Robocalls, Telemarketers, Tigers, and Bears

Have you had enough of telemarketers and robocalls pestering you at work, at home, and on your cellphone?

You are not alone. The YouMail Robocall Index™ estimates that 75.5 million robocalls were placed in the month of October, 2017 to telephone numbers in area codes 718,347,917, and 212.

By now you surely have added your telephone numbers to the Federal Do Not Call List, and that will notify legitimate telemarketers to stay away, but companies you have done business with, charities and political organizations can still call you.

And then there are the FRAUDULENT telemarketers. They don’t pay any attention to the Do Not Call list. Most fraudulent telemarketers are located outside the U.S. Therefore, they do not have to follow U.S. guidelines.

Here are some steps that you can take. Some are actually quite counterintuitive!

1. Keep your number to yourself.
   Refuse every request to provide your phone number unless you are absolutely required to do so. Providing your number is a tacit invitation for companies to call you or to sell your number to a third party.
2. Hang up right away.
   There is nothing to gain from attempting to reason with the people behind the calls.
3. Don’t Press Numbers
   In the past, many people have recommended certain number combinations or the pound key to delete yourself from a robocall registry.
   But does pressing the right numbers really take you off the list? No, you’re actually making it worse: “By pressing a number, you are confirming that someone is actually responding to the call, and you will likely receive more of them.
   This seems like something that maybe would’ve worked at some point, but scammers have gotten smarter and improved their systems.
4. Use a Service that Blocks All Robocalls
   Check NoMoRobo.com to see if your landline is covered by their service. For cell phones, search ‘call blocker’ in your app store.
5. Remove Your Phone Number from whitepages.com, phonenumber.com and 411.com
   You can request the deletion here.

Any other questions? Give us a call at (718) 887-0300 or email us atsupport@compuvoip.com. We’re thrilled to help!