Sick Of Telemarketing Calls? Trace & Document Them!

Following my last telemarketing call, I decided I have had enough. I have been getting a LOT of those automated calls where the message talks about how you can save money on your credit cards? I get at least one a week and for a while I was getting one a day. The phone company says it's a scam and that's why there is no caller ID and if you use *69 is says the number cannot be found.

So I called Qwest today and found some things out that I thought I would share with others. If you don't live in Minnesota you should check your local service to see if what I'm going to tell you applies.

1) There's not much Qwest can do by themselves. They can give you a new number, but I'm damned if I'm going to change MY lifestyle and get a new number because of this crap. You can report the calls to the FTC and State Attorney General's office, but without information, what can they do??

2) I found out you can use *57 to trace the caller. YOU can't get the information, but the authorities can use this to go after the jerks that bother you or try to pull scams. When you use *57, you hang up on the caller, then pick up and dial it. What happens is that the caller information is stored and listed under your phone number for THREE YEARS! So you can use this for a while and then let the authorities know and their will be a lot of call records for them to use.

3) When you use *57 you are charged $1.00 each time. Yes, this sucks, but it turns out that if you call 800-582-0655 (Qwest annoyance call office) and tell them you used *57 they will issue a credit. I asked them if they will issue a credit WHY we get charged in the first place? Of course, there is no answer other than "That's the way it is!".

4) I would also keep a notebook and document each call like this that you get. Write down the time, date, and anything else you can about the call. You can use this when you report them.