[BullDog108]

If the collection agencies try using this service they are stepping in deep doo-doo. Consumer Protection laws regarding collection agency practices/behavior forbid use of deceitful or fraudulent acts.

[netmilsmom]

My answering machine says, "Please leave a message. I screen calls"
If you don't leave a message, you don't talk to me.

The added bonus is my MIL will not leave a message so I never have to talk to her!!!!!!!!

[stuck_in_new_orleans]

So a creditor could have the name "mom" and cathc unsuspecting people? Sounds illegal

[Radix]

As the Internet becomes more transportable, home telephones will become more archaic, unnecessary, and unwanted.

The telemarketers will always be there as vermin are, but good entrepenerial capitalists will find ways to thwart them.

[VadeRetro]

Crap! Right now I don't talk to anyone named "OUT OF AREA" or "PRIVATE CALL" or who has a 900 number or an 800 number or who has the same name as a state.

[gattaca]

Callers from India use this a lot. I might get a number from the states, but on the phone is a telemarketer from India.

[ProudVet77]

Caught a new trick about a week ago. A company left a message on my cell phone, which when I listened to it called the company back.
They had encoded the dialing codes into their message to me. What ticks me off is that I will be charged for the call.

[billorites]

I don't get many telemarketing calls anymore. Thankfully...

Most people who disturb me during dinner time are people I know, students, family, etc...

[Political Junkie Too]

This sounds like just another setup for more fees. After they deploy the Star38 product, the phone companies will offer, for a fee, the Star38 Override feature on home phones.

-PJ

[Numbers Guy]

Well, if some telemarketer uses deceit to get people to pick up the phone thinking that a family member is calling then I don't think they'll get too far.

[Kackikat]

If they don't want to tell who they are, don't call. I don't have caller ID its a rip off. Most companies have "out of area" or some 800,888 or other number you can't call back anyway. It's ludicrous to spend money on something that doesn't pay for itself, somehow. You can set caller ID so that they have to display their number or they can't call you. Phone services usually do not give you a good return on the cost, unless you have a business.
Why pay for long distance if you have a cell phone that gives you free calling.

People call here and I don't recognize their voice, I tell them "whoever they ask for" is UNAVAILABLE, may I take a message. I don't talk to salesman, every Fred, Dick and Susan who wants a donation, and I don't take surveys that take 15-20 min of my time. People waste hours monthly on unnecessary phone calls.

[William Terrell]

"Unfortunately, what's happened is some hackers have got to it first and gave it a bad name," Jepson said.

How do you give misrepresenting who you are and how you can be reached, for commercial gain, a bad name. You can't wet the ocean.

[Happygal]

Great.
So this company will let perverts call women listed in the phonebook and by pass their caller ID?

[Boiling point]

My last name is White so I typically answer the phone "White House". You'd be surprised how many telemarketers hang up immediately. Also, I told my wife if she married me, I promised one day she would live in the White House, and I was true to my word.

[RonHolzwarth]

There is something I have been wondering about for a very long time, maybe someone can help me with this.

Say you receive an unwanted phone call from a telemarketer, and it is from a nice sounding woman. Suddenly, you launch into a sexual tirade about her sexual,,, desirability, and the fulfillment of your fantasies, and discuss intimate things with her, in a totally obscene way. Use every filthy word in the book, and ask how much she charges for a few hours of fun and frolic, and when can we meet?

My question is: Is that illegal, considering that you did NOT place the call - SHE called YOU???