"harassed senior" - take a few comments from a fellow harassed senior, in this case a retired "problem solver" with Federal law enforcement. "Do not call REGISTRY" is just that - r-e-g-i-s-t-r-y ! The intent of this registry is a somewhat misguided attempt by Congress, in response to a whole lot of citizen complaints, to end, or at least attenuate, telemarketer calls. The theory (at least) is that legitimate businesses that use telemarketing to increase income (legitimately) will check the registry, and if they find your number on it, will pass you by. However, these criminals (who make a LOT of $ with their illegitimate, illegal scams) couldn't care less about the DNC. When was the last time you heard of criminals being concerned by law(s) ? After all, if they were law-abiding, they wouldn't be labeled "criminals" (make sense?) The DNC is under the aegis of the Federal Trade Commission. In their defense, I tell you that the FTC did raid one of these criminal's "boiler room" operations (that raked in $18 million !) and made several arrests. Part of the problem is two-fold. First of all, the lure of these scams is that they make a LOT of tax-free $, which is very attractive to a lot of people with, shall we say, low morals. The second half of the problem is that most of these "operations" are "off-shore", i.e. outside of America - which puts them beyond the reach of American law enforcement. So, what are we "harassed seniors", and other law-abiding citizens to do? My advice is based on the recommendations of several Attornies General - just don't answer any calls that (allegedly) originate from areas and/or numbers that you don't recognize. And, support by "contributing" comments to sites like 800 Notes. The "system" depends on the willingness of its' victims - refuse to be one! Hope you, and everyone, finds this helpful.
When are people going to understand that scam callers do not abide by the do not call registry? We don't need to read your rant about the DNC list in regards to scammers. It's not applicable! Asking these a-holes to be put on a DNC list only gets your number put on more lists. Get over it and stop complaining that the DNC list doesn't work. It works fine for legitimate companies.