recent memory — from the hard-partying offices of a shady New Jersey call center to the office of a sitting U.S. senator.

Directed by Sam Lipman-Stern and Adam Bhala Lough, the series exposes what’s really behind those seemingly endless phone calls asking for money for various charities, many involving legitimate-sounding police organizations.

Lipman-Stern began working at a phone center as a high-school dropout in the early 2000s, placing fundraising calls for sketchy charities while working for a company called Civic Development Group, or CDG. Very little of the money from those telemarketing calls went to actual charities, though: Upward of 90% went into CDG’s coffers instead.

And as long as employees were bringing in money, they could do whatever they wanted. When Lipman-Stern started bringing a camcorder to work, he captured video of people drinking, doing drugs, pulling pranks and more, all while