In a public announcement we ran in The Ledger last week it was indicated that all U.S. cell phone numbers would soon be made public to telemarketing companies and that residents who do not wish to receive these calls and be charged for them, should register their cell phone numbers on the National Do Not Call List.

We apologize that some of this information has been found to be inaccurate. According to the most recent press release obtained from the Federal Trade Commission Web site, “FCC regulations prohibit telemarketers from using automated dialers to call cell phone numbers. Automated dialers are standard in the industry, so most telemarketers are barred from calling consumers on their cell phones without their consent.” Also, “the national associations representing telemarketers have stated that their members do not intend to start calling consumers’ cell phones.”

We have received e-mails from residents directing us to a Snopes.com article stating that the release of cell phone numbers was an urban myth and that telemarketers will not be given a directory of cell phone numbers.

However, the Snopes article related to several circulating e-mails that had been in circulation in 2005 and 2006. And when verified on the FTC Web site, the most recent press release on this issue was posted in October 12, 2007.

And though some of the facts of this public announcement may have been misleading, the truth remains that since last week individuals have come to me to report that they have indeed been getting telemarketer calls on their cell phones.

I have been made aware of over a dozen reports of people receiving telemarketer calls on their cell phones and I myself have received them.

One woman reported that she was getting calls every other month, another said she was getting calls as often as three times a day. Both women said they did not know how their cell phone numbers wound up on telemarketer calling lists.

A few people I spoke with said that they were so inundated with calls that they felt forced to register on the Do not Call list. One woman said that her family was getting calls on the home line and that she and her husband were getting them "all day long" on their cell phones. The couple felt "like we had no choice" but to add all three of their phone numbers to the list and have not been called again since then.
Other residents have reported that they receive a frequent number of calls on their cell phones from numbers they do not recognize on their caller IDs. Many of these numbers have been discovered to be linked to telemarketing scams. 

I myself have received calls like this. 

Like a good many Americans these days, I do not have a landline at home. My cell phone is my home phone. Whenever a call comes through on my cell, I check the caller ID before I answer it. One night, around 7 p.m. I got a call from a number I did not recognize. I waited to see if the caller would leave a message but they did not. The next night, at the same time, the call came again. And it came every night that week and never once did the caller leave a message. When I had finally had enough, I went Online and searched for any possible information connected to this mysterious phone number and low and behold, a laundry list of Web sites had this number listed as a source number for a magazine telemarketing scam.

So if it is illegal for telemarketers to call people's cell phones, and if cell phone numbers are not being made public in any sort of capacity, then why are there so many substantiated reports of this happening? If cell phone numbers are supposed to be off limits to telemarketers, then why does the FTC recommend people add ANY phone lines they do not wish to be publicized to the Do Not Call list.
The phone number and Web site for the Do Not Call registry as listed in the public service announcement last week are both valid. They are both legitimate contacts for the FTC.

For more information on the Do Not Call List visit FTC.gov.

The circulating public notice we received may have started as an urban myth three years ago but there appears to be some truth to it now. Find out for yourself and be an informed consumer.