1. If it’s a human on the other end of the line, say something like, “Please add me to your do not call list” or “please not contact me with unsolicited offers.” This will make it plain to the salesperson that you are uninterested in the offer they are offering.
Be aware that they have been taught to deal with objections and may inquire as to why you aren’t interested. When dealing with pushy salespeople, being firm and refusing to give in is crucial.
2. Sign up for the national do not call registry with your phone number. You can register by going to this website or phoning 1-888-382-1222. Call from the phone number you want to be added to the no-call list, whether it’s a cell phone or a landline. If you use the website, you will be required to authenticate your identity using your email address. On their website, they explain that registering your phone is free, but that other types of organizations, such as charities, political parties, debt collectors, and surveys, may still call you once you register. They also claim that after 31 days of registration on the do not call list, you can report an unsolicited call here.
3. Put the phone number on your phone’s do not call list. Repeat offenders can be stopped by entering your phone app and going to your recent call list. Choose the number you wish to block and press the block caller button.
4. Make use of a carrier’s Caller ID app. Premium caller ID is available at $2.99 per month from Verizon, ATT&T, T-mobile, and Sprint. These applications feature a built-in spam filter that will identify the source of the phone number.
5. Third-party apps, such as robokiller, while there are numerous apps in the app store market that act as spam call blockers. Robokiller is unique in that it employs answer bots that converse with the telemarketer, giving the impression that they are conversing with a real person. The amusing aspect is that the chat is taped and archived for your listening pleasure.
6. File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. If they are breaching the national do not call list, this is vital information. If the complaint is valid and approved, it will be made public on their profile and will have a negative impact on their company score. This will damage their company’s reputation and make it more difficult for them to obtain new clients in the future. This should only be used as a last resort after you’ve told them you don’t want to be contacted.
I’m receiving a lot of calls about solar panels, so what’s up with that?
The term “solar spam” is self-explanatory. Solar spam is used to try to persuade someone to buy a solar product or service in an aggressive manner. Most usually done over the phone, these callers will call you repeatedly, even if you have stated that you do not wish to become a customer. It’s simple to understand how this may become a major annoyance.
Because solar spam is spread by phone calls, emails, and other communications systems, you should always be conscious of the information you’re disseminating. Any time you make your phone number or email address publicly available online, whether through social media or manually entering it into a website, you’re inviting spammers to get their hands on it.
Make sure you read the website’s terms and conditions as well as its privacy policy. The presence of a vow to never sell consumer information to third parties is a good indicator of a site’s trustworthiness.
“By clicking the “Continue” button, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and grant (business) or our selected solar installers permission to use the phone number provided.” Some installers may utilize auto-dialers or send automated text messages, and you may be charged for these services. Even if the phone number entered above is on the “Do Not Call” list, you agree to receive these communications.
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of the Federal Communications Commission mandates this wording on spam sites. Make sure you read everything before submitting an online form, as it may be in extremely small font or hidden at the bottom of a webpage. If you enter your information on a website that uses this wording, you will very certainly be contacted by many companies at the same time that have paid the website manager for the right to contact you.
How can I stop energy firms from phoning me?
Unsolicited offers arrive at all hours of the day and night, making many people feel overwhelmed. There are advice on (1) how to obtain fewer unsolicited offers and (2) how to report concerns for each category of unwanted communications listed below.
Email Spam
- Never respond to scam emails. More spam will most likely be sent to your email address as a result of your response.
- Invest in an email filter. Most ISPs now provide spam filtering capabilities that allow you to specify which email addresses you want to receive in your inbox and divert messages from unknown sources to a separate folder.
- Untick the box that allows you to receive email updates. When you sign up for a service or make a purchase online, the company may ask you to tick a box declaring that you consent to receive promotional communications. This box can be unchecked on occasion.
- Never sign up for sites that claim to take your name off spam lists. While some sites are authentic, many others are simply looking for your email address to sell to others or use for some other reason.
- To restrict public exposure, consider utilizing two email addresses. Chatrooms, newsgroups, online membership directors, and business transactions can all be done with a single email account. Personal messages can be sent to the other email address.
- Inform your Internet service provider (ISP), such as Comcast or Google Fiber, about email spam.
Text Spam
- Check to see if your phone is registered with the Do Not Call Registry. You can join the National Do Not Call Registry here.
- If you do not know the recipient, do not send personal information (such as credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, or passwords).
- Check with your mobile service provider to see whether you may restrict specific senders from sending you text messages in the future.
- If you’re a customer of AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint, or Bell, you can report text spam to your carrier for free by texting “SPAM” to 7726.
- General Comment, Question, or Complaint Form, California Attorney General’s Office
Junk Faxes
- Check to see if your phone is registered with the Do Not Call Registry. The National Do Not Call Registry is where you can sign up.
- You can submit a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission regarding unwanted faxes.
Junk Mail
- Become a member of the Direct Marketing Association. This is a voluntary industry effort that will eliminate some unwanted mail, but not all.
- You can also write to each of the big consumer reporting agencies separately. Visit the Consumer Information page of the Federal Trade Commission to learn how to do this.
- If you don’t know how your name and address will be used, don’t give it out.
- “Sign Up to Win Contests” and similar contests should be avoided. These are commonly used to create mailing lists for personal use or for sale to other businesses.
Telemarketing Calls
- Check to see if your phone is registered with the Do Not Call Registry. www.donotcall.gov is where you may sign up. You can also call 1-888-382-1222 (TTY 1-866-290-4236) from the number you want to register toll-free.
- Telemarketers covered by the National Do Not Call Registry are required to stop calling you thirty days after you register. It’s important to note that registering simply prevents sales calls. Other parties, such as political organizations, charities, and telephone surveyors, may still call you. You may still be contacted by debt collectors.
- Visit www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0108-national-do-not-call-registry for more general information.
- Get a phone number that isn’t listed or published. Unlisted phone numbers receive less unsolicited calls. Alternatively, contact the business office of your telephone provider and request that your name be removed from its street address directories. Companies, on the other hand, usually charge a monthly fee for these services.
- The incoming phone number will be blocked. Your phone carrier, on the other hand, may charge a price for this.
- You can make a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission here: https://complaints.donotcall.gov/complaint/complaintcheck.aspx if you have been on the Do Not Call Registry for at least thirty-one days and the call is a sales call.
Why am I getting calls from the energy services department?
Criminals try to exploit people by contacting and demanding instant money.
Aggressive and frightening tactics are commonly used in these scams. A scammer will phone you posing as a representative from your local utility company or energy provider. They’ll tell you that you’re late on your electricity bills and that your account is in default. If you don’t pay up, they often threaten to turn off your electricity or natural gas promptly, usually within an hour or the same day.
You may receive a message claiming that you owe a big but specified sum of money, generally hundreds of dollars, if you miss the call. The imposter will leave a callback number for their “direct line” as well as a threat to disconnect your energy service the next day.
Scammers that are well-organized can even spoof, or duplicate, the phone number that shows on your caller ID to make it appear as if it is from your energy supplier.
You could be worried at this point, and that’s exactly what these con artists are banking on. When you’re scared or alarmed, you can’t think clearly, so you might forget that you’ve paid your bills on time or that you have automatic payments set up.
How do I get rid of the constant robocalls?
If you want to fully eliminate robocalls, this is probably a futile effort, but if a certain number keeps ringing, it’s rather simple to ban it from your iPhone or Android phone for good.
To ban a phone number on iOS, go to the Phone app, then Recents, tap the blue information button to the right of the number you wish to block, and select Block “This Caller Must Be Blocked.”
For Android, the procedure is similar: go to the Recents area of the Phone app, long touch on the annoying number, and select Remove from Recents “Stay away.”
To keep the spammers at bay, you’ll need to put in a lot of effort – and it won’t work against blocked or private callers.
Is there a robocall do not call list?
You can reduce the number of telemarketing calls you receive by signing up for the National Do Not Call Registry. By registering your phone number, you can avoid receiving unwanted sales calls:
If you register online, you will be sent an email with instructions on how to finish your request. In order for your registration to take effect, you must click on the link in that email within 72 hours. To check the status of your phone number on the registry or unsubscribe, go to DoNotCall.gov or call 1-888-382-1222.
Telemarketing sales calls will be stopped if your phone number is entered into this national registry. However, scammers and robocallers may still contact you. Telemarketing calls are still allowed in some cases. You may still receive calls from the following numbers:
There are Do Not Call registrations in some states. Find out if your state has its own Do Not Call list and how to join it by contacting your state consumer protection authority.
File a Complaint
If your phone number has been on the national registration for 31 days, you can make a complaint. Complain online or by calling 1-888-382-1222. In your complaint, include the date of the illegal call, the phone number, and the company’s name. You can also make a complaint regarding robocalls or recorded messages.
For Businesses
If you want to join the Do Not Call Registry, go to the telemarketer’s website. Telemarketing company representatives can also use the website to acquire information on compliance issues.
Is there a number to call if you don’t want to be called?
- Calls to which you have agreed to receive. Calls from tax-exempt non-profit organizations or on their behalf.
Only consumer phone lines are covered by the Do Not Call laws. Businesses that receive telemarketing calls are not covered.
Scammers will disregard the Do Not Call Registry and may even imitate it. You will not be contacted by the Do Not Call Registry. Here are some strategies to avoid being a victim of a con:
- If you receive an unsolicited call, do not answer it or touch any buttons (even if they promise to remove you from their list). Hang up right away.
- Caller ID information is frequently hidden by scammers. Consumers will find it more difficult to launch a complaint as a result of this. Scammers have advanced to a high level of sophistication. They can change their numbers in a matter of minutes, making it impossible to track them. Answering unfamiliar calls is your greatest defense. If you do answer, hang up as soon as you discover the call is undesired.
- Take into consideration call blocking. If the calls are coming from the same number, you may be able to block them using a service provided by your phone company. Smartphone apps that block calls are another alternative that can help. The Federal Trade Commission has several recommendations for call blocking apps.
- If an offer appears to be too good to be true, it most likely is. Never hand out personal information to someone you don’t know over the phone.
- Call 1-888-382-1222 toll-free from the phone you want to register with. Please keep in mind that you must call from the phone number you wish to register with.
Why am I suddenly getting a lot of spam calls in the year 2022?
An unwelcome robocall always seems to interrupt your day at the most inconvenient time, whether you’re about to sit down to dinner, meeting up with an old friend, or simply taking a well-deserved nap.
Unwanted robocalls and frauds, on the other hand, are more than just annoyances; they can be harmful. The number of scam call attempts reached new highs last year. They were the most common complaint to the FCC, and Americans lost $30 billion as a result of these ruses.
You should be concerned, if not outright annoyed. According to fresh network data from T-Mobile, scam attempts increased by 116% last year alone, and the onslaught of calls is on its way to surpassing pre-pandemic levels.
Despite efforts across the wireless industry, unscrupulous actors around the world have been more aggressive and dishonest in their attempts to appear legitimate over time. Scammers are relentless, and as long as they can make money, they will not stop.
T-Mobile released its first-ever Scam and Robocall Report at the end of 2021, identifying national patterns, insights into scammer behavior, and how the firm handled. For example, T-Scam Mobile’s Shield system discovered or stopped more than 21 billion scam calls for its consumers in 2021, more than double the number in 2020. Every second, that’s the equivalent of 700 spam calls.
“Regardless of their plan or device, we are protecting every single customer with the free scam-fighting capabilities in Scam Shield,” said Jon Freier, president of T-Consumer Mobile’s Group, in a statement on the company’s website. “We know that as long as scammers are successful, they will not stop, therefore we are doing everything we can to make their job as difficult as possible.”
T-Mobile also listed some of the most prevalent phone scams as well as strategies to secure your personal information.
Neighbor or neighborhood spoofing is a location-based fraud in which scammers mask their number to appear as if it is coming from a local number by using a similar area code or prefix to yours.
According to T-Scam Mobile’s and Robocall Report, scam calls are more prevalent in some sections of the country than in others. Texas, Florida, Arizona, and Georgia were the states with the most scam call attempts in 2021. Dallas/Fort Worth was the top metro region for receiving scam calls out of all of them.
Last year, organizations across the wireless sector introduced number verification driven by STIR/SHAKEN to help prevent neighborhood spoofing. Customers with an eligible device on T-Mobile, Sprint, or Metro by T-Mobile will see a checkmark to validate the phone number displayed on their phone is the genuine number calling and hasn’t been spoofed by a scammer.
2. Scams using legitimate firms, such as phony auto warranties
Scammers impersonating as reputable firms are one of the major issues heading towards 2022. If you’ve ever received a call about your car’s warranty, you’ll be familiar with this one. Fake vehicle warranties were the most common fraud in 2021, accounting for 51% of all scam phone attempts.
Individuals posing as representatives of car insurance firms (6 percent), social security (10 percent), cellular carriers (9 percent), and package delivery (9 percent) were also regular fake calls (4 percent ).
What makes frauds like the auto warranty scam so dangerous is that the caller may already know some sensitive information about your automobile or warranty. Often, these calls begin with a robocall telling you to push a number and stay on the line.
You can use tools like Caller ID along with number verification or your wireless provider’s fraud detection capabilities to assist screen these calls. T-Mobile provides free Caller ID to all customers as part of its Scam Shield features. Customers are automatically notified when a scam danger is detected “On their Caller ID display, they have a “Scam Likely” warning. They can then chose whether or not to take the call.
Even if you decide to take a potentially scam call, the best way to protect yourself from any suspected fraudulent business calls is to hang up and call the firm directly by seeking up their customer care contact information online.
3. Season: tax season and health-care fraud
Scammers are astute, and they will take advantage of seasonal events to increase their call volume. With tax season approaching, phone scammers will take advantage of people’s worries about their taxes.
To protect yourself, be aware that the IRS will typically send a bill to any taxpayer who owes taxes. They also won’t contact you if you receive an unexpected tax refund. Stay vigilant if you receive a call demanding urgent payment in the form of gift cards, threatening to call law police for outstanding debts, or demanding payment without a bill or the ability to examine the amount, it’s most likely a scam.
Scam calls about health care also increased during the late fall and winter open enrollment periods for health insurance and Medicare. In 2021, the FCC fined a Texas-based telemarketing $225 million, the biggest in the agency’s history, for robocalls fraudulently claiming to represent major health insurance providers.
Along with seasonal ramping up, scammers also use regular business hours Monday through Friday, with peak volume on Wednesdays, to appear legitimate. According to T-analysis, Mobile’s spam call volume declines by up to 85 percent on weekends.
You’ll need software that is updated on a regular basis to stay safe against the latest seasonal dangers. T-Mobile claims that its scam prevention is updated every 6 minutes, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. T-Scam Mobile’s Shield, unlike third-party apps, is built into the network and employs AI, machine learning, and patented technology to update against emerging threats in real time.
4. Calls for technical assistance
Fake technical support calls are another technique for scammers to gain access. Cyber crooks may gain access to your data or install malicious code on your phone or computer as a result of these calls.
Scammers frequently begin fake technical assistance calls by claiming to be from a well-known organization and that an issue with your device has been discovered. They’ll then take you through a series of procedures to get you there “Troubleshoot” your phone or computer. Don’t be fooled: scammers that use this tactic will attempt to download hazardous malware that will be used to steal your information.
T-Mobile advises that all wireless customers utilize some type of scam protection to help prevent these calls from reaching their destination. T-Scam Mobile’s Shield, in addition to “Scam Likely” warnings, includes Scam Block, which, once enabled, prevents any “Scam Likely” calls before they reach your phone, providing you the peace and quiet you deserve. If you have a T-Mobile phone, you can get the Scam Shield app for free from the app store on your smartphone.
Scammers’ techniques will continue to evolve as long as they can profit from naive victims. Thankfully, the technology used to defend individuals from these cyber thieves will continue to evolve as well, which is why it’s critical to protect yourself by using scam prevention software.
Is it legal for energy firms to do cold calls?
According to the Energy Advice Line, small businesses receive up to 30 high-pressure cold calls every day from agents working on behalf of energy firms.
To prevent being bombarded with calls, several businesses have been compelled to cease answering their phones. Despite appealing with the callers to stop, a business owner was harassed while attending a funeral.
Julian Morgan, managing director of the Energy Advice Line, the UK’s premier business electricity price comparison and switching service, has reiterated his plea for the energy regulator, OFGEM, to outlaw cold calling.
His appeal comes after a Surrey man successfully sued cold calling service AAC for 10 each minute he was compelled to spend on the phone with the company.
“Earlier this year, we launched our Say No to Cold Calling campaign in the hopes of convincing OFGEM to prohibit the practice. For many businesses, this is equal to harassment “Mr. Morgan explained.
“Businesses have been flooded with complaints about having their important time wasted and being subjected to intense sales pressure from callers who won’t take no for an answer.
“These agents not only flood businesses with calls, but they also frequently employ unethical tactics to obtain business. They frequently impersonate energy meters, for example “officials” in order to learn more about a company’s energy supply.”
Businesses that had recently relocated or were going to relocate, according to Mr Morgan, were particularly targeted.
Mr Morgan said, “You wouldn’t believe the stories we hear about the extent these callers will go to acquire business.”
“These agents gather information on companies who are taking on new leases in some way, and then they start bombarding them.
“They frequently impersonate meter “officials” – despite the fact that no such officials exist – to persuade business owners to provide meter information. They’ve been duped into pricey energy contracts before they even realize it.”
The Energy Advice Line will send its information to OFGEM in the hopes of convincing the regulator to prohibit the practice in order to safeguard businesses from “very questionable, high-pressure sales conduct.”
- I called a potential customer ten times in one day, putting a lot of pressure on them to sign a deal.
- Before they had even moved into new premises, I called a prospective customer 5 times a day, having already collected their contact information and meter information.
- I told a business owner that they had no choice but to accept the energy contract that was being offered to them.
- To elicit private meter information, phony organizations – variably known as Central Registrations, The Meter Registrations Company, The Meter Registrations Department, and Central Networks – claimed to be from them.
- If the business owner refused to accept a contract offer, the energy supply was threatened to be cut off.
- In order to get meter registration numbers, business owners were told that their meters needed to be “re-registered.”
- Despite being requested to refrain because they were attending a funeral, they made three unwanted calls to a business owner in the span of 30 minutes.
The Energy Advice Line has created guidelines for businesses to follow in order to avoid getting tied into the costly business electricity and gas plans that cold callers promote.
- Speak with a price comparison service with a large supplier panel: Verify that they aren’t solely employed by one provider.
- Accepting an energy offer from someone who phones you out of the blue is not a good idea. The pricing is frequently 30% to 40% higher than the current retail price.
- Verify who you’re speaking with: call the company again and ask to speak with your account manager to ensure they’re telling you the truth about the organization they work for.
- Price transparency: use a price comparison business that is willing to publish the energy tariffs they offer on their website so you can be sure you’re making the best decision possible.
- Transparency in commissions: if you want to know how much commission the agency earns from the switch, simply ask. You’ll know whether you choose a trusted service. Be wary if they refuse to tell you.
- Pressure selling: A professional, impartial, and transparent service will not put you under any pressure to sign a contract and will provide you with all of the information and time you need to make the best decision possible.
You may sign up for the Say No to Cold Calling campaign and learn more about it here.
If you suspect you have been duped into a costly energy contract by a cold-caller, phone 0800 915 1800 and one of our team of business power contract experts will be able to assist you.
The Energy Advice Line is the United Kingdom’s only independent commercial power pricing comparison and switching service. It has lobbied utility companies to modify their business energy contracts and billing arrangements to make it easier for businesses to switch suppliers and get the best business electricity and gas rates and deals.
