After many years without a landline, I reluctantly got a home phone number for work-related reasons. I ordered my service online, and dutifully called AT&T the next day as instructed in an email. Unfortunately, the man who completed my order didn’t link it with my online order and I only got the “unlisted” number instead of both “unlisted” and “non-published” as I originally requested. I only found this out three days after my phone line became active because I suddenly received three telemarketing calls in one day addressing me by name! They even knew my address! I am not exaggerating when I say it was 3 days later. My phone line was on on a Monday and I got calls on Thursday.
The only fortunate part of all this is that the guy who got my order wrong, also left off the first letter of my last name. So the phone company has my name wrong. The telemarketers misspelled my name in the same manner, so I KNOW they got the number from the phone company.
I called the phone company about this and I changed my phone number. When I asked them how the number got out to telemarketers, they told me that they are required to put all the new numbers into some database that these telemarketers have access to, but that they don’t sell the numbers. The person I talked to said they’re required to do it by the FCC. When I asked them what database, they couldn’t tell me. I looked up my misspelled name in the AT&T white pages directory online and it wasn’t even there yet!
Main question:
Where are these telemarketers getting these new numbers so quickly? Where is this mysterious database? I want to get to the bottom of this. I am still getting a barrage of automated telemarketing calls with the new number, just as if the phone company released my phone number with the label “new number” in a batch of anonymous “new number” listings. I never had this problem when I had a landline before. I am getting at least 5 calls a day.
I filed a complaint with the FCC but I’m not holding my breath that I’ll get any answers there. The person who talked to me on the phone told me that she’d never heard of a FCC requirement that forces the phone companies to release their newly issued numbers.
New phone numbers are the most valuable lists telemarketers buy! They assume new resident so all kinds of offers are made. There are companies who do nothing but compile phone number lists based on various demographics and “new listings” are HOT! They are probably paying AT&T and other carriers for direct access to new phone listings.
As I said AT&T insists they don’t sell the numbers. It’s not legal to do so without permission. They are too big a company to be doing this without attracting notice and lawsuits.
The telemarketers weren’t calling for “related services”. They were calling for things like car loans, newspaper subscriptions, satellite dish services, etc. unrelated to AT&T and phone service.
I want to know how they get the free database. Where are these numbers posted?
You know about donotcall.org or whatever it is, right? There’s a registry that you can use to block telemarketers. I signed all our phone numbers up and we get no calls.
When I bought my townhouse last summer I opted to get a new phone number rather than have the old one transferred. On the day I was moving in, right after I plugged in my phone, I got two phone calls from people asking me if I was interested in having a security system installed. During the next few days I continued to receive telemarketing calls, until I was finally able to get online and get the new number added to the “do not call” list.
I also received an automated call about the switch to digital TV on my cell phone the day after I had it activated.
I know about the do-not-call list. That’s not my point.
I want to know how these numbers get out so fast. Someone’s got to know. I used to work in a section of the phone company where they would run a database batch operation at night that enabled the transfer of phone numbers from the utility to other competitors. It’s not the same situation, but I’m envisioning a similar daily batch process that sends out a database of newly assigned numbers. The question is, where does it go, and how do people access it?
No, they weren’t affiliated companies, I know this for certain. The Sun-Times circulation department isn’t affiliated with AT&T.
Employees at a lot of companies make a side living selling off customer info. I wouldn’t exclude a bad employee collecting new customer info and selling it.
This is also how people sometimes get hold of someones cell phone records. (Although social engineering also works.)
Answering machine greeting: “Listen carefully. I never buy anything over the phone. Never. Not once. If you leave a message offering me goods or services, I will call you back just to call you names and call your mother names.”
Yes, but this is intellectual curiosity on my part. That’s why I posted the question here. I’m not asking you to solve my problem of getting calls, I’ve signed up for the do-not-call list. I’m asking a factual question. I’m not asking for speculation. I want to know where this mysterious database is (the phone company has admitted to it). How do these companies get access? I’m hoping someone with inside knowledge may see this post.
This is a social problem imho. There are plenty of people out there reporting the same thing. The universal solution is the do-not-call list, but I want to know the source of the problem in the first place. If they are selling my number, then the phone company is not telling the truth, and it’s breaking the law. That’s a pretty big problem for someone not to notice.
Of course they don’t sell it WITHOUT your permission. However a quick glance at AT&T’s website indicates that there are three types of numbers
Regular (available in the phone book and from directory assistance)
Unpublished (available from directory assistance BUT NOT in the phone book)
Unlisted (not available from directory assistance nor in the phone book)
It also says by having a phone number with AT&T you AUTOMATICALLY give them the right to “SHARE” (read: sell) your phone number with other companies AT&T feels can provide you with helpful information.
It also says you have the right to opt OUT of the this. In otherwords you’re PUT INTO the database ONLY THEN do you have the right to have your name taken out. Which of course means some people who buy said database will have your name, if they are lucky to buy the database before you get your name out.
Finally it says people with UNLISTED numbers are automatically excluded from this sharing agreement and do not need to tell AT&T to exclude them.
It’s a Federal law that they are not allowed to sell residential numbers. I have a residential number. “Sharing” is not the same as “selling”. The agent and supervisor on the phone both reiterated that AT&T is not allowed to sell numbers.
I read the agreement and AT&T only shares the number for related services. (also verified by customer service) I don’t think a company selling magazine subscriptions is a related service. It was not affiliated with AT&T in any way.
None of us were physically present when your phone number was sold/stolen/whatever. We provide “speculation” based on our prior knowledge of such things.
There’s a lot of ways this can happen, all we can do is enumerate them. If you don’t like it …
