Cold Call - New Tactic

Black Hole

Black Hole

May contain traces of nut
My mobile just rung (sitting here enjoying the Olympics build-up), from 0151 707 2125 (is that Manchester?).

"Hello?"
"This is [somebody] from [somebody or other] Legal"
"Who do you want to speak to?"
"This isn't a sales call"
"Who are you calling?"
"We want to speak to the owner of this phone..."
"You clearly don't know who you are calling, therefore this is a marketing call. Goodbye."

Never give your name when answering a phone!

Bloody annoying as I have a trueCall unit which blocks marketing calls on the landline. Nothing I can do about it on the mobile :(
 
Whoever they were they we're liars - which is something I seeth about in the texts: "According to our records, you are owed..." Misrepresentation on several levels!

I possibly got the call because I texted "STOP" as it says at the end of the message - if they don't stop I'm sure they are breaking regulations.
 
Black Hole said:
I possibly got the call because I texted "STOP" as it says at the end of the message - if they don't stop I'm sure they are breaking regulations.
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Never text 'STOP' to reply to a message, it confirms their text has been received by a valid phone number that they will add to their database of numbers to cold call ...
 
I had one of these so call PPI claim texts today, apparently I am owed over £2k from my credit card (I don't and never will have a credit card!) or my Loan (also not had one)!

Staggers me how the get away with it! I used to work for a company that made fitted bedroom furniture, and they went into fitted kitchens, and I needed the money whist studying, so i worked form them from 6pm to 9pm weekdays, calling people at home using pages from the phone book. Yes I know it was cold calling, but we never every kept a record of who we had called, unless they were interested. And they were in the phone book after all!

Nowadays, they use number generators and simply either transfer you to a human or get a recorded message if you actually answer the phone! I like BH's TrueCall kit, but I simply leave the answer machine to pick up, if it is anyone important they will leave a message, or simply call straight back, so I know it is them!

As i have done this dirty job, I therefore know what some of these people feel like, but the true cold callers who use the legitimate phone book method, don't seem to be around anymore. Some of these new offshore companies have got so rude, I had one guy call me, and say I was owed PPI money from my car insurance. I asked how he got my number, he said from my insurer, (strange I would have car insurance, when I don't own a car!) when I pointed that out to him, he was most unpleasant, and accused me of wasting his time!
 
antipodean said:
Never text 'STOP' to reply to a message, it confirms their text has been received by a valid phone number that they will add to their database of numbers to cold call ...
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While I agree with you I also disagree - the authorities are starting to take an interest in this and (for texts and calls originating in the UK) there are obligations that these people DO NOT contact you if you have specifically asked them not to. By replying STOP as specified in the original spam text, if I can demonstrate a link between the text and the cold call I have them by the short and curlies.
 
Scuttlebroom said:
...calling people at home using pages from the phone book. Yes I know it was cold calling, but we never every kept a record of who we had called, unless they were interested. And they were in the phone book after all!
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Yeah, except you were also supposed to compare the number from the phone book with the Telephone Preference Service list. That's what call centres have not been doing.
 
There was a Panorama episode regarding this tactic a few weeks back.. Have a look and see if its still on iPlayer.

I hate cold calls. A few years ago I was getting calls every other day from a mobile phone company despite every call ending with "No i'm not interested".

So, I tried a new tactic. I kept them on the phone for ages asking stupid questions to wear them down, and then asked them for their line managers name (which they are always reluctant to give out, never mind put you through to).

After a bit of quick research on their phone number on the net, I obtained their head office number, and started to ring them every day asking for the manager in question. After a few attempts I managed to get him and gave him a grilling for a good 20-30 minutes quoting data protection and the law at him.

I specifically remember he said at the end of the call "This should not be happening. I have taken you off the list myself, so if you have any more calls, give me a call back and I will sort it out".

I did receive one more call a day or so later, so I immediately called him and gave him another earful of abuse.
Weirdly, the calls then stopped. :)

I thought I might have to go through it again a few months ago when I received another cold call for PPI from a really daft woman.
It went like this:
"Is this a cold call?"
"No, it is not"
"Oh so you know me?" I asked,
"No, but if you give me your details, I can check your details through the computer to see if there is any money owed" she said.
"And is this a free service?" I questioned,
"We take a percentage of any monies claimed back.." she replied.
"So this IS a cold sales call then?" I asked.
"No, its not a cold call or a sales call, i'm trying to save you money from credit cards or loans that you might have had in the past!"
"Do you know what a cold call is?"
"Yes, we do not cold call people"
:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

After telling her to do one, she never called back:byebye:
 
Been plagued with calls to my landline getting past my defences the last couple of days, spoofing (or using) random mobile numbers. So far they've been recorded messages "your Amazon Prime account is about to be closed" or some such thing.

Today I've had three so far:

One standard Amazon one;

Another a recorded message claiming my BT line is about to be disconnected;

The third from a live caller (with a call centre hubbub in the background) claiming to be from BT. I asked him to prove he was from BT and he tried to persuade me I was Mr Hubbard from some other address in my exchange area. I told him he hadn't passed my security checks and hung up. As if BT would call me from a mobile number!

There is nothing I can do to block these except to allow through whitelist only.
 
I let all my landline calls go to the answering machine. If it is important they will leave a message or try to get hold of me on my mobile.
 
Black Hole said:
There is nothing I can do to block these except to allow through whitelist only.
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Yes, you have to do that, it still won't block someone Caller ID spoofing a whitelist number, but they need to know the number in the first place and yes it does block a legitimate person who has your number when you don't have their number, but you either accept that or put up with multiple calls per day probably from Mumbai with a spoofed caller ID of a few digits like 563826 as I used to get every day before I blocked them
 
Black Hole said:
Been plagued with calls to my landline getting past my defences the last couple of days, spoofing (or using) random mobile numbers. So far they've been recorded messages "your Amazon Prime account is about to be closed" or some such thing.

Today I've had three so far:

One standard Amazon one;

Another a recorded message claiming my BT line is about to be disconnected;

The third from a live caller (with a call centre hubbub in the background) claiming to be from BT. I asked him to prove he was from BT and he tried to persuade me I was Mr Hubbard from some other address in my exchange area. I told him he hadn't passed my security checks and hung up. As if BT would call me from a mobile number!

There is nothing I can do to block these except to allow through whitelist only.
Click to expand...
When you get the next live call inform them that this call has been rerouted to the Scotland yard fraud squad and they might whitelist you after they quickly hang up. It worked for me, not had a single bogus call in at least six months now and I was getting several every week.
 
Ezra Pound said:
Yes, you have to do that, it still won't block someone Caller ID spoofing a whitelist number, but they need to know the number in the first place and yes it does block a legitimate person who has your number when you don't have their number, but you either accept that or put up with multiple calls per day probably from Mumbai with a spoofed caller ID of a few digits like 563826 as I used to get every day before I blocked them
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New OFCOM licencing rules for UK Communication Providers came into force from 1st October 2018. That is the same date as the latest date that providers were to stop charging for call number display. The OFCOM guideline documentation for the interpretation of the rules and what checks the various Communication Providers should action were last amended in May 2019 (and I'm not sure how big that update was or how long it took before all CPs were complient - mine was not on day 1).
www.ofcom.org.uk

Statement: Guidelines for Calling Line Identification Facilities

The updated guidance document clarifies the definition of a valid and dialable CLI for CPs in different parts of a telephone call, based on what is technically possible today.
www.ofcom.org.uk www.ofcom.org.uk

For invalid numbers, including numbers not matching their international source "at the first point of ingress", the Communication provider is expected to action some checks. "In addition to ensuring that CLI Data is populated properly, General Condition C6 also places an obligation on all CPs to take steps to prevent calls that have invalid or non-diallable CLIs from reaching the called party."
Where the number is suspect, or missing, but not obviously fraudulent then the number should be substituted with an 08979 number and marked as 'unavailable' so that the suspect presentation number is not displayed to the intended recipient of the call.
 
I have a 'Nuisance Call Blocker' telephone that has worked very well. Unfortunately, SWMBO had a fall and broke her hip resulting in a complete hip replacement at 57. We now have telephone consultations from from a variety of medical practitioners, most of whom call from withheld numbers. I have had to turn off the call blocking feature of the phone so calls from them get through. But I can whole heartily recommend this type of phone, it really works very well.
 
Wallace said:
But I can whole heartily recommend this type of phone, it really works very well.
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That would be BT Call Guardian? I have a trueCall box. It has a WebIF (but hosted by the trueCall servers accessed over the Internet, which then syncs with the box itself by modem... more like RS than WebIF).
 
BT took trueCall's licence but then went their own way. They never implemented all the features a trueCall unit offers.
 
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