You may have gotten an email recently delivering the urgent news: all cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies this month. Their remedy? To protect your number, you need to register it on the national "do not call" registry, number provided below. Sound a bit fishy? That's because it is.
In reality these emails are a scheme to get consumers and callers to give their telephone information to the scam artists. The Federal Trade Commission says yes, you can put your number on the registry, but FCC protocol prohibits telemarketers from utilizing automated dialers to call cell phone numbers anyway. If you do feel more at ease putting your number on the list, try to look up the legit government number rather than calling the random number on the email with no credibility.
If you are still not positive if you are being swindled, there are a few red flags that you could look for. Once you register on the don't call list you are registered for life, so if someone asks you to pay a fee to be put on the list, or if they say that your time on the list might expire you can be sure that the person you are talking to is a scam artist.
This email alert comes with the new year, where scam artists come out of the wood work searching for victims. "Anytime a new year starts, they are going to try and do whatever they can and put a different twist on it to get you the consumer to really question yourself if that is actually legitimate," a fraud analyst says.
Anytime you think you may have come across a scam, you can give the Better Business Bureau a call at (661) 322-2074 or visit www.bakersfield.bbb.org. There they are able to refer you to the correct agency or give you trustworthy information so you can make a wise decision.
In reality these emails are a scheme to get consumers and callers to give their telephone information to the scam artists. The Federal Trade Commission says yes, you can put your number on the registry, but FCC protocol prohibits telemarketers from utilizing automated dialers to call cell phone numbers anyway. If you do feel more at ease putting your number on the list, try to look up the legit government number rather than calling the random number on the email with no credibility.
If you are still not positive if you are being swindled, there are a few red flags that you could look for. Once you register on the don't call list you are registered for life, so if someone asks you to pay a fee to be put on the list, or if they say that your time on the list might expire you can be sure that the person you are talking to is a scam artist.
This email alert comes with the new year, where scam artists come out of the wood work searching for victims. "Anytime a new year starts, they are going to try and do whatever they can and put a different twist on it to get you the consumer to really question yourself if that is actually legitimate," a fraud analyst says.
Anytime you think you may have come across a scam, you can give the Better Business Bureau a call at (661) 322-2074 or visit www.bakersfield.bbb.org. There they are able to refer you to the correct agency or give you trustworthy information so you can make a wise decision.
About the Author:
Mallory Megan works for Rapid Recovery Solution , a debt collection agency and writes articles on collections and finance.
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