Rossen Reports: How to stop robocalls once and for all
Have a question for Jeff Rossen? He's answering your consumer questions every Friday in the new segment "Rossen Responds." Email your questions to him at [email protected].
Robocalls are still on the rise! David emailed Rossen Reports saying he's on the "Do Not Call" registry, but he's not sure it's working. How can he stop robocalls?
Let's review a few things about the : It's designed to stop unwanted sales and telemarketing calls coming from real, legitimate companies. Scammers (and companies that aren't following the law) don't pay attention to this list. Even then, it tells these companies NOT to call you but it doesn't BLOCK their calls. This registry also doesn't stop things like political calls, charitable calls, and informational calls. If there's a sales pitch in there, that鈥檚 when it crosses the line. If a legitimate telemarketing company does call you and you鈥檙e on this registry, you can report it to the FTC by .
Sign up for the Do Not Call Registry by . It doesn't hurt to sign up 鈥� and it's free. Once you register your number, you'll get an email with a link to confirm. Then it can take up to 31 days for sales calls to stop. to read more about the registry.
To get fewer unwanted calls 鈥� like scam calls 鈥� you're going to need something extra.
You can try a call-blocking app, like Robokiller, which has plans starting at $2.49/month. Another way is to check with your service provider:
- AT&T offers the .
- Verizon offers a .
- T-Mobile has the .
Your cell phone can cut down on those unwanted calls, too.
- On an iPhone, there's a screening option. Calls from unknown numbers are silenced and sent to your voicemail and appear in your recent calls list. So if it's someone legit, they'll leave a message. If it isn't, you don't have to answer. Go to Settings, then Phone, then tap Silence Unknown Callers. Toggle on the feature.
- For Androids, steps differ depending on your phone model, but you can usually find this option under "Settings" and then "Blocked Numbers" and you鈥檒l turn on the "Block Calls From Unidentified Callers" feature.
