Telemarketers harassing Mississippians could soon receive a dose of their own medicine from state officials. MPB's Jasmine Ellis reports.
The Mississippi Public Service Commission is developing methods to track down and prosecute telemarketers. Brandon Presley is northern district commissioner. He says the public service commission is going to turn the tables on people making unsolicited phone calls.
"We're doing such things as some of these home security services that are calling to install a home security system and they're violating the law... they shouldn't be surprised if they pull up to a job and it's a PSC investigator there," said Presley. "Because we're going to use every tactic that is legal and ethical to go after these people and to stop this harassment."
The Federal Communications Commission says they receive more than 200,000 complaints each year from consumers about unwanted calls.
Latrecia Nunn of Jackson says she receives between 10 and 25 phone calls per day from unknown or unrecognized numbers. She says the majority of the calls that she receives are centered around health related issues such as back pain or knee pain.
"It's very annoying and it's very irritating," said Nunn. "Because when you have your number on... just say for instance if I have it on a flyer for church related events... I hate not answering the call because I am always thinking that it's important. So to answer the phone and it's irrelevant to what I'm thinking that it is... it's really irritating."
Commissioner Presley says the public service commission will be training volunteers to help them gather telemarketers' information.
