How Telemarketers Get Your Cell Number
by Fox Van Allen for Techlicious
Learn why cell phones no longer a reliable haven from endless telemarketer calls.–PC Pitstop.
If you’re in the shrinking pool of people who still have a land line, you’re most likely inundated with calls from telemarketers.
But your cell phone is different, right? You may have registered on the FTC’s National Do Not Call Registry and maybe you know regulations exist that limit the ways debt collectors and companies selling things can pester you on your cell phone.
That kind of thinking isn’t grounded in reality and, unfortunately, a growing number of telemarketing companies don’t care about lists and legislation and will harass you with unwanted calls and texts on your mobile phone anyway. In fact, one tech analyst recently estimated as many as 100 billion robocalls—those lacking a human being on the other end—and other solicitations are made to cell phones in the U.S. every year.
But how do telemarketers get your phone number anyway? You might be surprised.
1. You overshare your number
Anytime you fill out a form and give out your phone number—whether it’s a contest entry, a warranty registration, a signup form for an online service, what you include on your social networking profile—you’re opening yourself up for solicitations. Or, think about how many retailers have your number because you want loyalty points to score discounts or in-store credit.
Even putting your phone number in your email signature can put you at risk.
“Anywhere you’re entering your number on a form or anywhere that you’re supplying your information, there is a chance that that number is going to end up in someone else’s hands, whether or not the policy is stating that you’re protected or not,” says Jonathan Sasse, acting CMO of PrivacyStar, an app that lets you block numbers on your Android smartphone as well as report abusers to the government.
This excerpt appears with the permission of Techlicious.
