My cell phone started ringing early this morning. By the time I tried answering it, the caller had hung up. It was from a local area code. I dialed back and on the first ring was greeted by a message that said “Holidays are here, and if you’re interested in getting a new powerful computer from LI systems for Christmas, you’re..” upon which I hung up. How can someone find an unlisted cell phone number? Cell phones are not listed anywhere in any phonebook unless specifically requested.

Advertising is gaining more momentum these days, and also getting more expensive on many platforms for many businesses. Picking up local numbers somehow and getting the people to call you back seems like another form of spam to me. It’s like emailing someone with the message “We’re on for later this evening“, and that person replying back asking “Huh?who’s this?“, which lets the spammer mark your email address as being valid. The emphasis for some businesses, if not many, it seems, is not to try to focus on customers who’re looking for a product, but to get the word out that a certain product is being sold by a certain company, to as many people as possible. Regarding the phone calls that want you to call back a business, even if a thousand people call back, and at least 5 of such people make a purchase, it’s still obvious that the business in question was simply telemarketing.

It seems unethical and a rude form of business solicitation, where you call a potential customer and hang up, hoping that the customer has a caller id. The customer then calls you back and you immediately try to make a sale, either by directly talking with them or making them hear a recorded sales message. I guess adding my new cell phone number to the National Do not Call Registry is the only way to avoid having this nuisance from becoming another alarm clock for me.