Even scammers don't want to waste resources on people that aren't going to convert and this is a pretty strong signal.
It usually works even when you have to talk over an aggressive operator to say it.
It'll totally work with regular telemarketers, but that isn't what we're talking about here.
Basically there's two things going on: Robo calling, which is restricted under FCC regulations. And calling numbers on the do not call list, which is also restricted under FCC regulations.
Someone who does both... usually isn't going to stop if you ask them to. I'm curious if you've experienced otherwise, very few people report having any success with that. Most call centers who violate federal two different federal regulations while dialing your number don't particularly spend time maintaining their calling lists.
Of course it doesn't end such calls altogether, but 2 a week is a damn sight better than several a day.
Do you have direct knowledge that they would not bother managing their call lists, or do we have dueling suppositions?
But we could call that dueling supicions if you'd like.
And just to clarify, you're talking about a US number that's been listed on the national Do Not Call list, right?
And not just regular scam calls, but calls placed by an automatic dialer and answered by an automated system that falls to a human caller only after being answered, right?
The ellipsis in my terse comment was sort of grounded in why the hell else would I post what I posted, and now we are 2 or 3 rounds deep in you asking me if I'm really sure.
I have no worries about your faith! Just your context!
Picking up at all confirms that your number is valid, connects, and an adult human at least occasionally answers - this makes your number more valuable for passing on to others.
There isn't much of a peer-to-peer "valid number sharing" market between companies, they protect their lists as a business asset with at least a little value, but larger groups will pass such data around their constituent parts and when a company folds whoever buys their data as a cheap asset is under no obligation to use any do-not-call list as a don-not-call list instead of a real-people-answer-here-add-them-to-the-next-campaign list.
Funny you should mention, because that is exactly what worked for me. Every time I get a marketing call I say I'm 17 so I can't buy anything from them, sorry.
The major problem with some of these issues is that if I understand it right, the phone system often isn't always aware of the source of the calls because they get routed through foreign gateways and voip and the number you see in the caller ID is spoofed and has no connection to anything.
The FCC is aware this is happening and these fall within its jurisdiction, but they're having trouble enforcing the rules.
The fact that congress is revoking the FCC's ability to enforce these rules for student loans is just bog standard corruption.