Apr 27, 2012
The number called this morning and left no message.
Brendan says it says it comes thru online retailers? The last thing I bought online, I bought at Amazon.com, and they don't have a phone number for me.
The only thing I did online where I gave out my phone number is get my birth certificate. I did that through VeriChek and my state's record's office. A company called USBirthCertificate.com got in the middle of our transaction and took my information, including my phone number. USBirthCertificate did nothing else, even declining my payment (which is why I called VeriChek directly, who told me that USABirthCertificate.com is a scam). So VeriChek and USBirthCertificate.com are the only two online retailers I can think of who would have my phone number.
Another thing I've seen is that companies just plain *lie* and start out their pitch with "You're getting this call because of prior business relationships you have". Prior business relationship is one of the things that keeps companies who violate the Do Not Call list from being fined by the FTC, and companies use this knowledge. They *tell* the people they call that they have a business relationship with them in order to discourage their victims from reporting them to the FTC. The FTC is in the process of changing this particular part of the rule to eliminate the loophole.
Report them to the list anyway, if you're on it. The more instances they can present of this loophole being taken advantage of, the better case they'll have for making the change.