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(WZAW) – If you have recently received a lot of automated calls, you are not alone. Nearly 2.4 billion automated calls are made each month, according to the FCC (Federal Communications Commission).
This number has increased dramatically over the last few years because internet phone systems have made the calls illegal and the display of fake caller ID information easy and economical.
Susan Bach, Appleton's Business Ethics Office at the Office of Business Ethics, joined Deep Bench via Skype Tuesday to discuss the nature of automated calls and how to solve them.
If you answer the phone and hear a recorded message instead of a live person, it is an automated call. Calls use a computerized automatic dialer to send a pre-recorded message to a fixed or wireless home number. Many scams use automated calls from fake companies claiming to reduce utility bills or credit card rates, government grants, vacation packages and calls from individuals posing as IRS agents .
There are, however, types of automated calls allowed. In the United States, recorded messages regarding applicants for positions or charities requesting donations are permitted. Messages that are only informative, such as a reminder of your doctor's office, are allowed. Pre-recorded messages from banks, telephone operators and charities are also exempt from these rules if the organizations make the calls themselves.
In the United States, an immediate red flag is if the record tries to sell you something. If the registration is a sales message and you have not given your written permission to receive calls from the company at the other end, the call is illegal.
A telemarketer must have your written consent, whether in paper form or electronically, to receive a call or message. Just buying a product or contacting a company with a question does not give them legal permission to call you. The new rules also require telemarketers to allow you to stop receiving additional automated telemarketing calls immediately during a pre-recorded telemarketing call via an automated menu.
The FCC recommends that consumers take three essential steps to reduce unwanted calls.
1. To hang up. If you pick up the phone and get a recorded sales pitch, hang up. The call is illegal. Do not talk to them. Do not press a button to remove your name from the list. This could result in even more calls. In addition, alert your employees that if they see a call saying that it comes from the IRS or the Social Security Administration, do not trust them. Fraudsters know how to simulate caller ID information.
2 Block. You can reduce the number of unwanted calls you receive using call blocking technologies. Your options differ depending on the model of your phone, your service provider, and whether you use a landline or traditional Internet service. Visit ftc.gov/calls for advice.
3 Report. Once you have hung up, report the unwanted or illegal call to the FTC to the address ftc.gov/complaint. The more information they have on the call, the better they can target our enforcement efforts.
Consumers can help the government fight robot scams by reporting incoming calls.
The FTC recently announced Operation Call it Quits, a partnership with state and federal partners to combat automated calls. By June 2019, it included 94 actions targeting operations across the country, responsible for more than one billion calls.
Make sure to report any unwanted or illegal calls to the FTC to the address ftc.gov/complaint.
In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission's initiative provides telecommunication companies and other partners with the telephone numbers of known callers on a daily basis. The FTC collects the phone numbers of fraudsters from consumer complaints. The more consumers who report numbers, the faster they can develop their blacklist database.
Consumers can also report automated calls to BBB.org/ScamTracker.
BBB shares Scam Tracker information with government authorities and law enforcement. Each piece of information is therefore useful for locating fraudsters.
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