What To Know About Robocalls
Robocalls are a growing annoyance for many people today. They come at all hours of the day and night and can be highly disruptive. However, few people understand how robocalls work or what qualifies as a robocall. In this blog article, we’ll help you know the crucial details about robocalls and how to protect yourself against them.
What Are Robocalls?
Robocalls are autonomous phone calls that use a programmed autodialer to send a pre-recorded communication to a home landline or wireless number. Robocallers are the systems or machines used to make these calls. Robocalls can send messages that are both legal and illegal. Legitimate robocalls can give you essential information, like a medical alarm, a school closing, or a fraud warning from your bank.
However, many scammers use robocalls as well. Scammers use these systems to try to sell services or products, say they have grants from the government, or even pretend to be from the internal revenue service (IRS). Scammers utilize tricks like “spoofing” to make the caller ID show a number that seems trustworthy. These new methods make it difficult to spot robocalls.
Are Robocalls Legal?
Rules from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) state that companies can create and use robocalls to provide information related to subscribed services like prescription reminders, talk about politics, or ask for charity donations. For a robocall to be lawful, it needs to say who makes the call and give the caller’s phone number and address.
Before making the call, it must also get your permission. However, some robocalls don’t need your permission, such as informational messages, calls from debt collectors, calls from some healthcare providers, and charity messages.
Charities must also allow you to opt out of getting calls in the future. The charity can provide you with this option via an automated choice in the call. If you get many illegal robocalls trying to sell you something, they may be part of a scam.
What Kind of Robocalls Are Illegal?
An illegal robocall will try to solicit you with an offer, a free bonus, valuable prizes, a foreign lottery, a low-risk investment, immediate choice offers, or a sales offering.
Robocallers may also try to induce you to give them personal or financial information, threaten or scare you, insist that you do something right away, or suggest that if you don’t, there will be consequences.
Lastly, a supposed tech company representative that robocalls you to inform you of potential tech issues is probably a spam call. A real tech business won’t call, email, or text you to tell you there’s something wrong with your computer. They also won’t send you a pop-up message telling you to call a phone number.
How Should I Handle Robocalls?
Most automated calls are illegal if they involve a sales push and you did not provide your written consent to accept calls from the firm on the other end. During a prerecorded telemarketer call, people should also be able to use an automated menu to say they don’t want to get any more robocalls from the same company.
The FTC says there are three essential things to do to avoid and stop robocalls: hang up, block, and report. When you encounter an illegal robocall, disconnect the call immediately. Do not click any numbers, as it could result in more robocalls. If you believe the information on your caller identification (ID) is phony, submit it to the FTC at DoNotCall.gov.
Consider call-blocking solutions available through phone carriers to help decrease the frequency of unwanted robocalls. Options will vary based on the phone type, service company, and if you use a traditional line or internet phone.
Finally, if you encounter an illegal robocall, notify the FTC. The more details they have about the phone call, the better they can direct law enforcement measures.
Contact us at Heidarpour Law Firm if you need legal protection and advise on robocalls and other telemarketing problems.