The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says Americans are getting more robocalls than ever. Companies use autodialers to send out thousands of calls per minute. And they are audacious. The FTC recently asked a federal judge to shut down a robocall operation that allegedly impersonated the FTC to trick consumers to get them to give bank account information and other sensitive personal data.
Fact: If you haven’t given your written permission to get calls from the company on the other end, the call is illegal.
But the law exempts some callers. Charities and heathcare providers are allowed to continue to call you even if your number is on the Do Not Call list.
And that can be maddening. In our home, we don’t even pick up the phone when it rings. We have caller ID. We hear the name of the person, company or charity trying to reach us. We listen to the calls after the fact, and if we’re interested we call back. We rarely do.
In the meantime, there are companies and individuals that have figured out a way to beat the Do Not Call system. A medical alert system company is persistent. If you get calls from this company, and you are on the Do Not Call list, make sure that you report the calls.
WHAT YOU SHOULD DO ABOUT ROBOCALLS
If you get a call, hang up. Do not press any additional numbers. Do not give any information.
Report the call at www.donotcall.gov.
Make sure you’re number is listed on the FTC Do Not Call Registry
This is an automated call or robocalling scam telemarketer call. I have called them over a dozen times and asked them to stop calling me. Each time they say they will and yet they just keep calling. My number is registered with the Do Not Call Registry and I have sent in two complaints about them. I have over 20 voicemails from the AutoBot in the last 3 weeks. I have excellant credit over 800. I have no idea why they keep calling me. I had their number blocked with my cell phone provider 206-397-1697 and then they started calling me from an 800 number 800-790-3520 which my cell phone provider says that they cannot block. I am looking into legal action at this time.
Nothing that you do will stop them from calling you. The major players behind this have made millions of dollars, which means that they are too big to fail.
One of the major players specializes in aiding the rich with tax evasion and shell corporations set up in Belize. You can bet that the well to do in this country are not getting lower your credit card interest rate calls and due to that fact our government just considers a few phone calls a minor annoyance.
The FCC has temporarily halted 5 of the minor unprofitable boiler rooms. They will receive a slap on the wrist and be back at it within a few days.
Why hasn’t the FBI used the RICO act and gone after this organization? On October 15, 1970, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (18 U.S.C. §§ 1961–1968), commonly referred to as the ‘RICO Act’, became United States law. The RICO Act allowed law enforcement to charge a person or group of people with racketeering, defined as committing multiple violations of certain varieties within a ten-year period. The purpose of the RICO Act was stated as ‘the elimination of the infiltration of organized crime and racketeering into legitimate organizations operating in interstate commerce’. S.Rep. No. 617, 91st Cong., 1st Sess. 76 (1968). However, the statute is sufficiently broad to encompass illegal activities relating to any enterprise affecting interstate or foreign commerce.
Any criminal activity can be reported to the FBI here: https://tips.fbi.gov
Report it at http://www.fcc.gov/complaints
Report it at https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov
People should continually file complaints with their Attorney Generals office.