2.6 Billion Robo-Calls

Delegate Assy question - Gerry K, you do not need to call the Sheriff for every call from Cardholder Services.
2.6 Billion Robo-Calls Later, Why Won’t Rachel from Cardholder Services Just Go Away?

In fact, if you answer a robo-call, it’s unwise to bother following any prompts the recording might offer to be taken off their calling list. Not only will this not work, but the prompts are used as a trick by telemarketing operations to find out if there’s a live person on the other end of the line. When frustrated people inadvertently confirm that for them, the robo-callers can bundle up lists of just those numbers and resell them, Bandy says. “They monetize those live numbers.”

This is why the FTC recommends just hanging up on robo-calls, or not picking up the phone in the first place. The less contact, the better.

If you’re wondering, “What about the do-not-call list?” the unfortunate reality is that most of these robo-callers just ignore it entirely. After all, marketing robo-calls are illegal unless you’ve specifically given a company permission to contact you that way, so what’s one more violation?

Read more: http://moneyland.time.com/2012/09/27/why-those-annoying-robo-calls-from-rachel-arent-going-away-anytime-soon/#ixzz283KjR2je