How Does a Telemarketer Get My Phone Number?

Telephone Listings

The most easily accessible place for telemarketers to get your phone number is from the telephone book. If your number is not listed you will have a much better chance of limiting phone calls from telemarketers.

Donating to Charity

Whenever you choose to donate money to charity, your information can quite easily make its way on to that charity's call list for future fund-raising. Charities will often hire telemarketing companies to make these calls for them. The telemarketers then have your information, which they can use to contact you about other matters concerning companies with whom they also have contracts.

Applying for Credit

Many times just trying to open a credit account can open your information to a wealth of telemarketers. These credit granters most often will make even more money from you by reselling your information to other parties.

Automatic Number Identification

ANI is the process in which 1-800, 1-888, 1-900 and any other free or pay-per-call number can record your information. These companies can then use your number in the future for their own campaigns or sell your number to other companies to help make more money.

Automatic Dialers

If you have taken every precaution possible to stop telemarketers from calling you, but somehow you still get called, most likely you are getting hit by an automatic dialer. An automatic dialer randomly dials numbers within an area code until it reaches a live number. Once it has reached an actual number, it will then connect that number to a live sales agent.

Contests

Every time you fill out an entry form for a drawing or a contest, you are also inviting that company to contact you in the future. Oftentimes, companies will use contests to bulk up their mailing and contact lists. The amount of money that they gain from the lists usually will outweigh the cost of the prizes for the contest itself.