Billions of people receive robocalls. A robocall is a prerecorded message that tries to sell products, advertise services or steal personal information, such as a person’s social security number, banking account or tax information.
People should know that robocalls are illegal. For instance, receiving unsolicited calls at strange times, repeated calls regarding the same subject or unsolicited calls with offensive comments could be considered harassment
While not all robocalls are designed to take your personal information and money, it doesn’t mean they are not annoying. Despite everything people try, it almost seems impossible to stop robocalls. Although robocalls cannot be stopped, there are steps people can take to lessen the volume of calls you get. Here’s what you should know:
3 ways to reduce robocalls
First, people can register their phone numbers at the National Do Not Call Registry as the first step to preventing unsolicited robocalls. To avoid contacting numbers on the list, legitimate telemarketers look over the list before placing a robocall. People who have their number on this list may see a reduced number of robocalls.
Scammers may still phone you, even if the National Do Not Call Registry can help you avoid unsolicited calls from telemarketers. Most phone providers have services to identify and prevent robocalls. The second way to prevent robocalls is for people to check their service provider or setting to see whether unsolicited telemarketers are blocked.
The third thing people can do is download a third-party application that prevents robocalls. This may be the only option for people who are part of a phone carrier that does not block these calls.
These apps use a variety of methods to identify and stop robocalls. For example, some might block numbers that have made several calls in a short period of time since they are most likely robocalls, which can help prevent robocalls for others and vice versa.
Unsolicited telemarketers are persistent. People who can not reduce the amount of robocalls that they encounter may need to learn about their legal options.
