There is email going around that cell phone directories will soon be made available to telemarketers and that customers will be charged for telemarketing calls. In actuality, a 411 directory is being compiled for cell phones but will not be given to telemarketers, who would need to place a call and request a number just like everyone else. However, once such a directory exists, it is not unthinkable that telemarketers will find some way to get their hands on it. Remember that some of the largest identity theft incidents have been pulled off by insiders. It is therefore not a stretch of the imagination to assume that someone with access may be swayed by a huge chunk of filthy lucre to pass on the directory contents to someone in the industry.

Auto dialers are blocked from calling cell phones, but human dialing is still available. I worked briefly in a telemarketing fundraising boiler room for local community services, and we used something called the Coles Directory which lists sequentially by phone number. Unlisted numbers appeared without a name attached but they did appear, with the assumption that most of them would be active numbers - and most were. Many an irate phone customer demanded to know how we got their number. When I told them we just called numbers in sequence they were left speechless. In the ensuing silence, I could hear the wheels turning as they realized how little protection they had from such a system. In a bit of irony, one night all the phones in the place began to ring one after another and we found we were under attack by a telemarketing auto dialer.

I have included a link to the Snopes Urban Legends and Hoax verification website below as well as the link to the .gov do not call registry should you still feel you would like to use it after reading the Snopes article.

Ruth

https://www.snopes.com/politics/business/cell411.asp

https://www.donotcall.gov/Register/Reg.aspx