{"id":1384,"date":"2016-05-10T11:59:46","date_gmt":"2016-05-10T15:59:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musingsbymichael.com\/blog\/?p=1384"},"modified":"2016-05-10T11:59:46","modified_gmt":"2016-05-10T15:59:46","slug":"the-do-not-call-list-is-a-joke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.musingsbymichael.com\/blog\/2016\/05\/10\/the-do-not-call-list-is-a-joke\/","title":{"rendered":"The Do Not Call List is a Joke!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Do Not Call list is a joke! How many times have you been harassed by someone calling you from a company trying to sell you something that you do not even need or want? And to make matters worse you have registered your phone number with the Do Not Call List, but by doing so you do not see any change in the number and type of calls being made to you. Well guess what; the National Do Not Call List czar has admitted that those taking advantage of signing up for this list have not benefited as was touted when the new law was enacted.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is in charge of the list and has noted that<\/a> the number of complaints has tripled since 2009; that is there are over 150,000 unwanted calls are being made each month. The FTC has some suggestions after you register with them and they may help so here is a link<\/a> to that page. But the big problem is that the legal companies obey the Do Not Call List and the illegal ones, who are usually out of the reach of our government, keep calling.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Have you looked at your Caller ID and seen a legitimate caller, but when you picked up it was someone trying to sell you something or scam you? If so you have experienced Spoofing! Mainly scammers will do this and unfortunately there are websites that tell people how to do it. I will not direct you to any of the sites that allow you to do this, instead here is a site<\/a> that will explain how it works and what you can do about it. To be aware that spoofing exists in the first and best piece of information in your personal arsenal against being scammed.<\/span><\/p>\n

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For example you could get what looks like a legitimate call from some company you already have a relationship with, but when you answer the phone it is someone trying to scam you into buying something you do not need or want. It could be a recorded message or a person, if it is a recorded message and you are given the option to press a button to take you off their caller list \u2013 do not press any button at all! Just hang up. If you had hit any button then the scammers would now know that a person had answered and they could\/will sell this information to other scammers. And guess what will happen next; you will be flooded by callers trying to scam you. Also remember this, most if not all the scammers are located outside of the United States and are very hard to prosecute much less stop. So if you do learn nothing else from today\u2019s blog remember this, do not push any button(s) in response to a suspicious call asking you if you want to opt out- just hang up!<\/span><\/p>\n

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That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike<\/span><\/p>\n