# Have you noticed getting more Telemarketers on your Cell phone lately? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 5, 2017, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-noticed-getting-more-telemarketers-on-your-cell-phone-lately/783856 "2017-04-05T23:40:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2017, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-noticed-getting-more-telemarketers-on-your-cell-phone-lately/783856/21 "2017-04-06T22:08:14Z")
> [@kbear](#): > > Facebook keeps asking me to update my profile with my phone number to “make my account more secure”. Is FB perhaps selling this data to advertisers? Facebook is basically the realization of the plot of _Captain America: The Winter Soldier_ including giant flying platforms which can remain airborne indefinitely. Sure, these flying wings don’t have giant cannons designed to kill thousands of people instantly or are run by a cult of crazed maniacs advised by a rogue Austrian Nazi scientist who has been transferred to banks of obsolete computer systems buried in a closed Army barracks in New Jersey (that you know of) but they are looking to follow you everywhere and predict your future. They don’t need your phone number; they already have it, and that of your children, and your third grade teacher. As far as Facebook is concerned, you are just another bit of data to aggregate into a gestalt of society that it will then seek to tear down and remake in the image of Mark Zuckerburg, and I mean that in the literal since that they are going to send tracker bots to hunt you down, extract all organic materials from your body leaving a pile of zinc dust, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, and Cheetos flavoring, and the construct Zuckerberg clones molecule by molecule like some kind of Luc Besson wet dream gone horribly wrong. I had a point when I began this post but it has since escaped like a cybernetic killer android in a time vortex. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![SUZ\_MAC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e8cbc/32.png) [@SUZ\_MAC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SUZ_MAC)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2017, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-noticed-getting-more-telemarketers-on-your-cell-phone-lately/783856/22 "2017-04-06T22:30:16Z")
I am getting unknown calls much more frequently lately. If the number begins with my area code and I am unsure if it is legitimate then I call the number from my work phone to verify. Once I know for sure then it gets blocked. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-noticed-getting-more-telemarketers-on-your-cell-phone-lately/783856/23 "2017-04-07T00:01:47Z")
> [@thirdname](#): > > Why is it possible for them to do that? Shouldn’t the caller ID show the actual number that’s calling? It sounds like a major flaw in the system. What was developed as a feature has become abused and as a result turned into more of a flaw than a feature. Companies do not necessarily want calls returned to the employee’s phone that originated the call; they often want people to phone their main customer switchboard. Hence the ability to control what is displayed in caller id information. Any calls from a company doing this will appear to come from a single designated number. As with many aspects of modern technology (many aspects of the Internet come to mind) lowlife cretins abuse the feature. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-noticed-getting-more-telemarketers-on-your-cell-phone-lately/783856/24 "2017-04-07T02:19:04Z")
> [@Raza](#): > > Nothing to add, except the same pattern: formally 1-2 a month; now 2-4 a day, often with local area codes. This. Today was more like 5 calls. Bastards. > [@Flyer](#): > > I very seldom leave messages any more. Would you like to know why? > > Because about 95% of the time when I do leave a message, and actually get a response back, the response makes it abundantly clear that the person **never listened to the message**. > > Why should I have to say the same thing twice? > > One time I met a guy, and we got to talking a little about business. A couple days later, I called him to follow up. I got his voicemail, and left a message. About 60 seconds later, I got a text-- “Who is this?” Naturally, I had given my name, and why I was calling, in the message I left. > > So you people who expect voicemail messages are deluding yourselves. I think you’re missing the point. Due to rampant hourly faked caller ID telemarketing on my mobile I’ve adopted the following policy. In talking to others live face to face and reading posts here it’s clear I’m far from alone in this. I ignore all calls from unknown numbers. I ignore all calls that don’t leave voicemails. I ignore all calls that leave voicemails that are silence. I call back (or text or email) all calls like “This is **Flyer**. Call me” or “This is **Flyer**. I need the figures on the Schmutz case by noon. Blah blah blah (for another minute or two)” etc. If, _and only if_, I know your number OR you leave coherent voicemail identifying your self will we ever have any communication. For me personally you can leave your full message and I’ll act on it without just calling back off caller ID. Others may not. But rest assured calling somebody who doesn’t already know your number and leaving no message is pretty well guaranteeing you two won’t ever be communicating at all. Bottom line: Calling strangers and leaving no message is IMO a guaranteed fail. Calling known people and leaving messages is admittedly iffy whether they’ll listen to them or not. But each recipient tends to be consistent over time. Bob always listens, Sam never does, etc. So for best results do what works for the recipient. YMMV. And yes, it’s friggin’ asinine that yet another useful communications tool has been wrecked by assholes because it wasn’t designed from the git-go to prevent abuse. And it’s doubly assinine that the rest of us are forced into these half-assed inconvenient efficiency-killing workarounds. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-noticed-getting-more-telemarketers-on-your-cell-phone-lately/783856.md?page=1)