Today, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued the National Do Not Call Registry Data Book for Fiscal Year 2012. The Registry provides a way for consumers to avoid receiving most telemarketing calls. The Data Book, which is in its fourth year of publication, contains statistical data regarding:
- consumer registrations on the Registry
- subscriptions of entities, such as telemarketers and sellers, accessing phone numbers on the Registry
- consumer complaints submitted to the FTC about companies violating the do-not-call rules.
According to the 2012 Data Book, the Registry now contains more than 217 million active numbers; and the volume of consumer complaints about telemarketing has increased from approximately 2.27 million in FY 2011 to approximately 3.84 million in FY 2012.
The Data Book also contains data on the number of monthly complaints related to pre-recorded telemarketing “robocalls.” For example, in September 2012, the FTC received 201,699 robocall-related complaints. The FTC will be hosting a summit later this week, on October 18, 2012, to explore solutions to the problem of illegal robocalls.