List Yourself!

The Scourge of Marketing Calls

Receiving telemarketing calls is often considered an annoyance. So much so that Congress had passed laws against certain classes of these calls.

Unfortunately, using the ListYourself.net service puts your name and number in the telephone directory. The directory is one of the sources that telemarketers use to get a list of people to call. You put your information in the directory so that people who are of interest to you can find you, such as customers looking for what your business sells. But also callers who are looking to sell you stuff can find you as well.

Stopping incoming telemarketing calls

There are several ways of trying to stop telemarketing calls. The most common is enrolling in the federal do not call list and blocking calls by caller ID.

Do Not Call List

You sign up to the do not call list. The list takes 31 days to include your information and will take that long to take effect. You can sign up on the web or by calling 1-888-382-1222 from the phone you want to add.

Blocking Caller ID

Most of the VoIP services as well as business PBXs allow you to block calls by Caller ID. At the bottom of this page is a list of Caller IDs that we have seen multiple calls from. It is recommended that you don't just block the calls but to answer them with an appropriate message. I have set up a number with such a message that you can forward to: (805) 242-6907.

You should ask yourself "why did he just recommend that I forward rather than block?" The reason being is that the National Directory Assistance Company will call your newly listed number periodically to make sure it is not disconnected. This is because they do not want to give out disconnected numbers as well as when you drop your number it will be reused at some point in the future, and you do not want to get the calls for the last guy with the number. You can suppress these calls by calling it 585-362-4105. Also, the forward and answered call will cost the telemarketer more money, thus reducing the utility of their futility.

Call the cops

Actually not the cops, but the FTC, Federal Trade Commission. Last week I tried to get a human being to discuss a related issue with and I assure you it is not easy to get a human at the ftc on the phone. If your number is on the Do Not Call List you can file a complaint. But let us review the laws:

(1) Telemarketers must check the do not call list before calling residential numbers. Parsing this, you must be on the list more than 30 days. The telemarketer must think they are calling a residence (and not a business). The telemarketer must believe they have no previous relationship or contact with you. The telemarketer must actually check the list.

(2) Telemarketers are prohibited from calling cell phones. This one is tough, how do I know if a number I have rings a cell phone. First the number is not distinguishable. Secondly, with all of the forwarding and follow me services, I doubt there is a way to tell.

The laws do not apply to telemarketers who are trolling for gullible individuals on whom to commit fraud. The penalties for the calls are civil and much less than those for the fraud. Also the offshore (aka India) call centers are outside the reach of the FTC and can make calls equally or even more economically than domestic offenders.

No or bad caller ID

Some telemarketer will make their calls without caller ID or with junky ones. If you so choose you can set up your forwarder to discard all calls without caller ID. But if one of your buddies (or customers) calls you suppressing their caller ID they will get tossed into the offender's pool. Also, many of the telemarketers use systems that allow them to specify anything as their caller ID and this is ...

The Offender's list

Here are the list of callers who have called our system more than 20 times. The date of the last call is provided because I find that interesting. The list is ordered starting with the most frequent caller.