Over the last year, robocalls have been a popular Tech Talk topic. One of the resources I mentioned for stopping telemarketers was the Do Not Call Registry. The Registry was launched in 2003. As of September 30, 2019, there were 239 million active registrations.
How does it work? Telemarketers and phone sellers must review their lists. They must remove numbers from the Registry every 31 days. If you get a call from a telemarketer after 31 days, you can report the call to the FTC. You can also report robo sales calls. Most robocalls which are sales calls are illegal. There are a few limited exceptions to this rule.
To join the Do Not Call Registry or report an illegal call, you can call 888-382-1222 or visit www.donotcall.gov .
The FTC also publishes an annual National Do Not Call Registry Data Book. In it, they break down the complaints. This can help consumers and law enforcement nationwide.
In 2019, 5,422,298 calls were reported. Only 1,546,234 were made by live callers, meaning the vast majority were robocallers. South Carolina was 36th in the nation for the number of Registry complaints. We reported 71,165 Registry violations and fraudulent calls. Of these, 45,851 were robocalls – that’s over half! The exact number of complaints made from Lexington County was not reported. However, we are classified as having a “high” number of Registry complaints.
To see the Data Book or view interactive tables for the data, visit https://www.ftc.gov/reports/national-do-not-call-registry-data-book-fiscal-year-2019 .