"This is Mike with the funding department, calling back about your approval."
You never applied. The number on your screen is new. So was the one at 9:40, and the one at 11:15, and each pitch was the same word for word. If your log is sorted by phone number, it looks like twelve strangers. It is probably two shops.
This is Part 3 of Stop the Calls. Part 1 gave you the 22-second script, and Part 2 put the stop request in writing. Today is the record that holds them together: a call log built around who is calling, not which number lit up.
General information, not legal advice.
Why number-only logs fall apart
Caller ID is easy to fake. The FCC says callers often use "neighbor spoofing," a number that looks local, or spoof a company you already trust. Brokers rotate numbers for the same reason. A log with one column for the number tells you nothing after the third swap.
What doesn't rotate as fast: the company name they give, the pitch line, the callback number they push, and the email or link they send after. Those are the columns that matter.
The 6 columns
Copy these headers into a note, a sheet, or our free CSV call log:
- Date and time. Down to the minute. Write it while the call is still fresh.
- Number on caller ID. Exactly as it showed, even if you think it's fake.
- Name they gave. The person and the company. Write "refused" if they wouldn't say.
- First line of the pitch. Word for word if you can. "Calling back about your approval" is a fingerprint.
- Callback number, email or link. Whatever they asked you to call, text or click. This often stays the same when caller ID doesn't.
- Stop status. "Asked on phone [date]," "written stop sent [date]," or "called again after stop."
That's it. Six boxes, about thirty seconds per call.
How to read it on Friday
Once a week, sort by column 5, then by column 4. Calls that share a callback number or the same opening line probably come from the same shop, whatever the caller ID said. Give each group a label, like "Shop A, 'funding department.'"
Now column 6 is useful. If Shop A got your written stop on Monday and called four times since, those four rows are what you'd point to. Five different numbers don't hide one pitch.
The rights behind the columns (scoped honestly)
- Telemarketers are supposed to send real caller ID. The Telemarketing Sales Rule says a telemarketer must transmit its number, and its name when the carrier makes that available (16 C.F.R. § 310.4(a)(8)).
- FCC rules also require telemarketers to show a number you can call during business hours to ask not to be called. Column 2 records whether they did. (FCC: Caller ID Spoofing)
- Faking caller ID is not always illegal. The Truth in Caller ID Act bars misleading caller ID sent with intent to defraud, cause harm, or wrongly obtain something of value (47 U.S.C. § 227(e)). Your log can't prove intent. It just shows what you saw.
- The National Do Not Call Registry covers personal numbers, not business lines. If brokers are hitting a registered personal cell, you can report calls at DoNotCall.gov. Business lines get less protection, so the company-specific stop from Part 2 still carries the weight there.
- You can also file with the FCC or the FTC. A complaint goes faster when you can paste dates, numbers and the pitch line straight from your log.
Whether any law covers your calls depends on the call and the line. A clean call log is a record you can use to report calls or bring to a lawyer. It isn't a promise of any outcome. For the bigger map, see Know Your Rights.
This week
- Add the six headers to your log today, or download the CSV.
- Backfill what you can from your recent calls list and voicemails.
- On Friday, sort by callback number and label your shops.
- Any shop that called after a written stop gets a second dated notice. Use our cease-and-desist letter template.
Next part: where your number came from. We'll trace how a public UCC filing turns into a lead list, and what you can actually do about it.