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A recorded voice selling you something is almost certainly breaking the law, and probably trying to scam you. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) explains how robocalls work and what to do.
Are robocalls legal?
If you answer and hear a recording instead of a live person, it is a robocall. One that tries to sell you something is illegal unless the company has your written permission, given directly to the company, to call you that way. To get it, the company has to say clearly that it is asking to robocall you, and it cannot make agreeing a condition of buying a product or service. Odds are that robocalls pitching you something are illegal, and many are probably scams.
Not every robocall is illegal. Purely informational messages and calls to collect a debt are not (though a robocall selling debt-reduction services is illegal and almost always a scam). Your state may have other rules too.
Why so many?
Scammers. Robocalls are cheap and easy to make over the internet from anywhere in the world.
Scams to know
- Government impersonators. Robocalls claiming to come from government agencies about your Social Security number, taxes or Medicare, and threatening that something bad will happen if you do not pay or give up personal information, are a scam.
- Pressure to pay in odd ways. If someone calls out of the blue and insists you hand over personal information, wire money, put money on a gift card, use a payment app or send cryptocurrency, it is a scam, whether they say they are the government or a business.
- Other common themes: extended car warranties, debt relief and credit repair.
- Caller ID cannot be trusted. A call labeled a possible scam is helpful, but not all scam calls are flagged, and scammers can fake the name and number, making it look like the Social Security Administration or a local number.
What to do
| Step | Why |
|---|---|
| Hang up | Pressing a number to talk to someone or be removed from the list will probably only bring more robocalls |
| Block | Call-blocking and call-labeling services can reduce unwanted calls; which option fits depends on whether you use a cell phone, a traditional landline or a home phone that makes calls over the internet (VoIP). Check your carrier's services and online expert reviews, and for cell phones the reviews of blocking apps in your app store |
| Report it to the FTC at DoNotCall.gov | Give the number that received the call, the number on caller ID, any number you were told to call back, and the exact date and time if you know it. Report even if you think the caller ID number is fake: the FTC analyzes report data and trends to identify illegal callers by their calling patterns |
Each business day the FTC releases the phone numbers reported to it to the public. That helps phone companies and others building call-blocking and labeling tools, and reports help law enforcement find the people behind illegal calls.
What the FTC is doing
The FTC continues to bring enforcement actions against robocallers and says it has already stopped those responsible for billions of robocalls. It works with other law enforcement agencies, encourages industry efforts against robocalls and caller ID spoofing, and has led efforts to develop technical solutions, including a series of contests that challenged tech experts to design tools that block robocalls and help investigators track robocallers down.
Sources
- Federal Trade Commission, Robocalls, Consumer Advice; rewritten in hubnx's own words.
Licence : CC0 1.0 (domaine public) · Adapté de consumer.ftc.gov
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