I am still getting unwanted sales calls despite new regulation - how can I stop them?

Reader question: I have a mobile phone account with Orange. I receive the occasional unwanted phone call, maybe one every couple of days, but today I’m suddenly swamped with them. So far 17 of them in a five-hour period. Is there anything I can do to stop them?

France has enforced new rules that were supposed to stop unwanted calls from August 11.

Since then, the previous opt-out system, Bloctel, has been replaced by an opt-in system under which businesses must generally obtain consumers’ consent before contacting them.

However, despite these new rules, readers report that their phones have not stopped ringing.

“We received seven yesterday afternoon alone, and it is extremely annoying,” Tim Thompson told The Connexion.

Marie-Amandine Stévenin, president of Que Choisir Ensemble and a lawyer, told The Connexion that the difficulty lies in tracing these numbers, as they constantly change, while some calls use French-looking numbers even though they originate abroad.

“We need to find the right link with the state services so that they can collect this data and prosecute and sanction the companies that do not respect the legal framework,” she said.

In the meantime, there are several apps that people can download to automatically block unwanted calls. These include Saracroche, Préfixe Bloqueur and Protected.

Saracroche is free to install and use and is available for both Android and iOS devices.

“I don’t have detailed statistics because the app doesn’t store much information (almost none) to protect privacy. But many users report that it blocks 10 to 20 calls per day. Multiplied by the number of users, that easily adds up to millions of calls blocked daily,” Camille Bouvat, the app’s founder, previously told The Connexion.

Préfixe Bloqueur is also free to install and use, but it is only available for Android devices.

Protected is available for both Android and iOS devices but requires a subscription.

For those who do not wish to install an app, some newer phones also have a setting that can be activated to require callers who are not in the user’s contacts to identify themselves and explain why they are calling.

This means that if the call is not of interest, users do not have to answer it.

Another tip is to avoid declining the call, as this can signal that the phone number is active. It is therefore better to let the phone ring.

Unwanted calls can also be reported via France’s SignalConso website, the government’s reporting platform, to help authorities identify the numbers involved.