LITTLE ROCK (KTHV) - Robocalls are on the rise nationally despite the National Do Not Call List. But Arkansas officials are working to reduce this frustration.
What we can tell our viewers is that the Arkansas Attorney General's Office is going after companies behind these Robocalls. Just last month, the office filed five lawsuits in federal court against five separate companies, claiming their offers don't add up and they're violating the Do Not Call List.
Heather Row and her daughter Whitney check out jewelry at the River Market. It's something they enjoy unlike the Robocalls that they get on their cell phones.
"Yeah it's frustrating because it burns up my minutes and it interrupts me at work when I'm in the middle of patient care," Heather Row said.
Row, a Veterans Affairs nurse, says she gets about one to three Robocalls a day. Her daughter gets up to six calls a day.
"I've had them where they call four times in a row and it will just be the same number," Whitney Row said.
"If I can give the consumers any hope that they'll get relief from this, it's that we're working on it," Deputy Attorney General Jim DePriest said.
His office is "working on it" with recent lawsuits filed against companies calling Arkansans with allegedly false credit card offers.
"We found five and our plan is to shut them down," Deputy Attorney Jim DePriest said.
In the meantime, DePriest says folks can work to stop these calls by signing up for the Do Not Call List. You can also file a complaint with the Attorney General's Office.
"They should provide us with the Caller ID; if in fact they have stayed on the call long enough to learn anything about the caller they can provide us with that information," DePriest said.
They are steps to keep those bothersome calls from folks like the Row's, who are happy the state is stepping up.
"Oh yeah I'm glad because I don't have the time to go after them," Heather Row said.
As for the scope of this problem, the Federal Trade Commission saw the number of complaints on Robocalls climb from about 65,000 in October of 2010 to more than 212,000 this past April. To stop them, the agency says the best thing to do is just hang up right away, they say it's possible pressing any numbers could increase more calls back.
The FTC also reports that these Robocalls are allowed for charitable and political purposes but anyone trying to sell you something is probably a scam.
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