Do Not Call

More Than 500,000 Calls To Consumers On "Do Not Call" List

August 12, 2008 -- Harrisburg - Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett announced that consumer protection lawsuits have been filed against two business owners and their companies, who are accused of violating Pennsylvania's "Do Not Call" law and other consumer protection statutes.

The companies, based in Baltimore, Maryland, and State College, Pennsylvania, are accused of using illegal telephone solicitations to aggressively market mortgage products to consumers - including what Corbett alleges is the largest-ever systematic effort to violate the Do Not Call program since it was created in 2002.    » read more »

National operation includes more than 180 actions against instances of telemarketing fraud

May 20, 2008 -- TALLAHASSEE, FL – Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and a series of Florida partners today announced the results of a national telemarketing fraud sweep, including several actions taken throughout Florida over the past few months.    » read more »

May 7, 2008 -- Jefferson City, Mo. - Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon says Missourians are receiving letters in the mail offering mortgage insurance, refinancing and other services. He says while many of those solicitations are designed to look like they come from a consumer's mortgage lender, they actually come from a separate, unrelated company.    » read more »

February 13, 2008 -- Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Russ Feingold is backing legislation to ensure that a person who registers with a “do not call” registry only has to do so once. Under the original law, names on “do not call” lists are automatically removed after five years. Feingold is cosponsoring legislation by Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) that would remove the automatic expiration. The legislation has passed Congress and is awaiting the president’s signature.    » read more »

February 12, 2008 -- Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Chairman of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, and Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) today introduced legislation to regulate robocalls.

The measure introduced by Feinstein and Specter would not ban robocalls, but instead places sensible restrictions on how and when the calls can be made – including limiting the hours within which calls can be made, limiting the number of calls that can be made to each household, and requiring callers to identify themselves at the beginning of the call.    » read more »

Ensures New Yorkers' Phone Numbers Permanenty On List And Protected Against Annoying Telemarketers

December 18, 2007 -- With millions of New Yorkers at risk of receiving annoying and burdensome telemarketing phone calls, despite having added their phone numbers to the National Do Not Call Registry, today Schumer announced that the full Senate passed the bill that he co-sponsored which prevents phone numbers from expiring once they’ve been placed on the registry.    » read more »

Marketlinkx Direct pays $15,000 penalty

December 10, 2007 -- St. Louis, Mo. — A Florida company that made telemarketing calls to Missourians on the state’s No Call list will cease violating the law and pay a civil penalty of $15,000 under an agreement with Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon. Nixon’s assurance of voluntary compliance with Marketlinkx Direct of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and its owner Ezell Brown, was filed today in St. Louis City Circuit Court.    » read more »

November 19, 2007 -- HAMMOND, IN – Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter has filed a lawsuit against three Illinois-based companies for making illegal pre-recorded sales calls to Indiana citizens whose phone numbers are registered on the state’s Do Not Call list. The named companies in the lawsuit, Sonnenschein Financial Services, Sonnenschein Marketing Services and Target Marketing of Illinois, Inc., are alleged to have used an automated dialing machine to call nearly 80 phone numbers.    » read more »

November 16, 2007 -- INDIANAPOLIS, IN - Tuesday, November 20, 2007 is the next deadline to register for the state’s Do Not Call list announced Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter. Phone numbers placed on the list by 11:59 PM (ET) Tuesday will begin receiving benefits of the law starting January 1, 2008.

There are currently more than 1.9 million phone numbers registered on the Do Not Call list.

Reregistering is not necessary if you retain the same phone number. The law currently benefits more than 3.5 million people.    » read more »

November 6, 2007 -- Las Vegas, NV — The Nevada Attorney General’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, under the direction of Consumer Advocate, Eric Witkoski, today issued the following consumer advisory with important updates concerning the National Do Not Call Registry.    » read more »

November 1, 2007 -- NEWARK – A Howell-based company has agreed to pay $120,000 in penalties and to not engage in activities that violate the state’s Do Not Call Law, Consumer Fraud Act and Deceptive Mail Order Practices Regulations, under terms of two Consent Orders with the Division of Consumer Affairs.    » read more »

September 28, 2007 -- SEATTLE – A reminder for everyone who signed up for the national Do Not Call Registry back in 2003 when it was created: It’s time to renew your spot on the list if you want to continue to stay off of telemarketers’ phone lists. Numbers are flushed after five years. About half of the 148 million numbers on the nationwide registry are due to fall off the list starting in June.

While you’re renewing your phone listing, you might also want to remove your address from junk mail lists. Here’s how to reduce both unwanted phone calls and mail:    » read more »

September 28, 2007 -- INDIANAPOLIS, IN – Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter is assuring Indiana Do Not Call registrants that they do not need to re-register their phone number in order to continue receiving the benefits of the law, unlike the National Do Not Call registry which requires re-registration five years after the initial registration.    » read more »

09/18/2007 -- North Carolina Attorney General Drew Edmondson today said consumers who have signed up for the state’s Don’t Call List will remain on the list until they request otherwise, despite recent reports to the contrary.

Edmondson’s comments came in response to recent reports that some state Don’t Call Lists will soon be expiring. But Edmondson said that’s not the case in Oklahoma.    » read more »

Company used sweepstakes mailings to try to get people to sign away Do Not Call rights

September 4, 2007 -- Raleigh: A company that used sweepstakes mailings to try to get people on the Do Not Call Registry to sign away their right not to get telemarketing calls has agreed to stop, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said today.

“Tricking people into signing away their right to stop telemarketing calls isn’t the way to do business,” said Cooper. “Telemarketers should respect the wishes of people who’ve made it clear they don’t want these calls."    » read more »