Advertising calls have never caused as much trouble in Germany as they did in 2021. The Federal Network Agency received 79,702 complaints about unauthorized telephone advertising, a quarter more than in the previous year, the authority said. The unwanted calls were about insurance, financial products and energy contracts. Advertising for sweepstakes and magazine subscriptions also annoyed consumers. Telephone advertising is only allowed if consumers have given their prior consent. The number must be transmitted. The Federal Network Agency investigates the complaints and imposes fines if necessary. Last year, companies were fined a total of 1.435 million euros, 84,000 euros more than in 2020. In the future, advertising companies are to pay even more than before, since the fines in cases of suppressed phone numbers will increase in December 2021 from a maximum of 10,000 euros to 300,000 euros has. Calls without a number on the display were particularly common last year. It was also noticeable that some advertisers used different phone numbers. Authorities head Jochen Homann described advertising calls with a suppressed number as “unacceptable”.
Telemarketing calls – hello, this is the nuisance speaking – economy
