Have you noticed an increase in robocalls lately? You have the government shutdown to thank for that. With no one at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) monitoring the Do Not Call registry, telemarketers are having a field day.

If you go to the FTC website, you're greeted with this message:

Due to the government shutdown, we are unable to offer this website service at this time. Information about unwanted calls can be found on the FTC’s website at: National Do Not Call Registry | Consumer Information

We will resume normal operations when the government is funded. 

Since the government can't help right now, here's a few other ways to stop those annoying, repeated phone calls.

The four major cell phone companies have options you can take advantage of.

*AT&T Call Protect - provides automatic fraud blocking and suspected spam warnings. You can also manually block unwanted calls.
*Verizon - temporarily block up to five numbers for 90 days for free. After that, you'll have to manually block the numbers again. Or get the Caller Name ID service for $2.99/month
*T-Mobile - Scam ID and Scam Block are 2 free services. Name ID costs $4 a month and provides caller information like the name, location and type of organization, and can block them as needed.
*Sprint - "Premium Caller ID" service protects you from robocalls and caller ID spoofers for $2.99 a month.

There's also several apps to help protect you from annoying robocalls.

Calls Blacklist
Call Blocker
Hiya Caller ID
Mr Number
NoMoRobo
Privacy Star
Robokiller
True Caller

You can also avoid answering all calls from numbers you don't recognize. If it's important enough, the caller will leave a message and you can call back.

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