Complaints about automated calls up sharply

[SeattleVet]

8. If I hear the completely 'dead air' that indicates a robo-dialer

I turn on the police/fire scanner in the background then answer the phone with "Telemarketing Fraud Division; how may I direct your call?" as soon as the connection becomes 'live'. This usually results in an immediate hangup, sometimes with an "Oh, s#!^" as they cut the connection

If I actually talk to a live body I get their name, their company's name, and a callback number. Then I thank them, tell them I have enough information to file the complaint, and hang up. One guy got so upset that I was reporting him that he was almost in tears - "I'm just trying to make a living here; that's not very nice". (I told him that the drug dealer down the alley was just trying to make a living, too, but we got him shut down.)

If I'm in a chatty mood I'll keep them on the line a bit, and ask them why in the world I should trust them with any of my personal or financial information, since they've already shown a willingness to break federal law by calling me. What other laws are they willing to break?

I usually go to the Ooma web site (the system we're using for VOIP phone service) and add the number to the blacklist, so we never get another call from that caller ID again, and they will just get a message that their calls are being blocked.

If the FTC and FCC get enough complaints they eventually DO take action - the FCC is a bit more responsive. Last year one of the more active phone spammers got hit with a $3.6 million fine. I report *every* one of these illegal calls (both live person and recorded message scams) to the FTC and FCC (www.donotcall.gov for FTC, and http://www.fcc.gov/complaints for the FCC).