I just received a call from someone calling themselves "Real Estate Hardship Service", but was unable to get my question's answered about who they we're working with, or what would be the homeowner's obligation be to them. And I was given an abrupt dial tone when I asked did they have a website for verification.
FYI - If you are wanting to make your complaints count, you should be sending them to the FTC, not the FCC (FTC is Federal Trade Commission, the agency responsible for the do not call list, FCC is Federal Communications Commission, responsible for telephone companies like AT&T and Sprint, broadcasting, and a whole bunch of other stuff but NOT the do not call list).
Found this on the FTC website a few moments ago. Just posting the lead. Check the link at the end if you want to read the whole thing. It IS, however, proof positive that the government IS serious about do not call.
FTC Charges Utah Operation with Deceptive and Abusive Telemarketing
Defendants Allegedly Made 16 Million Calls to Numbers on the Do Not Call Registry; Misrepresented How Funds Would Be Used
At the request of the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Justice today filed a complaint that charges three Utah-based firms and their owner with waging deceptive and illegal telemarketing campaigns pitching movies and soliciting for donations, including calls to more than 16 million phone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry.
The FTC charged that the companies and their owner, Forrest S. Baker III, committed multiple violations of the FTC Act and the Telemarketing Sales Rule, and deceived customers about where the proceeds from their purchases and their donations would go.
Full article at http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2011/05/featurefilms.shtm.
Received a call from this number on my cell at 10:28 a.m. on 5/10/11. Called this number back 9 minutes later at 10:37 a.m. and got a recorded message stating: "This number is not in use. Thank you for calling. Goodbye." *disconnect*