UPDATE: AT THE BEGINNING OF SEPTEMBER 2022 IT WAS ANNOUNCED THAT COLD CALLERS MUST NOW USE A 09 NUMBER TO CALL. IT WILL THEREFORE BECOME EASIER TO RECOGNIZE WHEN NOT TO ANSWER THE PHONE. [admin 09/09/2022]

Do you have a business and receive tons of cold calls from entities trying to sell a product or services? We feel your pain!

Phone operators in France are obligated to add your number to a liste rouge, where your number will not be published in a directory or given out for commercial or other reasons; or to a liste orange which is supposed to avoid marketing calls. 

Even if you don't have a business these types of spam calls seem a real problem in France. 

But, especially for businesses this is proving to be a difficult problem - we can't imagine surviving with a business number on a simple landline. It makes the phone ringing, which should sound like opportunity knocking, and turns it into something to be dreaded.

If you have a compelling reason to answer the phone (like your business operation) then the easiest solution of turning off the ringer and sending everything to voicemail will not work.

Unfortunately it is relatively easy for the undesirable callers to generate near-infinite phone numbers, and call blocking devices depend on the caller id information being correct AND in the blocking database.

These devices generally come with a blocklist and a button to allow you to add callers to the blocklist.

It may reduce the number of calls you receive, but you will always, still, be getting calls from new scammers (or old scammers with new numbers).

These devices may not work serially (inserted in the line) between your landline and your wireless handset devices. If you must install the blocking device in parallel instead, then you will not have the ability to push the block button and block at will, or to send the caller directly to voicemail.

It might be worth it to you to spend the 40-120 euros for one of these devices, but it will not erase the problem, by any means.

So what can you do?

To subscribe to the Liste Rouge service, go here and indicate the telephone lines that you want to be added. Registration should take effect within 30 days.

Adding your portable phone number to this list will remove the right for telemarketing companies to call you for 3 years,. IF they do it anyway, they can get a fine of a €75,000 fine.

Your phone service may already have a call blocking feature available on your land line - investigate that possibility if you have not already, it would give you the same features as these devices.

To really combat the problem, though, you will need some way to screen calls, beyond a blocklist.

You might purchase a Skype number, for example, so that you can use the call blocking features as well as other fancy things, while still retaining the ability to have the number ring your landline, or any of your cell phones, etc.

You can also switch your website to use a 'click for callback' button so that you are connected by a call to the customer, rather than answering a call.

If you have discovered a different solution to this problem, we'd love to hear from you. Do join our Facebook group here or drop us a line to admin@inthevendee.com or via messenger on our Facebook page. We will investigate and if it works we'll add your solution to this article.

• report phone scams to police (free) via Info Escroqueries or call 0 805 805 817 (Monday-Friday 9h00 – 18:30) 
• report email scams here
• phishing scam or other here
• spam SMS or voicemail reporting, forward it here forward it here service or to 33700 OR reply STOP to any five-digit number that begins with 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8
• to find a consumer association near you go here tothe Institut national de la consommation ( the National Consumers’ Institute)