Another telephone scam?...

[Raffles]

As some may know, I've had a few BT problems recently. Anyway I bought a new phone several weeks ago, and although I can ring out, it doesn't ring when receiving a call. Was going to take it back for a refund but then thought... this suits me fine, as anyone I care about has my mobile number, and I won't be disturbed by nuisance calls.

However when I check missed calls, there's about a dozen per day and when I check with a site such as whocallsme.com/ they are all spam calls.

Well in the last few days there have been 3 or 4 calls per day from the same STD code as me, i.e. a local call, which concerned me, although I couldn't think who it could me.

Tonight I rang the number, and got a mumbled recorded message, although I did make out 'marketing company' and 'no calls accepted on this number'.

So, even if you think it's a personal connection... BEWARE!! They seem to be able to skew the 'call from' number.

[Q]

You can buy numbers from any STD code, it's a marketing ploy used to make people think they are dealing with a local company.

One company I used to work for always bought a number in any area they were thinking of opening a branch.... just to see what response they got, these numbers even appeared in the telephone directory (remember THOSE)

[Raffles]

May 4, 2015 20:26:06 GMT Q said:

You can buy numbers from any STD code, it's a marketing ploy used to make people think they are dealing with a local company.

One company I used to work for always bought a number in any area they were thinking of opening a branch.... just to see what response they got, these numbers even appeared in the telephone directory (remember THOSE)

 Didn't realise that Q ... the barstewards want hanging up. It had me quite concerned as to who it could be. I'm beginning to wish I still lived in a world when the only communication was 'face to face'... and yes, I still remember when that was. 

[Clivia]

do you have a new contract Raffles ? happened to us - they changed our number without telling us - so we could ring out but could not receive calls

[Deleted]

I bought a phone with built in answer ma chine. Set it to two rings then answer thing kicks in. I never answer the house phone. Barely answer my mobile either, thinking about it

[Deleted]

May 4, 2015 21:16:58 GMT @spikeyfridge said:

I bought a phone with built in answer ma chine. Set it to two rings then answer thing kicks in. I never answer the house phone. Barely answer my mobile either, thinking about it

i get no calls at all sometimes i ring people up and hang up so they call me back
oohhh how alone am i lol

[spaniel]

May 4, 2015 21:16:58 GMT @spikeyfridge said:

I bought a phone with built in answer ma chine. Set it to two rings then answer thing kicks in. I never answer the house phone. Barely answer my mobile either, thinking about it

Same here @spikeyfridge , i never answer home phone and only answer mobile if it says who it is 

[sydsut]

I got a call blocker, best thing ever for these type of calls. Phone shows number and I answer, if its a nuisance call I just press block number button. Job done. Also block "out of area" calls, "withheld calls" etc. Usually find I've got about 10 calls a day blocked. My pet hate though is the Indian guy who calls and one day is John, another day it's Peter etc, and I know its him cause he always asks for Mr Sweaty as he can't pronounce my name.

[Q]

May 4, 2015 21:22:41 GMT @zuza said:

May 4, 2015 21:16:58 GMT @spikeyfridge said:

I bought a phone with built in answer ma chine. Set it to two rings then answer thing kicks in. I never answer the house phone. Barely answer my mobile either, thinking about it

i get no calls at all sometimes i ring people up and hang up so they call me back
oohhh how alone am i lol

That's just called being a tight Scotsman

[Deleted]

May 5, 2015 1:05:36 GMT Q said:

May 4, 2015 21:22:41 GMT @zuza said:

i get no calls at all sometimes i ring people up and hang up so they call me back
oohhh how alone am i lol

That's just called being a tight Scotsman

there is that also lol

[Q]

May 5, 2015 0:53:38 GMT sydsut said:

I got a call blocker, best thing ever for these type of calls. Phone shows number and I answer, if its a nuisance call I just press block number button. Job done. Also block "out of area" calls, "withheld calls" etc. Usually find I've got about 10 calls a day blocked. My pet hate though is the Indian guy who calls and one day is John, another day it's Peter etc, and I know its him cause he always asks for Mr Sweaty as he can't pronounce my name.

I'd love one of those blockers, trouble is our home phone is also our business phone so I have to listen to the cr@p once before I can block it, I cant block withheld numbers, and our customers sometimes ring us from abroad so I cant block them either

[sydsut]

May 5, 2015 1:08:16 GMT Q said:

May 5, 2015 0:53:38 GMT sydsut said:

I got a call blocker, best thing ever for these type of calls. Phone shows number and I answer, if its a nuisance call I just press block number button. Job done. Also block "out of area" calls, "withheld calls" etc. Usually find I've got about 10 calls a day blocked. My pet hate though is the Indian guy who calls and one day is John, another day it's Peter etc, and I know its him cause he always asks for Mr Sweaty as he can't pronounce my name.

I'd love one of those blockers, trouble is our home phone is also our business phone so I have to listen to the cr@p once before I can block it, I cant block withheld numbers, and our customers sometimes ring us from abroad so I cant block them either

That is a PITA to say the least.

[Q]

That's a polite way of putting it, I have a different version of saying roughly the same thing

[gill2009]

May 5, 2015 0:53:38 GMT sydsut said:

I got a call blocker, best thing ever for these type of calls. Phone shows number and I answer, if its a nuisance call I just press block number button. Job done. Also block "out of area" calls, "withheld calls" etc. Usually find I've got about 10 calls a day blocked. My pet hate though is the Indian guy who calls and one day is John, another day it's Peter etc, and I know its him cause he always asks for Mr Sweaty as he can't pronounce my name.

OMG sydsut...you made me splatter me laptop with coffee...Mr Sweaty 

[trollminer]

Geez i deal with this issue on a day to day basis. We try and refer people to TPS but the only problem is that does not stop international numbers. Now most cold / spam callers know this and as above by local area code numbers or even splash out and get a want to be mobile number which i will say now some of them to call back cost around 3 quid a minute. What we have found effective is to tell them that the call is been recorded and to stop calling or the recording along with there details will be passed to the relevant boards and also the relevant people.

BTW i work for an ISP ( the one with the stupid PITA advert )