Don’t Panic: Your Cell Phone is Not About to be Ringing Endlessly.

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Have you gotten this email??

Cell phone numbers going public today REMINDER….all cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies today and you will start to receive sale calls. ….YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLS To prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone: 888-382-1222. It is the National DO NOT CALL list. It will only take a minute of your time it blocks your number for five (5) years. You must call from the cell phone number you want to have blocked. You cannot call from a different phone number. HELP OTHERS BY PASSING THIS ON TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS. It take about 20 seconds.

When I read it, I thought I’d check up on this dire warning. Here’s what I found:

The Truth directly from the Federal Trade Commission’s Do Not Call web site:

You may place your personal cell phone number on the National Do Not Call Registry. The registry has accepted cell phone numbers since it opened for registrations in June 2003. There is no deadline to register a home or cell phone number on the Registry.

You may have received an email telling you that your cell phone is about to be assaulted by telemarketing calls as a result of a new cell phone number database; however, that is not the case. Federal Communications Commission regulations prohibit telemarketers from using automated dialers to call cell phone numbers.

I verified this information by checking with the California State Attorney General’s web site and the Federal Trade Commission’s web site where I found this press release from April 2008.

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