Massive increase in Spam and Fake Landline Calls

I've been getting daily text messages on my mobile with scams. Anything from claiming government money for the pandemic to crypo currency and fake Barlays bank texts. Every single time it's from a different number. I report them and block the numbers but they just keep coming.

Unfortunately there's just not enough done to try and stop them and reporting them is essentially useless as you have to hand ALL your information (probably more than they already had) over to the Telephone Preference Service who then hands it over to the company that is cold calling you. Plus if you don't provide enough info to the TPS then they can't help you at all

One thing worth mentioning is that you can also sign up to the TPS on mobile as well as landlines (Google it).

Another thing a lot of people don't know is that you can report scam text messages on mobile by forwarding them to the number "7726". You can do this for Free from any UK mobile provider
 
The BT/Trucall system intercepts all calls & callers have to announce who they are before you're offered the option to take the call. If the Panasonic's don't do that then simply turn off the handset ringers & just use them to check the answerphone.

Edit
Sky's Talk Shield system appears to offer the same function as the BT/Trucall hardware.




The Sky Talkshield system is excellent. In the three years I have been using it I havent had a single scam / spam call. Not one !
 
We have a BT phone with Call Guardian and find it's 100% effective at blocking spammers and time-wasters. We are wrinklies who still use our landline mostly for family calls as it's still cheaper than mobile calls.
We are starting to get an increasing number of spam call on our mobiles now. I either close the call without answering or just let it ring until the voicemail cuts in. If it's important the caller will leave a message or text me. I do wish there was an Android app with the features of Trucall though. None of the call blockers make the caller identify themselves and that's the feature that's most effective in getting rid of them.
 
The Sky Talkshield system is excellent. In the three years I have been using it I havent had a single scam / spam call. Not one !

Can't recommend the Sky Talkshield highly enough. For a free service, it cuts out all scam and nuisance calls, and I actually have my home phone plugged in again knowing it works.
 
I used to get calls on my mobile from " fake automated accident company & fake amazon" sems they used VOID and even when block they willl get through anyway.

My solution was getting new sim and keep new number , no more callls now :D.
Its just a hassle to update new number on numerous websites and accounts but no more fake callls now which was worht it.
 
I decided not to let them annoy me, so I have some fun with them instead. I might pretend to be old and deaf and get them to keep repeating themselves. Or I might waste their time by answering their questions with false details. Sometimes when they ask if I've had an accident I say thanks for calling me back and could they just hold the line while I go get the file out, and just leave them hanging
 
Like so much in the UK now, the landline is becoming like the wild west, the domain of fraudsters, hucksters and con men, Having made the landline useless, how long before they set to on our mobile phones?

You will never get away from them but I set my mobile to only accept calls from certain numbers when I go to bed, or I put it on silent if I don't want to be bothered during the day and let it go to answerphone. Easy to do that with mobiles than landlines.
 
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Another thing to do with either landline or mobile calls is don't speak for 3-4 seconds when you pick up, most of these scam calls are generated by a voice activated device that just dials numbers at random and connects the other end when it detects your voice. If it doesn't hear a voice it disconnects and redials another number. Works most of the time, leave it a few seconds and then hear it cut off.
 
I am too. It’s like an arms race, blocking all withheld numbers, blocking some specific numbers, then whole geographic areas, all international calls, all numbers beginning with 1, 011, 00 etc. Trouble is they are getting clever, using random mobile numbers. This morning, I had one come up with a Welshpool prefix but it immediately changed to ‘International’. Welshpool is now blocked, along with Hull, Perth and any other previously seen spoofed geographic prefixes. Next step will be to block all incoming calls between certain hours, or just dump the landline.
I have a BT Call guard phone. Never get silent or spam calls.It has never let me down. The only people that can phone me are in my phone book other than that I get a message from my phone and I have to press 1 to allow them to speak to me
 
I got a call from the Central African Republic (wherever that is) yesterday. Immediately blocked!
 
I've been getting daily text messages on my mobile with scams. Anything from claiming government money for the pandemic to crypo currency and fake Barlays bank texts. Every single time it's from a different number. I report them and block the numbers but they just keep coming.

Unfortunately there's just not enough done to try and stop them and reporting them is essentially useless as you have to hand ALL your information (probably more than they already had) over to the Telephone Preference Service who then hands it over to the company that is cold calling you. Plus if you don't provide enough info to the TPS then they can't help you at all

One thing worth mentioning is that you can also sign up to the TPS on mobile as well as landlines (Google it).

Another thing a lot of people don't know is that you can report scam text messages on mobile by forwarding them to the number "7726". You can do this for Free from any UK mobile provider
When my landlne rings I let it ring until the answerphone cuts in "saying leave a message" or "call my mobile". That most times ls when the connection cuts out. If I DO choose to pick up a call but say nothing, and there is no immediate response I know it's a call centre and immediately replace the handset.
 
Just this morning remembered to unplug my land phone :facepalm:. I've put it in the car. Someone at work can have it.
 
I got a call from the Central African Republic (wherever that is) yesterday. Immediately blocked!
if you dont know where that is , you deserve every spam call you get. ;)
 
Hi Guys,
Another vote for TrueCall.
I've had Truecall in one form or another for about 8 years, I've forgotten what Spam/Scam calls are.
Truecall intercepts EVERY call from any number I don't know (numbers in my phone book.) and interrogates them, no one gets through.
Nice people, who have "withheld" numbers, can make an announcement to say they are my Doctor Etc and get connected after I listen to the announcement.
So my advice is get Truecall, forget junk calls.
Regards,
Paul
P.S works with all providers as far as I know.
 
Stopped using landline phone... Problem solved until the next thing that happens after all these bloody commercial companies pass on your info, but say they didn't!

O2...... Looking at you especially...

Barstuards...

Ice
 
Inundated with these spam calls earlier in the week so landline now unplugged indefinitely. Will look into the helpful solutions suggested We only use mobile these days. RIP the landline!
 
If the call is from 'Microsoft' about the virus reply 'how does that work on a chromebook' - long silence and then they cut the call. Or 'please hold and I will transfer you - Hello Metropolitan Police Cyber Crime Unit - do you wish to report a crime?'

Though on a quiet day I prefer to be the old codger that struggles with technology and keeps getting their instructions wrong, 'you want me to go to a website - Oh OK, that's a nice cat in the picture, what's its name'. ....and so on. :D
 
I've had the same landline for 30 years, ex directory and used TPS, I have NEVER had a bogus call !
 
I guess the lockdown has many people doing whatever work they can get. I get calls accident chasing lawyers, sellers of dodgy investments or viagra on both my landline and mobile. I never experienced unsolicited calling until I moved to the UK, quite some years ago. IMO fraudulent or dodgy business activity is too tolerated in the UK. There'd be an uproar if people tried it in Australia. Business integrity just doesn't seem as valued here. I've lost count of the number of tradespeople and suppliers who've tried to rip me off, made false promises, not turned up or simply not replied to a query. I spent most of my life in Australia and there these people would quickly put out of business. There are some very good businesses and tradespeople but these days I mostly prefer to deal with Polish or Eastern Europeans.
I've encountered an awful lot of unprofessional professionals. , not turning up, not replying to a query. I've often wondered if its a national thing. Time was, every unsuccessful job application would receive a rejection letter. An acknowledgement of the application. Now, HR depts simply don't bother. This leaves the applicant in limbo. Did they get the application? Ignoring someone is so unprofessional.
If someone working in HR cites the fact that they have so many applications that they can't respond. Then the company is not meeting its requirements.
 
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I've encountered an awful lot of unprofessional professionals. , not turning up, not replying to a query. I've often wondered if its a national thing. Time was, every unsuccessful job application would receive a rejection letter. An acknowledgement of the application. Now, HR depts simply don't bother. This leaves the applicant in limbo. Did they get the application? Ignoring someone is so unprofessional.
If someone working in HR cites the fact that they have so many applications that they can't respond. Then the company is not meeting its requirements.
I couldn't agree more. It's simply unprofessional at any level and yet it takes so little effort. My wife was looking for a financial management position a while back and most just couldn't be bothered writing back. One that took the time to write back and explain in detail why she didn't get the job was an Australian investment bank. I've heard from several people that they are very good to work for. The CEO is a woman and an immigrant. The company has a flat hierarchy where all employees are listened to and treated respectfullly. Perhaps it's no coincidence that they're very innovative and hugely successful too.

The way people treat their staff is often reflctive of the way they treat their customers. They're all people. Too many unscrupulous business owners and business managers are focused only on the short term. They want money so badly that they miss opportunities to build a profitable long term business. They'd fail the marshmallow test.
 
I couldn't agree more. It's simply unprofessional at any level and yet it takes so little effort. My wife was looking for a financial management position a while back and most just couldn't be bothered writing back. One that took the time to write back and explain in detail why she didn't get the job was an Australian investment bank. I've heard from several people that they are very good to work for. The CEO is a woman and an immigrant. The company has a flat hierarchy where all employees are listened to and treated respectfullly. Perhaps it's no coincidence that they're very innovative and hugely successful too.

The way people treat their staff is often reflctive of the way they treat their customers. They're all people. Too many unscrupulous business owners and business managers are focused only on the short term. They want money so badly that they miss opportunities to build a profitable long term business. They'd fail the marshmallow test.
I know someone who applied to countless companies, the only response came from a New Zealand company. No one else could be bothered. is there something about Australia and New Zealand that is rather more professional? Looking at their Covid response, I think those countries are way ahead culturally.
Here, an alarming number of businesses, are deliberately removing contact portals. My bank has no easy way to contact them. I had to google search to get their phone number. When I asked why they dont have contact details on their contact us web page, they couldn't give an answer. They pointed me to an obscure document, hidden deep in their web site, with a contact number in small print at the end of five pages. probably a legal requirement being met. why is that phone number not at the top of their contact page?
For a company to not use an email address is incredible. It has to be deliberate. Twitter?! Who would use that instead of email and phone? This is a major bank. madness.
 
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Fully agree about absence of good old telephone contact numbers. The trend for chat bots has increased markedly in recent years. But they are only any good for simple enquiries. Anything more complicated, I assume algorithm busting and the computer says No!

You need to be Houdini to get through some of the barriers to speaking to an actual human being. Customer service it ain’t. On the subject of HR, in the disasterous employment situation now I’m not surprised recruitment teams in HR and employment agencies are overwhelmed with interest in vacancies.

Even now some agencies will be fishing for CVs. It can be the hidden job market that might work for some. Those jobs aren’t advertised and it’s because you have a contact, worked with that company, or you have some sort of amazing cold calling approach that you get a look in.
 
I dread what happens when the pandemic is finally under control & all these businesses realise that as you worked from home successfully, someone in the third world can also do your job remotely for a tenth of the cost.
 
I know someone who applied to countless companies, the only response came from a New Zealand company. No one else could be bothered. is there something about Australia and New Zealand that is rather more professional? Looking at their Covid response, I think those countries are way ahead culturally.
Here, an alarming number of businesses, are deliberately removing contact portals. My bank has no easy way to contact them. I had to google search to get their phone number. When I asked why they dont have contact details on their contact us web page, they couldn't give an answer. They pointed me to an obscure document, hidden deep in their web site, with a contact number in small print at the end of five pages. probably a legal requirement being met. why is that phone number not at the top of their contact page?
For a company to not use an email address is incredible. It has to be deliberate. Twitter?! Who would use that instead of email and phone? This is a major bank. madness.
Australian and NZ companies usually have very flat hierarchies. It's considered poor form to think yourself better than someone else. I've known a CEO to take the time to know thousands of employees by name and ask to be introduced immediately they don't know someone. You treat people as you'd like to be treated. Everyone's opinion is welcome and judged on merit. I found the same when living and working in Netherlands. A urologist was late for my appointment. After 30 mins I told the nurse I couldn't wait as I was on an hourly contract and it was costing me. A few days later I received a signed letter (written in English) from the urologist apologising for any inconvenience he'd caused me along with his direct number to make a new appointment. The Dutch can be brutally honest too. About to have a camera in my bladder under local anasthetic I asked the nurse if it would hurt much. "Oh yes, of course, it's very painful" she replied, "but you can squeeze my hand if you like".
 

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