The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) talks about unwanted telephone calls. You signed up for the "Do Not Call Registry" ages ago, but you're still getting a bunch of unwanted calls. what can you do? Hang up. When you get illegal sales calls or robocalls, don't interact in any way. Don't press buttons to be taken off the call list or talk to a live person. That just leads to more calls. Instead, hang up and file a complaint at donotcall.gov.

Your number is on the Do Not Call Registry, so why are you still getting calls? Because of scammers. Most legitimate companies don't call if your number is on the Registry. If a company is ignoring the Registry, there's a good chance that it's a scam.

The FTC has sued hundreds of companies and individuals for placing unwanted calls. The FTC also is leading several initiatives to develop technology based on solutions. Those initiatives include a series of robocall contests that challenge tech gurus to design tools that block robocalls and help investigators track down and stop robocalls.

You filed a complaint-–or several complaints–and you wanted to know when you'll hear from the FTC. Due to the volume of complaints, the FTC can't respond directly to each one. But please keep to complaints coming because the FRC and other law enforcement agencies analyze complaints to spot trends and to take legal action against wrongdoers. To date, the FTC has brought more than a hundred lawsuits against companies and individuals for Do Not Call violations. 

But I gave you the phone number of the company that called me! Current technology makes it easy for scammers to fake or "spoof" called ID information, so the number you reported in your complaint probably isn't real. Without more information, it's difficult for the FTC to identify the actual caller. Nonetheless, the FTC analyses complaint data to identify illegal callers based on calling patterns. The agency also is pursuing a variety of technology based solutions to combat illegal calls and practices.