Local company sued for calling people on do-not-call list

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A local company is facing thousands of dollars in fines for allegedly calling people across the area on the do-not-call list.

Eyewitness News first started looking into complaints about the calls in May.

A lawsuit was filed Wednesday by North Carolina's Attorney General. It's against ISI Alarms NC, Inc., a company that was once open in Mooresville. It seeks civil penalties, which could cost the company thousands of dollars.

This spring, Eyewitness News reported that the company was under investigation by the Attorney General's office. It was accused of making illegal calls to more than a thousand people.

Attorney General Roy Cooper said Wednesday his office is now investigating robocalls that are pitching medical-alert devices to seniors in our area. However, he said it's getting harder to trace the callers.

"Because they have technology that allows them to spoof numbers. The number on your phone may not be the number they called from," he said.

The best advice for people is to write down as much information about the calls as possible and then report that information to his office, he said.

Report the calls to the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division by calling 877-5-NO-SCAM toll-free within state or by filing a consumer complaint online at www.ncdoj.gov\\jsifps03\vol3\AGFILES\NTalley\Press Releases\2010\www.ncdoj.gov.

Cooper also advises signing up for the Do Not Call Registry. He said that will help consumers avoid some robocalls. To place your home and mobile phone numbers on the registry visit www.donotcall.gov, or call 888-382-1222 from the number you wish to enter.

To protect yourself if you receive unwanted robocalls:

• Never provide personal financial or other confidential information in response.
• Don't press 1 for more information or to stop the calls. Pressing a number verifies that your telephone number is valid and will likely lead to more calls.
• Scammers can manipulate spoof caller ID, so don't rely on that to decide whether a call is legitimate.

WSOC