Stopping All Those @%$* Irritating Telemarketers

Unsolicited telemarketing is the verbal equivalent of junk mail and Internet spam. The U.S. Department of Justice reports that consumers lose billions of dollars each year to fraudulent telemarketers.� While most telemarketers are honest, and offer products and services that are legitimate, far too many are not.� Help protect yourself by following these simple suggestions. You won't get as many calls from irritating machines just as you are sitting down to have dinner.

First, some bad news.

Fraudulent telephone solicitors often prey on the elderly.� When an elderly person has been targeted, solicitors may call back repeatedly and use high-pressure sales tactics.� All too often elderly victims do not report these crimes. They are fearful that family members will think they are incompetent and unable to handle their finances.

A common telemarketing scheme is to solicit funds by posing as a charity. The offer may include magazine subscriptions for a reduced price, or discount light bulbs. The telemarketing firm may donate a small portion of the profits to a charity to help maintain their legitimacy.� Just as often, they do not.

Telemarketers now use computer-driven "predictive" dialers that automatically place calls on multiple lines. You may have noticed an increase in the number of times your phone rings and you answer, but there is no one on the line.� There is a delay between you answering the phone and the computer redirecting you to a telemarketer, or a recorded message. Some states have adopted "Dropped Call Laws" to help prevent telemarketers from placing multiple calls that result in hang-ups before a connection is completed. Unfortunately, these laws are difficult to enforce.

Now, some good news.

Because telemarketing generates hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue each year, it's unlikely that telemarketing will go away any time soon.� However, there are a few simple things you can do to reduce the number of telemarketing calls you receive, and help prevent being victimized by fraudulent telemarketers.� Here are three important tips that are highly effective: