Blocking these numbers will protect you from telephone touts.

Telephone canvassing is a scourge that can be stopped. A simple and free solution allows you to effectively block these unwanted calls.

“She ended up threatening me to warn all her colleagues to call me, to harass me,” Jean Rieu, a young retiree from Beauchalot in Haute-Garonne, told the newspaper La Dépêche. Like him, many French people suffer repeated attacks from telephone canvassers. Telephone operators, energy distributors, window sellers or even mutual insurance companies: calls can come at any time, transforming a peaceful day into a sound nightmare.

Faced with this problem, the government set up Bloctel in 2016. This free service theoretically allows consumers to no longer be contacted by telephone, but the system quickly shows its limits. The General Directorate for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) checked 800 establishments: more than half did not comply with the rules. Over the past year, only 164 professionals have been sanctioned, despite fines of up to 375,000 euros.

However, the legislation has been strengthened. Since March 2023, canvassing is only authorized from Monday to Friday, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Businesses cannot call the same number more than four times per month. For energy renovation, telephone canvassing is even completely prohibited.

The Electronic Communications Regulatory Authority (Arcep) has also imposed new rules: since January 1, 2023, under certain conditions, direct sellers can no longer use numbers starting with 06 or 07. Specific series are assigned to them, such as 01-62, 02-71, and other regulated prefixes.

It is precisely on this regulation that the most effective solution to date is based. By blocking these verified multipurpose numbers (NPV), it becomes possible to stop the vast majority of cold calling calls. Sylvain Tillon, who has been using this technique for five months, testifies on LinkedIn: “I no longer receive unsolicited calls, with the exception of a few rare B2B prospecting calls.”

The method shared by Sylvain Tillon is simple: simply add the prefixes reserved for canvassing to the list of blocked numbers. For Android users, this function is directly accessible in the phone settings.

Here is the complete list of numbers to block:

According to Centho, “scammer hunter” and great expert in the field, “blocking NPVs will solve almost all of the problems present with abusive canvassing.” However, he warns that this solution does not protect against “spoofing”, a technique allowing scammers to spoof legitimate phone numbers.

An additional glimmer of hope is on the horizon: a bill aiming to prohibit telephone canvassing was voted unanimously in the National Assembly. But while waiting for its implementation, blocking NPVs remains the most effective solution for regaining telephone peace of mind.