Is the Do Not Call Registry a ‘Joke’?
With 185 million phone numbers on the government list, why are
telemarketers still calling?
“The telemarketers kept calling. At
one point, I was getting up to 20 calls a day,” says the computer
technology consultant. “And they still do. Just yesterday, I received a
call from a company I’ve never done business with, selling home
improvement services.”
He filed numerous complaints with the
Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which runs the Do Not Call list. “But no
action was taken on any complaint I made,” says Lammé. He finally took
matters into his own hands, paying $35 to file complaints in small
claims court against telemarketers who ignored his repeated requests to
stop calling his home.
So far, he says, he has received
$16,000 in settlements and awards—“and I haven’t lost a case yet.” He
has even started a website that provides
free how-to-sue
instructions for other Do Not Call registrants pestered by
telemarketing violators.
“You really have to take action
yourself,” Lammé tells the Bulletin. “The Do Not Call list is a
joke. It does nothing to stop telemarketers.”
Maybe you can relate. Since the Do Not
Call list’s inception six years ago, 185 million phone numbers have been
registered. And yet, millions of Americans continue to get unwanted and
unsolicited telemarketing calls.
The robots attack
Most recently, there has been a
barrage of “robocalls”—prerecorded messages made with an auto dialer
that tries every phone number in sequence.
“I get about 15 a month, and I
registered on the Do Not Call list when it came out,” says Bob Sills,
58, who lives near Oakland, Calif. “It probably stopped some calls, but
it’s been pretty constant over the last 18 months.”
Sills says he routinely follows
callers’ instructions to be removed from their lists to prevent future
calls—to no avail. And like Lammé, he has also filed complaints on the
Do Not Call
website. “I never heard back on any complaint I filed,” says the
retired computer programmer. “If the government can trace the numbers of
these violators, why aren’t they shutting them down?”
It’s a question that many have been
asking recently. Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Mark Warner, D-Va.,
spoke out after 300,000 people complained to the Better Business Bureau
about robocalls selling dubious auto warranties. Those calls were made
not only to land lines but also to cellphones, which are off limits to
any telemarketing calls.
In response, the FTC asked a federal
court to shut down two Florida companies, one selling the allegedly
worthless warranties and the other a telemarketing company said to have
made as many as 1 billion robocalls since 2007.
That action, according to FTC
spokesman Mitchell Katz, is the 58th in six years against firms charged
with violating Do Not Call regulations. In all, some $21 million in
fines has been collected for the U.S. Treasury.
Why the calls keep coming
The calls are tough to stop for
several reasons: • In the first place, some calls may be bothersome, but
they’re legal. Exempt from Do Not Call rules are phone calls made by
political organizations and politicians, charities, survey takers and
companies with which you have an established business relationship.
This means that if you hold a mortgage
from Citibank, for instance, you will likely receive calls pitching
Citibank credit cards or other services. “But once you tell that company
to remove you from its list, they should stop calling,” notes Katz.
• Sometimes, companies are negligent.
All telemarketers are required to check the Do Not Call registry every
month to determine which phone numbers should not be called. “But there
are telemarketers who don’t, and citizens get calls when they
shouldn’t,” says Katz.
• But the biggest problem is that such
calls can easily be disguised by unscrupulous telemarketers, who use a
variety of techniques to avoid getting caught. These include using
robocalls as well as “spoofing,” which lets callers hide or disguise the
phone numbers appearing on your caller ID.
Spoofing products—sold on the Internet
for as little as $10 for 60 minutes of calling time—are often used by
scammers
posing as your credit card company,
a
government agency or another legitimate entity in order to get sensitive personal
information. Spoofing also makes it virtually impossible for consumers
to make accurate Do Not Call complaints because the numbers they see on
their Caller ID aren’t the real ones.
Another way telemarketers can disguise
themselves is by subscribing to voice over Internet protocol (VoIP)
telephone services such as Vonage that let them choose their own area
code and phone numbers. Or they can create their dinnertime annoyances
via disposable cellphones, using prepaid minutes and then tossing the
phone.
Complaints matter
With billing records and other
methods, authorities can still trace violating calls to their
sources—but that requires a costly and time-consuming investigation. And
that explains why, despite more than 1 million complaints filed annually
on the Do Not Call website, most consumers never hear back from the FTC.
Nevertheless, “the most valuable thing
you can do is file a complaint at our website,” says Lois Greisman, the
FTC official who oversees the Do Not Call list.
“Complaints matter, because we use
them cumulatively to look for trends and entities we believe are
involved in telemarketing fraud, and do not comply with Do Not Call
privacy requirements.” Currently, complaints have been filed by fewer
than 3 percent of registered telephone numbers, she says.
However, Greisman acknowledges the FTC
typically goes after only “the biggest and baddest targets” and doesn’t
investigate individual complaints. “There is no magic number of
complaints that will trigger an investigation,” she says.
What can you do?
• Many states operate
their own Do Not Call lists.
Registering your phone with the one in your state may be more effective
at stopping unwanted calls from local businesses, which are off the
FTC’s radar.
• If you do end up talking with a
telemarketer, try to elicit as much information as possible. You can
often obtain the name and location of calling businesses by feigning
interest in their products or services. This gives you a better chance
of knowing the caller’s true identity for an accurate complaint.
• Screen your calls through your
answering machine or ask your phone carrier about “blocking” services
that prevent unknown phone numbers from reaching you. Learn about
services and strategies to
protect your privacy rights.
• Be aware that telemarketers making
prohibited calls to Do Not Call registrants are subject to a $16,000
fine. “Often, if you mention that fact with a threat to sue, that stops
telemarketers from calling you again,” says Lammé.
SUING TELEMARKETERS - CLICK HERE