Peoria Illinoisan

I received this notice in an email from who I thought was an intelligent and well informed friend of mine. I read it and of course forwarded it to my wife and several friends.

Subject: Cell Phone Numbers Going Public
Cell phone numbers going public

REMINDER….all cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies tomorrow and you will start to receive sale calls.

…..YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLS

To prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone:

888-382-1222

It is the National DO NOT CALL list. It will only take a minute of your time
It blocks your number for five (5) years. You must call from the cell phone number you want to have blocked. You cannot call from a different phone number.

As a public service I was going to put this up on my blog, but thought I should google it to learn more about it first. Well, I’ll be damned if it isn’t a hoax!

ftc.gov: You may have received an email telling you that your cell phone is about to be assaulted by telemarketing calls as a result of a new cell phone number database; however, that is not the case. FCC regulations prohibit telemarketers from using automated dialers to call cell phone numbers. Automated dialers are standard in the industry, so most telemarketers don’t call consumers on their cell phones without their consent.

I find it odd that the phone number given to call actually IS the Federal Government’s do not call number, so I don’t really understand the nature of this email other than to make you look like a dumbass for actually forwarding it.

That being said, it is a good idea to call the number from your home phone number … unless, of course, you are lonely and need someone to talk to.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 17th, 2008 at 2:01 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.