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Home > Consumer Focus Archive > Stopping Unsolicited Mail, Telemarketing and E-Mail
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Consumer Focus: Taking
Steps to Protect Your Privacy |
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Stopping Unsolicited Mail, Telemarketing and E-Mail
Annoyed by having
your mailbox filled with unsolicited mail and credit card offers? Had it with
dinnertime telemarketing calls? Tired of having what seems like hundreds of
junk messages in your inbox every time you check your e-mail? Unfortunately,
there's no sure-fire way to totally eliminate the unsolicited mailings, calls,
and e-mails you receive, but the Federal Citizen Information Center (FCIC) has
assembled some tips that can help you cut down on the junk. Learn more
about:
Learn more
about:
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Mail and
Telephone Preference Services
The Direct Marketing
Association (DMA) offers the Mail and Telephone Preference Services,
which allow you to reduce the amount of direct mail marketing and telemarketing
you receive from many national companies for five years. When you register with
these services, your name will be put on a "delete" file that is updated four
times a year-in January, April, July and October -- and made available to
direct-mail and telephone marketers. Two to three months after your name is
entered into the quarterly file, you should notice a decrease in the number of
solicitations you receive. However, your registration will not stop mailings or
calls from organizations not registered with the DMA's Mail and Telephone
Preference Services.
To have your name
deleted from many direct mail or telemarketing lists, write your own letter or
use the sample letter and mail it to the following addresses:
For direct mail
marketing: Direct Marketing Association; Mail Preference Service; PO Box 9008;
Farmingdale, NY 11735-9008.
For telemarketing:
Direct Marketing Association; Telephone Preference Service; PO Box 9014;
Farmingdale, NY 11735-9014.
You may also go directly
to the Direct
Marketing Association Consumer Assistance
website.
The Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) Telemarketing
Sales Rule (TSR) requires certain disclosures and prohibits
misrepresentations. It gives you the power to stop unwanted telemarketing calls
and gives state law enforcement officers the authority to prosecute fraudulent
telemarketers who operate across state lines. The TSR covers most types of
telemarketing calls to consumers, including calls to pitch goods, services,
"sweepstakes," and prize promotion and investment opportunities.
- It's illegal for a
telemarketer to call you if you've asked not to be called. If they call back,
hang up and report them to your State Attorney General.
- Calling times are
restricted to the hours between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m.
- Telemarketers must
tell you it's a sales call and who's doing the selling before they make their
pitch. If it's a prize promotion, they must tell you that no purchase or
payment is necessary to enter or win. If you're asked to pay for a prize, hang
up. Free is free.
- It's illegal for
telemarketers to misrepresent any information, including facts about their
goods or services, earnings potential, profitability, risk or liquidity of an
investment, or the nature of a prize in a prize-promotion scheme.
- Telemarketers must
tell you the total cost of the products or services offered and any
restrictions on getting or using them, or that a sale is final or
non-refundable, before you pay. In a prize promotion, they must tell you the
odds of winning, that no purchase or payment is necessary to win, and any
restrictions or conditions of receiving the prize.
- It's illegal for
a telemarketer to withdraw money from your checking account without your
express, verifiable authorization.
- Telemarketers
cannot lie to get you to pay, no matter what method of payment you
use.
- You do not have to
pay for credit repair, recovery room, or advance-fee loan/credit services until
these services have been delivered.
The FTC is proposing
to amend the
TSR. The FTC's proposal includes creating a national "do not call"
registry. Under the FTC's proposal, it would be illegal for telemarketers to
call consumers who place their phone number on the national registry. If the
FTC decides to adopt the proposal and implement a national "do not call"
registry, it will be months before it takes effect.
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"Pre-Approved" Credit Offers
Do you get lots of
offers for a "pre-approved" credit card from financial institutions you've not
heard of or done business with and wonder how they got your address? Credit
bureaus can release your information only to people with a legitimate business
need. In addition, lenders and insurers may use in your credit file as a basis
for sending you unsolicited offers. You have the right to "opt-out" of
receiving these offers. The credit bureaus offer a toll-free number that
enables you to "opt-out"
of having pre-approved credit offers sent to you for two years. Call
1-888-5-OPTOUT (that's 1-888-567-8688) for more information. This line is for
"prescreened" or "pre-approved" credit card offers only.
In addition, you can notify
the three major credit bureaus that you do not want personal
information about you shared for promotional purposes
-- an important step toward eliminating unsolicited mail.
Write your own letter or use the sample
letter to limit the amount of information
the credit bureaus will share about you. Send your letter
to each of the three major credit bureaus:
Equifax, Inc., Options, PO Box 740123,
Atlanta, GA 30374-0123
Experian, Consumer Opt-Out, 701 Experian
Parkway, Allen, TX 75012
Trans
Union, Marketing List Opt-Out, PO Box, 97328, Jackson, MS
39288-74328
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Unsolicited E-Mail
Unsolicited
commercial e-mail, usually called "spam," is considered an annoyance by
many consumers. Some consumers have fallen prey to the bogus offers frequently
touted in these e-mails.
Typically, an e-mail
spammer buys a list of e-mail addresses from a list broker, who compiles it by
"harvesting" addresses from the Internet. If your e-mail address appears in a
newsgroup posting, on a website, in a chat room, or in an online service's
membership directory, it may find its way onto these lists. The marketer then
uses special software that can send hundreds of thousands of e-mail messages to
the addresses at the click of a mouse.
There are several
steps you can take to help reduce the amount of unsolicited e-mail you receive.
The DMA offers an E-Mail Preference Service to help you reduce unsolicited
commercial e-mails. To "opt-out" of receiving unsolicited commercial e-mail,
use the DMA's
online form. Your request will remain effective for one year. In
addition, you should:
- Try to keep your
e-mail address private by not using it in newsgroup postings, in chat rooms,
etc.
- If you use
newsgroups and chat rooms with some frequency, you might consider establishing
two e-mail addresses. Establish one for personal messages from family and
friends; the other for newsgroups and chatrooms.
- Use an e-mail
filter. Check your e-mail account to see if it provides a tool to filter out
potential spam or a way to channel spam into a bulk e-mail folder. You might
want to consider these options when you're choosing which internet service
provider to use.
Stay
tuned for more information on your privacy and steps you can take if you run
into problems.
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Other Resources
This is just a brief
overview. For more information on unsolicited mail, telemarketing calls, and
e-mail, check out these resources from FCIC and on the World Wide
Web:
Publications
available for ordering from FCIC:
Websites*:
* Names of
resources and organizations included in this online article are provided as
examples only, and their inclusion does not mean that they are endorsed by the
Federal Citizen Information Center or any other Government agency. Also, if a
particular resource or organization is not mentioned, this does not mean or
imply that it is unsatisfactory.
*If you click on these links, you are leaving FCIC's website. Please
bookmark us before you leave so you can return easily. FCIC is not responsible
for the content of these websites.
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We will not retain or use this
information for any other purpose.
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For more information on other popular consumer issues
check out FCIC's Consumer Focus
Archive.
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