(The Center Square) – Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is dialing in on telemarketers.

The attorney general settled a lawsuit with Old Town AC, LLC, for $285,000.

The company allegedly made illegal telemarketing calls to people who were on the National Do Not Call Registry from 2016 to 2019 to promote their home improvement services, which allegedly resulted in "thousands of unlawful telephone solicitations," according to the news release.

“Receiving unwanted telemarketing calls is very frustrating for Arizonans who have registered for the National Do Not Call Registry,” Mayes said in a statement. “Any company that refuses to comply with the Do Not Call laws should not be making telephone solicitations in Arizona. If they do, we will pursue them in court and hold them accountable.”

In addition to having to pay the settlement, the Arizona-based air conditioning company is banned from contacting people besides their current customers for a year.

The registry, which anybody can sign up for, prohibits telemarketers as a way to prevent telemarketers from contacting them, but it does not necessarily guarantee it, as in this case. For those who are not on the list, there are also private services such as Nomorobo that block many telemarketing calls and texts.

Pew Research Center determined in July 2020 that 80% of Americans do not answer calls from unfamiliar phone numbers. However, most of the adults surveyed said they do check to see if there was a voicemail left afterward, according to the survey.