Immunize Your Cell Phone From Telemarketers
DoNotCall posts
FTC Implementing Ban on Certain Automated Robocalls
The ban will go into effect September 1st, and will penalize perpetrators at a rate of $16,000 per harassing call, unless the recipient has given the telemarketer written consent to be contacted. According to the Associated Press, the ban will not apply to non-sales-related automated calls. That being the case, you can still expect to hear those creepy stilted voices during calls from organizations like political parties, charities, banks, and health care providers.
Telemarketers Fined $1.2 Million for Illegal Calls
Woohoo! It's really working! The government is getting almost $1.2 million from two telemarketing companies that violated the Do Not Call Rule. Take that, suckers.
Westgate and All In One Vacation Club now respectively owe $900,000 and $275,000, after repeatedly violating the Federal Trade Commission's rule against calling people on the Do Not Call (DNC) Registry. Westgate bought the phone numbers from Brandarama.com, where customers answered travel surveys without being informed they would be contacted by telemarketers. All In One got their numbers from vacation sweepstakes entries. Both companies then called people with offers of timeshares and vacation deals.
We're extremely happy that telemarketers are on notice, but we do wonder why the U.S. Treasury gets to keep all the money. We're really the ones who suffer, especially when our favorite TV shows are on. How about throwing a little something our way, Treasury? [From: NetworkWorld]
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FCC Warns of Fake Do Not Call Registry E-Mail
You've probably seen it -- it's an e-mail going around that claims all cell phone numbers are about to be released to telemarketers. According to the e-mail, the only way to avoid getting cold calls about switching your long distance carrier on your mobile is to register your phone number with the federal government's Do Not Call Registry.
The FCC has been quick to point out, however, that this is simply not true. In fact, it is illegal for most telemarketers to call any mobile phone, so registering your cell with the Do Not Call Registry is simply unnecessary. (The law stipulates that companies can't use auto-dialers to call cell phones, pagers, or any other service where the recipient would have to pay for the call.) Since most telemarketers use auto-dialers, they are generally unable to pester you on your mobile with out facing legal consequences.
The FCC has no idea where the e-mails are originating from, or why anyone would want to send such a scam, especially since nothing bad happens -- no opportunity for financial gain, no harvesting of phone numbers -- if you do actually register your mobile number on the site. It's a pointless scam! And yet, we guess the FCC is saving all of us from the extra stress we might get from worrying about missing the mobile Do Not Call registry deadline.
From USA Today
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