In the 18 years of the National Do Not Call Registry, 244 million telephone numbers have been listed with the registry – and complaints about “millions upon millions of unwanted sales calls” have been lodged, according to Amy Hebert of the Federal Trade Commission.
The overwhelming majority of calls reported were robocalls. When you answer the telephone and hear a recorded message instead of a live person, “that’s a robocall,” explained Ms. Hebert, a consumer education specialist. A little over two-thirds of the five million calls reported to the FTC during the fiscal year that ended in October 2021 were robocalls, the agency said.
Of the 45,503 “do not call” registry violations reported to the FTC from Oklahoma in FY 2021, almost 70% were robocalls, records reflect.
The most common topic of the calls reported to the FTC was imposters, including calls from scammers pretending to be the Social Security Administration or the IRS. In Oklahoma, 5,104 of the 45,503 complaints were about imposters.
The next most-reported topic nationwide was warranties and protection plans. Those complaints from Oklahoma numbered 4,631.
The next most frequent complaints were calls about debt reduction (1,332 complaints from Oklahomans), medical and prescription issues (1,444 Oklahoma complaints), and computers and technical support (331 complaints from the Sooner State).
Oklahomans also reported unwanted calls about energy, solar and utilities (229), lotteries, prices and sweepstakes (220), vacation and timeshares (207 complaints), home improvement and cleaning (101), and work from home (62).
The 45,503 complaints filed by Oklahomans in FY 2021 surpassed the 34,660 gripes lodged in FY 2020 but were 26.5% fewer than the 61,962 complaints Oklahomans filed in FY 2017.
“Your reports show what we all know: even if you’re on the registry you’re still getting unwanted calls,” Hebert said. Legitimate, law-abiding companies typically follow the Do Not Call rules “but scammers often ignore them.” To get fewer calls, here are some ways to block unwanted calls: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-block-unwanted-calls
“Keep reporting calls at DoNotCall.gov,” Hebert advised.
The FTC and other law enforcement agencies analyze reports to identify and act against the people responsible for illegal calls and scams. The FTC also takes the phone numbers reported to it and releases them each business day to help telecommunications carriers and other industry partners that are working on call-blocking and call-labeling solutions, she said.