How to Stop Unwanted Commercial Calls and SMS to Your Cell Phone?

A marketing call while driving or while in a meeting or while at a hospital or in the midst of busy chores is indeed an undefinable pain. However, it is business as usual for illicit telemarketers. They approach you with a host of things ranging from credit cards, home loans, insurance products, new mobile connections, real estate, winning a lottery, astrology, and even blessings from god! In our country where anything can be done for a bribe, telecom companies sell their databases containing customer details and phone numbers to telemarketers for a song. While the regulatory authority, TRAI, is fighting tooth and nail to bring to book such offenders, it is a naked truth that we are still hounded by such unwanted commercial calls and SMS.

Therefore the onus of avoiding such nuisance marketing calls and SMS vests solely upon us. So, how to avoid such unwanted commercial calls and SMS to your cell phone? Here are the methods that I tried successfully to stop unwanted commercial calls and texts on my phone which you too can try:

Choose a Good Network

The first and foremost thing to do to stop unwanted commercial calls and SMS is to remain in a good network that values your privacy. A network that doesn’t sell your data. A network that acts upon your complaints regarding spammy calls. While at RCom, I opted to fully block commercial calls in the National Consumer Preference Register. However, I still received umpteen marketing calls a week and had so much trouble. They had no dedicated department to report such spam calls. The guys at their customer care were cool headed to take my complaints. I was fed up.

Use MNP to move out

I waited until mobile number portability (MNP) was implemented. Ultimately I moved to Airtel where I am very much satisfied with the actions taken on my complaints regarding spam calls. I found Vodafone also to be quick at grievance redressal in this regard. I don’t know much about other service providers. Hence it is best to stick with the best service providers in your area. MNP helps you to move out of a sloppy network.

Register Commercial Communication Preference

If you have not yet chosen the marketing preferences for your mobile phone at the aforementioned National Consumer Preference Register, it is high time to do so. (Know your current status here.) To fully block all unwanted commercial calls/SMS, register your preference by sending a SMS from your cell phone to 1909 with START 0 as the text. All marketing calls and SMS to your cell phone should stop within 7 days from the date of this registration. Make sure to note down the reference number given while you register your option. Sometimes you may need it later to complaint against an erring telemarketer.

I have written a detailed guide on how to register at the National Consumer Preference Register and also how to register a complaint against an erring telephone marketer. Find it here on Facebook.

Share Alternate Number

Don’t slap your primary personal number everywhere on the earth. Share it very limitedly, only with your friends and relatives. Except for essential services, wherever you are requested to share your mobile number, it is always advisable to keep and share a separate second number. My second SIM is purposely used for this. I give out this number whenever I am compelled to share my cell phone number at not-so-important places. You too can try that and avoid getting nuisance marketing calls to your first, personal number.

Report to 1909

As per the law, commercial communications to your mobile phone should stop from eighth day since you have registered your preference through 1909; however, you know the ground reality in India. If you still receive marketing calls from the eighth day onwards, you can report the spam call to 1909. Upon receipt of your complaint against the erring marketer, the concerned operator of the spam origination should immediately terminate the services to the spammer as per TRAI regulations. Almost all the times, this works perfectly except one network which I mentioned earlier which returns the complaint with the remarks “no action is necessary.” In a losing battle, retaining each and every customer is a priority for that network than acting upon the spammers.

Collect further evidence

Whenever possible, as an extra evidence to trap the spammer, I would request the spammer to send the contents of his call as a SMS. I could flag this SMS while raising the complaint. It should be noted here that you should have never dialed (not even should have given a missed call) or texted the spammer. If it is a two-way communication, chances are less that action would be taken against the spammer. Most of us are using smartphones these days. There are a few apps which are useful in reporting spam to 1909 on the go. I use the Android app TRAI DND to report spam in a fly. I don’t know if any such app is available for iPhones.

Use Caller ID Apps

There are a few caller identification applications available for iOS and Android phones which if installed would alert you about the caller even before attending the call. Truecaller is one such app for Android phones. They have a huge database where spammers have been demarcated by people who already have suffered from such spam calls. Should you install anyone of these applications, you can very well ignore the calls from spammers or even block such numbers from reaching you.

Save spammers’ numbers

However, the caller ID app need the Internet connection to be working all the time, so that it is able to search the database on its server. If you do not use Internet on your phone or if use Internet on your phone sparingly, you can very well add the spammer’s number to your phone’s address book and block the spammer’s number through your phone’s address book itself to avoid receiving a call from the same spammer for a second time.

Play a Prank on the Spammer

Having said all of the above, here is the fun part. Usually I stop the vehicle I am driving, on the road side, to pick a phone call. I don’t use cell phone while driving. So I get irritated after I realize that the call I attended is a marketing call. The spammers don’t even extend the minimum courtesy to ask if they can speak to me at that time. Same is the case while at movies, at meetings, at naps, etc. However, when I have ample time and want a break from a monotonous day, I used to play pranks with the spam callers. You too can try any of these pranks. Here are my favorite pranks:

Funny pranks

• I would pretend to be an auto driver, a lawyer or a police officer. Financial institutions have an unwritten taboo to these people to extend their financial services!
• I would say that I moved to a remote place in the Western Ghats and I would invite the spammer there to collect my application!
• I would prolong the conversation as far as possible, particularly if the caller is a female ;) asking genuine questions (or even personal questions about the spammer!) as if I am very much interested in their offer. In the end, I would say I already have the product that was offered, hence compared it with the spammer’s offer!
• I would say I am on international roaming and would like to hear the matter fast. Once s/he finishes up, I would say that I will get in touch with him/her once I am back home after two years!

The spammer would hang the phone as soon as they hear the above pranks and would never disturb again.

Extra Pranks

You can tread an extra step by doing the pranks below.

• Make it a funny conversation and record the speech. Share the conversation on social media to go viral and reach the spammer again.
• Send the recorded speech back to the spammer through WhatsApp if the spammer’s number is there on WhatsApp. Share the recorded speech on WhatsApp groups as well to alert your friends.

The Bottom Line

I respect every job except illegal ones and I respect telemarketing too. It is their bread and butter. However, your freedom ends where my nose begins. What is wrong with these telemarketers is their approach without respecting others’ privacy and reluctance to abide laws. May be the spammers are just arrows and the archer doesn’t face all these wrath. Most of the times, these archers (telemarketing BPO owners) try to circumvent the laws.

Once my complaint to 1909 completely ripped off a business’ phone connections. The business owner impersonated me and sent an email request to the telecom service provider (TSP) to withdraw the complaint. When the TSP reached me to verify the authenticity of the request, the business owner’s fraud came to light, and I pleaded not to restore the connections as the second crime, impersonation, is a serious offense. The business owner came begging to me on phone to withdraw my complaint. Tell me why should I?

Only stepping up awareness among the public and stern action by the authorities would bring an end to this menace. If telemarketers don’t let you sleep peacefully, try all of the above. My relentless efforts against these erring telemarketers for over a decade have started showing results. These days spam calls and messages have heavily come down to just a few a month on my phone. If I could accomplish success, you too could stop receiving all those unwanted commercial calls and SMS on your phone.