Some Early Reflections On Nuisance Calls

At the end of June this year, several weeks after I had added my mobile phone number to the Do Not Call Register maintained by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), I started a spreadsheet where I record all the nuisance calls I now receive.

Ultimately, at the end of this coming June, I plan to send those numbers to the ACMA and hope that they take some action against those account holders.

Whilst recording the two latest nuisance callers onto my spreadsheet just now, I noticed a pattern emerging in terms of the non-landline numbers inflicting themselves on me.

I will share those with you now:

0485-961-598 Solar Panel pitch

0480-852-242 Hung up when I answered

0485-962-123 Call about electricity providers

0485-837-704 Health Insurance comparisons

0485-837-539 Solar Panel pitch

You can see some patterns there – most of the numbers start with 0485, and the one outlier starts with 0480. Two of the numbers start with 0485-837.

Which suggests these are all part of one big block of phone numbers which have been sold to those telemarketing call centres which operate in violation of relevant consumer law protections.

In terms of landlines, I have received nine calls from numbers which start with 03-9022 – one of those calls was a solar panel pitch, another was a cleaning services pitch, and the other seven all hung up when I answered.

So the takeaway from all this so far is that you should not answer calls from those numbers, and I do hope that when I provide my spreadsheet to both the ACMA and Telstra in mid 2026, one or other or both of those bodies takes action against these sacred cowboy call centre operators.

In the meantime, if you are so inclined, feel free to call those mobile numbers above to enquire about their services. If enough people do that, it might give them some mild annoyance, which they richly deserve.

But… as I found out to my lasting regret when, last year in a very benevolent mood, I actually agreed to get solar panels installed by one such company who rang me on spec like that, don’t actually agree to any services from them. They will do a half-arsed job.