We’re proud to announce the official launch of Who Called Me for Android users. For the price of FREE, we provide a super simple shortcut to identify missed called and unwanted telemarketers.
Check it out, we await your feedback!
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.reverseaustralia.android.whocalledme
Over the last month or so, we’ve seen an increase in references to the ATO scam and the Microsoft scam, not to mention the amount of spam emails we’ve been receiving from Chinese spammers has skyrocketed.
We’ve been blocking IP’s from the Philippines, India, Pakistan and China since the beginning, as soon as we’ve noticed any significant amount of requests coming our way. To date, we’ve not received a single email from any of these countries requesting access to the site again, or apologizing for their excessive requests.
To deal with this matter, we’ve made one very significant change to Reverse Australia, and that is to no longer accept traffic from any of the above mentioned countries. We hope this will decrease the chance of our service being misused, and allow us to serve as a great Australian resource, with far less hassle.
Update March 28: Bangladesh is now banned as well.
Thanks everyone for supporting our service. If you think we can do something better, tell us! We’ve got a lot of exciting updates coming this year, and should be expanding into multiple countries soon.
We’re now up to 157 developer keys issued, 264 Android devices using our service, and we have 14,937 unique phone numbers in our caller complaint database!
We’ve also released our own simple Android App Who Called Me which has received 34 installs in the first week of being released.
We are glad to announce that we are in the middle of our first update of 2012. Address data might be missing for the next couple of days while everything syncs up. We’ll keep you updated!
Introducing our new mobile layout, available to iDevices (iPhone and iPod) and Android’s for simpler browsing of our service on-the-run. The new layout is optimized for speed and simplicity.
For the moment, the new layout does not offer Facebook integration, so complete listings are not currently available.
We welcome any and all comments/suggestions for the new layout, and if it goes well, we might be developing an iPhone application in the very near future.
Stay tuned!
Here at Reverse Australia, we do what we can to honor any requests for privacy we receive from Australian consumers, while letting them freely leave comments about unwanted phone calls and Australian businesses. Regardless, the occasional person will find out site, overreact, and contact the Privacy Commissioner to file a complaint, without first sending us an email to request removal. Back in January 2011 the Office of the Australian Information Commisioner started an Own Motion investigation into Reverse Australia to determine if or how much the Privacy Act 1988 or the National Privacy Principles (NPP’s) apply to our operations.
The investigation resulted in a number of lengthy emails being exchanged several months apart from each other. We’re happy to announce the investigation is over, and we’ve received the following response:
Dear Mr Campbell
ReverseAustralia.comOwn Motion Investigation into ReverseAustralia.com
I refer to the above investigation opened under section 40(2) of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the Privacy Act).
Thank you for your emails dated 15 January 2011, 11 February 2011 and 23 September 2011 regarding this matter.
The Privacy Act regulates how Australian Commonwealth agencies and many private sector organisations in Australia manage personal information. However, it has limited extra territorial application. An organisation is required to comply with the Privacy Act if it has an organisational link with Australia or the personal information is collected, used, stored and disclosed in Australia.
The original focus of this investigation was to establish whether ReverseAustralia.com falls under the Privacy Act’s jurisdiction. Section 5B of the Act prescribes that an act or practice engaged in outside Australia will be covered by the Act if that act or practice relates to personal information about an Australian citizen and certain other conditions are met in terms of the organisation responsible for that act or practice.
Other relevant factors include that the organisation in question carries on business in Australia or an external Territory, and the degree of control that overseas organisation is entitled to exercise, and does exercise, over the running of the business conducted by any subsidiary or representative in Australia. In your correspondence you advise that ReverseAustralia.com does not have any physical presence in Australia. You also indicate that all of ReverseAustralia.com’s infrastructure and employees reside in the United States of America.
From your correspondence is it apparent that ReverseAustralia.com does not conduct any functions or activities in Australia and does not carry on business in Australia. I am therefore of the view that ReverseAustralia.com does not meet the requirements of section 5B, and therefore falls outside the jurisdiction of the Privacy Act.
Consequently, I do not propose to investigate this matter any further.
My file on this matter is now closed.
…
I would like to thank you for your assistance during this investigation. Yours sincerely
Mark Hummerston
Assistant Co missioner, Compliance
2 December 2011
We are glad to announce we’re in the middle of our August 2011 business update. Here is what the latest update brings:
Happy reverse searching!
We are glad to announce we’re (finally) in the middle of our July 2011 update. Here is what the latest update brings:
Happy reverse searching!
Since we started our site at the end of 2010, we’ve been searching for data to fill our database, the oldest of our data being from 1999. Our previous 2009 data source wasn’t the most time accurate, so we’ve been searching to replace it for a while. So we give you our historical July 2009 data update!
Happy reverse searching!
P.S. We have a July 2011 update coming very soon!
If you’re anything like me, you can’t stand telemarketers. It seems like they always call at the most inconvenient times. Have you ever jumped out of the shower to answer the phone, only to find out it’s someone trying to sell you new windows, insurance, or something else you don’t need? Read on, and we’ll try to help you stop these calls.
You’re probably wondering where telemarketers get your information. The bulk of the pesky callers find your information in the White Pages, but the problem is, their databases may not be entirely up-to-date. We’ve had reports of call centers using data that is over ten years old! If you are getting calls for someone who isn’t at your number, immediately inform the telemarketer that their details are wrong, and no one by those details resides there anymore. You can ask for the information source, but the chances are the person calling you, isn’t high enough up the chain to know.
When you answer the phone, refuse to provide any information until the caller has identified themselves. If the caller asks for Andrew, don’t respond “yes?”, respond “who is calling?”. Once the caller has confirmed your information, even if you ask to be opt-out, they may sell your information on to another call center.
One of the quickest ways to tell where your information has likely come from, is whether or not your first name is used. The White Pages rarely has first names available, which means, your data may have originated from an existing business relationship you have. For example, when you buy a car, the dealer might sell your data to a call center, to have them contact you about car insurance.
You have most likely heard of the Do Not Call (DNC) Register before. The register is operated by the ACMA at https://www.donotcall.gov.au/ and is provided free of charge. As of 2010, any request to be put on the register is now valid for five years. Once the five years are up, you must request to be placed on the register again. Once you are on the register, it takes 30 days before any call center is obliged to adhere to your request.
Unfortunately, there are some organizations that can ignore the DNC register. These include charities, and political callers. Typically though, these callers source your information from the phone book, so we highly suggest getting a private number from the very beginning, and Google your new number, to make sure it’s wasn’t associated with any businesses previously. We had one person with the unfortunate situation, that their “new” number, was previously used by an escort (prostitute) service, how embarrassing!
The one other issue you might run into with the do-not-call register, is that it doesn’t apply to businesses calling you, if they already have a business relationship. For example, if you are with Optus, then Optus is exempt from the DNC list when calling you, due to inferred consent.
Some of you might be wondering, why you regularly get calls from telemarketers, that instantly hang-up as soon as you answer. Generally speaking, they aren’t trying to work out when you are available, but they are trying to maximize the efficiency of their staff. What happens, is a dialer program has a list of say 1000 numbers, while the call center has only 100 staff. The dialer will try to call 20 people at a time, knowing that it’s unlikely for more than 10 to answer. Once the dialer gets an answer, it transfers the call to a live operator to make the “pitch”. Sometimes though, there isn’t an operator available because they are all on other cals, in which case, rather than putting you on hold, they hang up.
If you are getting a lot of calls from a particular number but aren’t getting through to someone to complain, you might like to try doing a reverse lookup of the number on our site. We receive regular comments from people just like you, who might just be able to tell you who is behind the calls, or where to request removal.
One of the last resorts to stop overseas telemarketers, is to request your service provider blocks all incoming overseas calls. This can help a lot, especially with scams like the ATO scam or the Microsoft scam.
So, just a quick summary for you. Don’t acknowledge your name, until the caller has identified themselves. Register on the DNC list. File complaints about telemarketers with the ACMA wherever possible. Check the phone book for your details, especially if you think your details are private, and consider getting a new number, if the telemarketers are that frustrating.
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