Marketing Calls to Cell Phones…ILLEGAL!

This is straight from the people who bring you the beloved calls at dinner. The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) is telling us straight up. A while back there was an email scam going around about the cell phone directory. The email campaign was bogus. It told people that they must act now! It went on to explain that you would start receiving calls from telemarketers if you didn’t call some 1-800 number. These calls would charge you even if you didn’t answer.

I seems this urban myth just won’t go away. What really happened goes a little something like this:

According to Snopes.com, a company called Qsent was contracted by the major cellular phone players such as Alltel, At&T, Sprint, Cingular, Nextel and T-Mobil to create a cell phone directory, known as the wireless 411 service. I guess the some of the public, be they paranoid or naive, spread fear of said directory falling into the hands of telemarketing companies. Well, guess what people? Telemarketers and those using auto-dialers are not allowed to legally access the information contained within the directory.
Cell phone customers must request to be part of the database and those who don’t, will not be a part of it. These 411 directories were never going to be plastered on the net or even available to the average Joe. There isn’t a charge either way. That’s untrue too. When in doubt, check with the FTC.

So if you are signed up with the National Do Not Call Directory, and 30 days later you get a call from some company that is selling whatever. You can pursue litigation for the designated amount ($500-$1500). But remember this does not include political calls, emergency calls, or non-profits.