Dan MacGregor was woken up by a telemarketer at about 1:30 a.m. (CBC)

A California telemarketing campaign had dozens of Calgarians jumping out of bed early Monday morning.

Phone calls requesting participation in an automated survey on coffee came in between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m. Such early-morning calls are not allowed in Canada, but the area code showing on call-display was from California.

Dan MacGregor heard his phone ring at 1:30 a.m.

"Immediately, we kind of thought, you know, this is an emergency. My partner's folks are in their 80s, so we're up and trying to figure out what's going on, and pick up the phone and of course it's not [an emergency]. It's a survey on coffee."

Dialing back the number leads to a message offering to add anyone not interested in the company's "special promotions" to a do-not-call list. Websites dedicated to tracking telemarketer calls have reports from across North America about calls from the same phone number on topics ranging from weight loss to mortgage refinancing.

MacGregor wanted to make sure it doesn't happen again, so he called Telus, his phone service provider.

"Unfortunately, if they are calls coming from the States or they're calls coming from overseas, there isn't a whole lot we can do about it," said Telus spokesman Chris Gerritsen.

Customers can sign up for a call-screening feature for about $2 a month, he said. When pre-selected callers dial your number, they will get a recording that says: "the party you are trying to reach is not accepting calls at this time."

The phone won't ring and the caller won't be able to leave a message.

National rules prohibit overnight calls

Federal regulations don't allow telemarketers to make calls between 9:30 p.m. and 9 a.m., and legitimate telemarketers have to give out a phone number that can be called back.

Canadians can also be put on the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission's do-not-call list, as well as report complaints to that agency. Under the CRTC rules, individual telemarketers who phone a number registered on the list will incur a $1,500 fine.

Telemarketing companies would be fined $15,000 for making such a call.

The list, however, permits exceptions for many organizations, including polling firms.

Last year, a Harris-Decima survey found that telemarketers posing as survey researchers asked almost 40 per cent of Canadians to buy something or donate money over the past year. Provincially, people in Alberta appear to have been hit hardest by the scams, with 44 per cent saying they had received such calls.

Under the Competition Act, telemarketers are obliged to identify their company and disclose the real purpose of the call at the beginning.