How to Handle Unwanted Calls & Mail
Unwanted Phone Calls
Having personally received thousands of phone calls from telemarketers & scammers to try and ultimately get you to give them money, that’s really what it comes down to. It’s unfortunate that it is this way but there are also ways you can prevent them and even report it to regulators. There are a few ways to minimize and sometimes get rid of these calls all together.
Register your phone # on the national Do Not Call Registry DoNotCall
Subscribe to a RoboKiller service that will automatically block calls from numbers in their database that are known to be spam, scams or telemarketing. example: Robokiller (on iOS & Android) & most VPN providers have a product for this as well.
iOS and Android have built in functions as well as the cellular service providers to show you if it suspects a call to be a scam, they can get it wrong however and say a call is spam when really it’s a debt collector (since people report them often)
Know your rights: If your phone # has been on the national do not call list for 31 days and you are getting unsolicited calls still you can report them to the FTC.
There is no way to opt out of calls from charities, political groups, debt collectors or surveys. Source: donotcall.gov
Unwanted Mail
Have you ever received a piece of mail that was unsolicited or offering you credit that is preapproved? I know I have and let me tell you it’s extremely annoying. You don’t want to just put it in the trash because you’re thinking what if someone can pull this out of the trash and try to apply for credit with it. Even though the odds of that happening are slim, it’s something we think about and is still a possibility. Not only that, it’s the easiest way to fill your trash, and over time as you put your email, phone # and name into forms for free services or sweepstakes it’s more than likely that a lot of companies have your mailing address and will try to sell you their services or products. Here are some ways to prevent unwanted mail:
Opt out of Prescreened/preapproved credit solicitation and offers. OptOutPrescreen
Opt out of Valpak and other unwanted mail solicitatons:
There is NO way to opt out of religious, charity or political materials.
