Spam calls are probably the most annoying daily issue that has arisen with smartphones. Either it’s a salesperson cold calling you, a ridiculous spam, or robocall. The good news is you can prevent a good chunk of these calls by just doing one simple thing—and it works for iPhone and Android.
An option you’ve overlooked: the National Do Not Call Registry
As it turns out, one of the most effective tools for blocking spam calls predates the smartphone revolution entirely. I’m talking, of course, about the National Do Not Call Registry, managed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which remains a primary line of defense for consumers in the United States.
Credit: Arol Wright / How-To Geek
Established in 2003, this federal database was designed to protect consumers from unwanted telemarketing calls, and contrary to what you might think, seeing how old it is, it is fully compatible with modern mobile phone numbers on both Android and iPhone devices, not just traditional landlines.
This is basically a government-backed layer of protection that operates independently of your specific device or carrier. Consumers can add their personal wireless or landline numbers to the database by visiting the official website, usually found at donotcall.gov, or by calling the toll-free number from the phone they wish to register. Personally, I’ve found that the website is occasionally down, so you might want to call instead.
When using the website, you must verify your registration via a confirmation email within 72 hours to ensure the request is processed. Once a number is permanently added to the Registry, it remains there until the number is disconnected or the owner asks for it to be removed.
Keep in mind, though, if you’re going to do this, that it’s not an instantaneous fix. After a consumer registers their number, telemarketers are legally granted a grace period of up to 31 days to remove the number from their call lists.
Why should you enroll?
When you place your number on this list, you are leveraging federal law to deter compliant businesses from making contact. The primary incentive for enrollment is the severe financial penalty imposed on violators. Legitimate telemarketing companies are required by law to search the registry every 31 days and synchronize their internal lists to ensure they do not contact registered numbers. Companies that fail to comply and call a number on the registry can face civil penalties of over $50,000 per violation. This massive financial risk acts as a powerful deterrent for reputable businesses, significantly thinning the herd of incoming calls.
Furthermore, enrollment serves as an effective filtration system for the user. Once a number has been on the registry for the required 31 days, the nature of incoming unknown calls changes. Because law-abiding businesses will stop calling, any unsolicited sales call received after this period can be immediately identified as a likely scam. You’re probably getting scams every so often, but this makes sure you’re completely sure that every unwanted call you get is a likely scam—or at least, a telemarketer breaking federal law.
It won’t stop everything
While the National Do Not Call Registry is a powerful tool, it is not a silver bullet that will eliminate every unwanted interruption. For starters, FTC regulations include specific exemptions that allow certain types of organizations to continue calling registered numbers. For example, political organizations, charities, and telephone surveyors are not covered by the registry’s restrictions. Consequently, during election seasons or fundraising drives, users may still experience a high volume of interruptions that are perfectly legal, regardless of their enrollment status.
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Additionally, the registry allows for calls from companies with whom the consumer has an “established business relationship.” If a user has purchased a product, submitted an inquiry, or made a payment to a company within a certain timeframe—typically up to 18 months following a purchase—that company retains the right to call until the consumer explicitly asks them to stop. This often catches consumers off guard, as they may not realize that buying a product online technically grants the vendor permission to make telemarketing calls. To stop these specific calls, the consumer must make a direct, company-specific request to be placed on that entity’s internal do-not-call list.
The registry is also ineffective against criminals. Robocallers and scammers who operate illegal call centers, often located overseas, have no regard for United States federal law or FTC regulations. These bad actors use “spoofing” technology to fake their caller ID information, making it difficult for law enforcement to track them. Since they are already committing fraud/identity theft, the threat of a civil penalty for a do-not-call violation is meaningless to them. Therefore, while the registry will successfully strip away the layer of nuisance calls from legitimate businesses, it cannot block the torrent of illegal spam calls.
For complete protection, the registry must be used in conjunction with other tools, such as silence-unknown-callers features or carrier-grade spam blocking apps. Still, this will likely cull a bunch of them—the legal ones, at least.
