Who Is Dynata and Why Are They Calling You?

If you own a phone, chances are Dynata has called you at some point asking if you would be part of a survey. Given the prevalence of scams and spam calls these days, you’d be forgiven for assuming Dynata was no different from robocalls claiming to have “important information on your vehicle insurance,” but Dynata surveys are legitimate.

What does Dynata do?

Dynata performs surveys on behalf of companies, political groups, and other organizations, looking for feedback from the general public on current trends and opinions. The company has been around in some form since 1999, and most of its surveys are held over the phone.

But while Dynata is a legit company, it doesn’t mean everyone is interested in participating in their surveys. Some of these surveys can take an hour or more in some cases, rarely offer any sort of reward or compensation for your time, with no guarantee a company will even take your feedback into consideration.

The real issue with Dynata, however, is how often they will contact prospective participants. The company will call at any time, day or night, asking for your input on their latest surveys. It’s annoying, and is yet another random phone call to ignore. Luckily, there are a couple of ways to stop Dynata from contacting you.

How to block Dynata calls

First, try removing your contact info from Dynata’s call list. To do this, you need to call Dynata’s official support line (1-833-757-1746 for North America or 1-801-341-0764 for other regions) and opt out of Dynata’s surveys.

In most cases, this should be enough to stop Dynata’s calls. However, some respondents claim Dynata still calls them even after opting out of their surveys and removing their phone numbers from the call list. In that case, you should block Dynata’s number in your Android or iOS phone’s settings. You may even want to skip to this step even if Dynata isn’t contacting you, just to confirm the company’s calls can’t get through.

On Android:

  1. Open your Phone app, tap the three-dot “More” menu then select “Call History.”

  2. Select Dynata’s number then tap “Block / Report Spam.”

  3. You can also add blocked numbers in the Phone app under Settings > Blocked Numbers.

On iOS: 

  1. Open the Phone app and select the “Recent” tab.

  2. Tap the “i” icon next to Dynata’s call history, then scroll down and select “Block contact.”

  3. Alternatively, you can add the number in the iOS Settings menu under Phone > Blocked Contacts > “Add New…”

Beware of fake Dynata calls

To be clear, blocking Dynata won’t increase your data security: It’s just a helpful solution if you’re tired of their calls. Dynata is a real company, and there’s no harm in taking their surveys if you’re interested in doing so—as long as you’re certain it’s a real Dynata call. Scammers may contact you claiming they’re a Dynata representative to dupe you into handing over sensitive personal data or sell you something, much like with other online or phone-based scams.

Dynata collects and stores a small amount of info on survey participants, but the company will never ask for sensitive personal data like:

  • Your social security number

  • Financial information like credit card or bank account numbers

  • Logins or passwords to email or apps

Similarly, Dynata does not require participants to answer every question. The company does not sell anything or charge you for taking their surveys, nor does it require access to your phone, computer, or other devices. If someone calls claiming to work with Dynata and asks for any of that information, tries to get money from you, or asks for remote access to your devices, hang up—it’s a scam.

[MUO]

Brendan is a freelance writer and content creator from Portland, OR. He covers tech and gaming for Lifehacker, and has also written for Digital Trends, EGM, Business Insider, IGN, and more.

Source: lifehacker.com