An unsolicited call is an invasion of privacy. You have the right to protect your privacy -- and your peace of mind. Often, this kind of invasion is tantamount to harassment. Bill collectors, telemarketers, and even prank callers waste your time, disturb your family time, and must be stopped. At Reverse Phone Check, we are committed to helping you protect your phone number and preserve your peace of mind.
Protecting your phone number is relatively easy. We can help you stop unwanted callers from disturbing you. Phone harassment can be a legal offence in the United States and there are many laws that safeguard consumer rights. If any company or person violates the phone privacy rights of an individual, they can be legally penalized.
Harassing phone calls are more than a nuisance -- they are an intrusion. In the United States, a harassing phone call is defined as any phone call wherein the caller uses threatening or obscene language, calls and hangs up repeatedly, remains silent when the call is answered, breaths heavily or plays music or a message. These calls are illegal and can be prosecuted in a court of law. If these calls entail a risk of any bodily harm then the victim of such calls has the legal right to seek redress from the police and the local phone company. The Police and the local phone company will only take action if such calls are made repeatedly and the person and his family are threatened with any kind of bodily harm or physical injury. Fighting harassing phone calls can be a relatively simple matter.
Our phone privacy tips can help you avoid unwanted calls and keep your phone number from being registered with telemarketing companies. These tips are useful and easy to follow. If you have children in your home, you can even share these tips with them. Informing your children can help them stop telephone harassment and stop them from giving away personal or family information.
A great tip is to never record your phone number or name on an answering machine or voice mail system. This stops telemarketers and bill collectors from identifying you. You can also register your phone number on the Do Not Call List. If prank callers or insistent admirers are calling you, you can resort to using a phone trap or a call trace service. Remember: never disclose personal information to unwanted callers. If an unknown caller asks you about your phone number it is prudent not to disclose the number. This is called phone fishing and is usually an attempt to steal vital information for credit card or identity fraud.
Apart from theses tips, we proudly offer a relatively new service, called Privacy Manager. This helps you stop unwanted callers. Many local phone companies offer caller ID units that can identify callers with such monikers as "anonymous", "out of area", "unavailable" or "private". In this system when the phone rings the person can choose to take or reject the incoming call, send the call to the voice mail or send a special message to telemarketers requesting them to add the phone number on the Do Not Call List.
Lastly, if there are children in the house they should be taught not to give information to strangers. Teach them to only say hello, yes or no. Using children to glean personal information is an old trick used by con men and criminals alike.
These guidelines can help you successfully protect your privacy and your family. Harassment is a mercurial designation. You should remember that an unwelcome call does not amount to phone harassment and the person must keep this in mind if he needs to lodge a complaint against any unwanted caller.
Everyone in the United States can opt to register his or her landline or cellular phone number with the National Do Not Call List. Within 31 days of registration, you should notice a significant drop in telemarketing calls. The NDNCL accepts both phone and cell numbers and can even be used to stop telemarketing calls to business numbers. When you register, you simply verify your phone number online. In some states, you can request telemarketers stop calling you before the 31-day cooling period. You can forward our request to the FTC. If a person changes his mind and wants to get his name removed from the National Do Not Call List he can visit the website of the National Do Not Call List to have his phone number erased from the list. Those persons who wish their number to be deleted from this list must make a call from the number that he wishes to remove from the list. The Federal Trade Commission also has the power to remove telephone numbers that have been disconnected or assigned to new customers. For any complaints that a person needs to make he can do so to the FTC. He needs to fill in the complaint form that is available online and the offender can be penalized under law.
Frequent calls from telemarketers can be stressful -- and incredibly annoying. Telemarketers are trained to read from a script and trained to be persistent. They are nuisances and they can invade our privacy wantonly. You can easily stop telemarketing calls with the help of the National Do Not Call List. The NDNCL has proven to stop approximately 80% of telemarketing call lists. One can register to the National Do Not Call List online or by dialing the toll free number of the Federal Trade Commission.