Sixteen Telemarketers Charged With Violating Mississippi’s No Call Law

NETTLETON, Miss. (WCBI) –  Mississippi’s Public Service Commission is charging sixteen telemarketers with violating the state’s “No Call Law.”

Like many Mississippi residents, Kevin Smith put his cell phone number on the “No Call List.”  But the Monroe County  man says he still gets unwanted calls from telemarketers, who sometimes use local numbers, a practice known as “Spoofing.”

“They need to stop,” Smith said.

The Public Service Commission is trying to get sixteen companies to stop making the calls.  They have been charged with violating the “No Call Law.”

“This turns into a predatory harassment, and we’re dedicated to going after every single telemarketer that violates our law,” said Commissioner Brandon Presley.

The commissioner says investigators found the companies, all out of state, made hundreds of calls to Mississippians, who had their numbers on the do not call registry.

“In Mississippi our do not call program covers both landlines and cell phones, also telemarketing text messages,” Presley said.

Before telemarketers can face any penalties, No Call Violations have to be reported and there’s an app for that.

“It will allow you to immediately report those calls from your cell phone, don’t have to mail in a form, call a office, go to a website,” Presley said.

Cell phone and landline users say they appreciate the PSC’s action.

“I hope he can get it stopped, it’s caused a lot of problems,  my wife thinks it’s somebody else when it’s not,” said Kevin Smith.

“I think he should go after them, it’s obvious that if they’re breaking the law or doing something unethical then they ought to have to pay the price, pay the consequences for that,” said Lee County Resident Dale Hathorn.

If the courts find the companies violated the no call law, they could face fines of up to $5,000 per call.

For information about how to get on the no call registry, or to get the app to report violations, go to psc.state.ms.us.  That APP can be found by searching for “PSC No Call” in the iTunes APP Store or Google Play Marketplace.