Cold Calls

One night, a guy called my home number. The conversation went something like this :
Guy : Hi, are you the owner of the house?
Me : Yes
Guy : Are you planning to sell or upgrade your house?
Me : No (though I ad been thinking about it). How did you get my home number?
Guy : Oh, I am from XXX. We got the number from HDB.
Me : How can HDB pass you our telephone numbers?
Guy : Sorry, not from HDB, I am a telemarketeer and I do not know where your telephone number comes from. We just call. Ok, then thanks and bye.

Kudos to their effort for cold calls to get business. On the other hand, I question the ethics of obtaining the numbers. I guess they could have obtained the numbers from telephone directories, not HDB, but HDB would have been their scapegoat, if I have not pressed further. Anyway, this is the modus operandi of sales businesses, cannot blame them, it is part of survivorship.