Whenever we write about DNC, short for “Do Not Call,” or whatever the equivalent database is called in your country, people are understandably sceptical that the process will ever work.
Countries with Do Not Call registers maintain an official, government-sanctioned list of phone numbers that are off-limits to telemarketers.
Cold callers who play by the rules are supposed to check their own lists against the central register, and to remove anyone who has added themselves to the list.
I’ve put myself on the list in two different countries now (Australia and the UK), and although I still get the occasional nuisance call, my opinion is that it has made a big difference.
That’s not a scientific result, but my phone does seem to ring a lot less often with some chancer on the other end; also, if I open the conversation by saying, “Did you know this number is on the Telephone Prefere…,” the caller almost always puts the phone down right away.
The sceptics counter my positive outlook by pointing out that a DNC register only cuts out calls from companies that want to do the right thing, and who are in your jurisdiction anyway, so that true nuisance calls, like those fake PC support scams from overseas, will continue unchecked.
Also, the sceptics suggest, repeat offenders never seem to end up in the trouble you might expect, at least in the US, because we never seem to hear of successful legal action against large-scale offenders.
Well, that may very well have changed.
Five long years after the US Department of Justice started action against a Utah telemarketing operation, claiming that they just wouldn’t stick to the rules, a jury has agreed.
According to the US consumer watchdog, the Federal Trade Commission (our emphasis):
[This] is the first-ever jury verdict in an action to enforce the Telemarketing Sales Rule and the Commission’s Do Not Call (DNC) Registry rules…
The jury found the defendants responsible for 117 million violations of the TSR, including 99 million illegal calls to telephone numbers listed on the DNC Registry, as well as more than four million additional calls in which the defendants’ telemarketers made misleading statements to induce DVD sales.
The penalty hasn’t been set yet, but the regulations allow for a civil penalty (technically, it’s not a “fine”, like you might get for a traffic infringment or a criminal conviction) of up to $16,000 per violation.
That leaves the court free to set a penalty that’s big enough to take the companies, and their owner, out of the market altogether.
The Information Commissioner’s Office in the UK had a result just like that recently against an unrelenting cold-calling operation out of Manchester, England.
The fine, ahem, civil penalty in that case was set to £350,000 (more than $0.5 million), thanks to more than 1000 official complaints about the rogue behaviour…
…and the operators threw in the towel, filing for voluntary liquidation and folding the business. (That’s roughly the same as Chapter 7 in the USA.)
As we commented in the wake of the Manchester case:
[Regulatory bodies] can’t deal successfully with every complaint, especially if the callers come from overseas.
But unwanted phone calls have to pass through some provider’s network service in your country for the calls to reach you, so there’s always a possibility that something can be done.
The only way you can be sure that nothing will happen is to do nothing yourself.
Where to report dodgy telemarketers?
Here are links that some of our readers may find helpful:
- In the US: FTC Complaint Assistant
- In the UK: Report a Concern to the ICO
- In Australia: ACMA Telemarketing Complaints
- In Canada: Complain About a Telemarketing Call
Simply put, if you hear something, say something!
Billy Reuben
I eliminated my land line 15 years ago. Although I get the occasional (1-2 month) scammer call on my mobile, which are easily ignored, my life has been free from telemarketers. Which is kind of a shame, because I always love jockeying with “Steve from the IRS”.
Mahhn
No fine or jail time is okay with me, just a shock collar that zaps them randomly while they sleep or are eating, for 3 to 5 years.
Anonymous
I think I can safely speak for the other 300 million people in the US in that we hope that “Rachel from Card Services…” goes to prison for life.
John P
“and the operators threw in the towel, filing for voluntary liquidation and folding the business.” only to start up yet another numbered company doing exactly the same thing the following morning. Without accountability, there is no solution.
Paul Ducklin
There is that…
…but at least there’s a regulatory framework to try to prevent new, dodgy companies arising from the ashes of old ones. And at least the calls stop, if only for a while :-)
ejhonda
DNC has been nearly useless in the US. It prevents the white hat telemarketers from calling you, but a mass of black hat telemarketers & scammers have quickly filled the void. The FTC will follow up on consumer complaints, but many people don’t bother filing a complaint as the process is onerous for the consumer. I get 3-5 scam/telemarketing calls on my cellphone a day, all while being registered on the DNC. Until they can find a way to prevent phone number spoofing, there’s no enforceable way to prevent the actions of criminals.
TonyG
I have been on the TPC for 20+ years and it hasn’t made any discernible difference.
If the last few digits (3?) are random, then it is falls outside the TPC because it is a random not targeted call. And because of the way numbers are organised in the exchange, you know this will be a very specific area.
I have long since treated ALL phone calls as scams unless I know the person calling, or they can give me a real reason to listen to them. They cost me an average of 10 mins per day in a one person business, so I am just quick and politely tell them
I do IT support / I am not switching / I am not interested ; thank you. And put the phone straight down. This way I make it very clear that they are not going to get anywhere and as they are paid by results, they are highly unlikely to get anything out of me and so mostly they don’t bother. I have several numbers come through to the same phone, so sometimes I get them back on another number.
Another useful trick is to not say anything for a second or two when you pick up the phone – most of them use systems that dial several numbers in parallel and then route through to the first call answered. This is why you get some of the silent calls. However, by not answering, I think some of the systems mark the number (maybe as a possible FAX) and are less likely to try again.
Magyver
Paul, will this prosecution result in the complaintants being awarded the fine money, or do the feds grab it, meaning the federal prosecution is likely motivated merely by greed?
Dave
There has been a significant reduction in the number of “nuisance” calls I receive since going on the DNC list years ago, but they still come in. I don’t know how many because if I get a call and do not recognize the calling number I do not answer the call but rather let the Answering Machine do its job. And telemarketers and pollsters and the like NEVER leave a message so I don’t know who/what called. When I return from a trip and see the little red light blinking, I know none of the messages are from any of them, but I have no clue how many hang-ups there were.
Dave Sigurdson
If someone would invent an App that would answer your phone (at your command) and send out the “This Number has been Disconnected” SIT tone (Google SIT Tone) a lot of these calls would be eliminated because the autodialers often will remove a call to a disconnected number from their database.