Connecticut

What to Do About Robocalls

Robocalls are more common than ever, but there are steps you can take to try to stop those pesky calls from making it through to your phone.

Michelina Accettullo said her family is on the do not call list, but the phone keeps on ringing.

“You’re coming home from work and you want to sit down and have just a little dinner and the phone keeps ringing,” she said. “Now most people won’t pick up but my parents, they’re old school they pick up the phone.”

Nationally, leaders from the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission met Friday to discuss possible new ways service providers can block robocallers.

A new study finds that Connecticut residents got more than 345 million robocalls in 2017.

“These robocall machines are capable of cranking out millions of robocalls an hour simply in numerical order so eventually they will hit you,” said Howard Schwartz, spokesperson for the Better Business Bureau.

Schwartz said there are apps you can download on your cell phone to block unwanted calls, and hardware you can install on a landline.

“Better Business Bureau recommends that consumers never engage with the people who call if it is a live call,” he said. “Then, they know that you’ve got a working number and you’ll be put on a suckers list and that list will be sold to other people.”

Instead of answering, you can report the number to donotcall.gov and it will be added to a national database.

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