E-mail hoax sparks 'Do Not Call' stampede

A hoax e-mail circulating the Internet has millions of Americans scurrying to add their cell phones to a national Do Not Call list to avoid telemarketers. [via News.com].

"The e-mail warns recipients that telemarketers will have new rights to call cell phones beginning Jan. 1, if people don't request anonymity by Wednesday. In the last week, 9.5 million people registered with the Do Not Call list, many as a result of the warning, according to its governing agency the Federal Trade Commission.

Like many rumors, the current cell phone scare has a kernel of truth at its core. It was likely spawned by a new project called the Wireless 411 Service, which has been proposed by several major wireless phone carriers including AT&T Wireless. The service, expected to be available next year, will let people look up cell phone numbers the same way they look up numbers using the nationwide 411 directory service. But unlike the directory for home and business numbers, people must ask their wireless phone carrier to be included in the cellular directory and telemarketers won't have access to it.

Telemarketers are barred from calling cell phones under rules set by the FCC.

emily | 9:05 AM | Spam, Viruses and Hoaxes |
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