Scam 'phone call alerts

[Bouleversee]

Moderator Message:
This thread has been re-purposed (and renamed) to be a place where readers can alert each other to any scam phone call techniques of which they may have become aware. New threads along these lines may be appended to this one to keep the material in one place. - Chris

Is anyone else being flooded with recorded messages saying your Amazon Prime subscription will be automatically renewed unless I click on whatever to speak to their service, which I never do, as I don't have a subscription though I found I was being charged for one earlier this year and got a refund.

I ask 1572 to divert calls from what I think are made up numbers but I just get another one from a different number. Why can a way not be found to stop people making calls on untraceable numbers?

[Markab01]

I have also been getting a lot Amazon Prime scam ones in the past couple of weeks.

It does appear though that the Microsoft, Windows, and BT technical departments are on holiday.

All phone calls to my number go straight to the answer machine unless I recognise the number. I still have time to answer if somebody starts speaking and I want to speak to them.

Markab01

[Bouleversee]

Although I have caller display, I find a lot of the time it just says "incoming call" which is not exactly helpful. Since this applies when my daughter rings from her mobile and some other callers I wouldn't want to miss, I always try to answer though the answering service sometimes cuts in before I have reached the phone.

[Watis]

We haven't had any Amazon Prime scam calls but we are currently being plagued with calls purporting to be from Capital One. The giveaway is that we recognise the 0800 number the call appears to originate from so can ignore them.

Hopefully, they will move on to a new set of numbers to try, but we've been receiving these calls more or less daily for months now.

Watis

[Infrasonic]

Most of the robo calls I get to my mobile (which does label them as potential spam calls) only ring four times and then ring off, so if you set your answerphone to kick in after five or six rings then you can take advantage of the one or two ring gap before answering/leaving.

[Alaric]

I ask 1572 to divert calls from what I think are made up numbers but I just get another one from a different number. Why can a way not be found to stop people making calls on untraceable numbers?

I don't find the vanilla BT 1572 particularly effective. A cynical view would say that the obvious low hanging fruit of not connecting spoof numbers is restricted to those who pay BT for additional caller display services, purchase phones with fancy call barring features or perhaps both.

Plain UK numbers are 10 characters long. I recently had a recorded message call from a number starting 00144 which was 15 characters long. Are there any legitimate phone numbers of that length?

[Bouleversee]

I am actually with PlusNet which is owned by BT and uses their l572 facility. My contract includes caller display but it seems some people's phones can switch this off. I'd love to know where the calls we report are diverted to. It works in as much as I don't get another call from the same number after I have reported it but since these callers just change the fictitious numbers they are putting in, that doesn't help really and is a waste of time. I don't have a separate answerphone but it wouldn't really help in this context.

[scrumpyjack]

I did like the story of the chap who set up his home phone to be a premium rate number so anyone making scam calls to him was paying him for the privilege!

[Bouleversee]

That's OK till your sprogs ring you. I wonder if that's what the scammers do and every time anyone clicks on the number as instructed or gets their number from 1471 and calls it, assuming it works, they are making money out of us. How do we know if tradesmen etc. have done this?

[dave559]

How to avoid scam phone calls:

Never answer a phone call from a number that you don't recognise (caller display definitely ranks as one of the best inventions since sliced bread).

If it actually is a genuine/important caller, they will leave a message.

If it is really important, they will eventually write to you.

If it is a business which you have a relationship with, you often can't verify their identity (as opposed to a scammer) if they, or persons claiming to be them, phone, so wait for them to write to you anyway. If you accept calls from call centres, it only encourages them.

[Urbandreamer]

Plain UK numbers are 10 characters long. I recently had a recorded message call from a number starting 00144 which was 15 characters long. Are there any legitimate phone numbers of that length?

Yes, 00 is the code for an out of country call. This is followed by the country code and then the number of the phone in that country. Anyone calling from Bermuda will have that code (001441) and I wouldn't want to claim that everyone who either lives there or is holidaying there is a crook.

It's actually impossible to block phone calls from XYZABCDEFG number or the subset of XYZ if the number presented is not that or in that range. I know that's obvious, but what's not obvious is that a spammer can pick any number that they like!

I have heard reports of local numbers being used and even the SAME number that is called!
It's usually done using VoIP, see ofcom's note.

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecom ... spoof-scam

Unfortunately scam artists will find a way.

[Bouleversee]

Dave599 -

That doesn't avoid the calls, only the possible consequences. I am sufficiently clued up not to fall for such scams but I don't want to have to keep rushing to the phone to check who is phoning (my answering service cuts in rather quickly) only to find it's a scammer and as for recognising numbers, at my age I don't necessarily recognise numbers of old friends in distant places with whom I am not in regular contact. Surely some way could be found to at least ensure that the correct number of the phone which is being used should be displayed and fake numbers not applied.

I did have one with a fairly local number recently about insulation, claiming that fibreglass and rockwool were officially no longer fit for purpose. I suspect that was also a scam but I had to ring off as a delivery arrived at that point so I never heard the full story. They didn't ring back.

Edit: Having now read Urban Dreamer's post, I am please to see that at attempt is being made to find a way to stop these number substitutions. Let's hope it doesn't take too long. As regards Action Fraud, from what I hear they are pretty ineffective. It would be a good idea if there was a thread called Scam Alert on here to advise Fools of any new scams such as the Amazon one.

[Infrasonic]

It would be a good idea if there was a thread called Scam Alert on here to advise Fools of any new scams such as the Amazon one.

Yes, a good idea.

I started an email thread with some of the latest security, spam et al issues and I'll add to it as things crop up in the press, and I keep adding bits to the Linux thread.
But it does depend on everyone remembering there are ongoing generic threads and not just starting a new specific one.

One of the good things about the Windows Ten forums is they keep generic threads rolling with all the latest updates.

[Bouleversee]

Agreed. So would the mods like to consider starting a thread for scam phone calls on here.

[monabri]

This is one reason why I would not buy shares in BT.... They could limit the number of rogue calls by allowing customers to dial a 4 digit number to register the last number called, and if BT receive , say 50 , independent on that number in a day, it gets blocked.

The only reason why I currently have a BT landline ( plusnet ) is for broadband access. As mobile phone data becomes increasingly cheaper ( some mobile phones now give unlimited data) and 4g/5g speeds improve, I ask myself whether I can do without a BT landline (*) ( another reason not to buy their shares )? I'm actually paying BT to provide a facility for scammers to contact me directly at all hours of the day. We screen calls using a "blocker" device ( Call Saint.no longer available? ) but the scammers change numbers daily so it catches many but not all.






(*) I often use my mobile as a wifi hotspot and connect it up to a tablet if I'm out and about or on holiday. It's easy to connect a wifi signal from a mobile to a laptop or other device.

[PinkDalek]

Agreed. So would the mods like to consider starting a thread for scam phone calls on here.

You could report your own post to alert them and to ask them!

They could, if they so wish, amend the initial subject header to Scam Phone calls or whatever (as I've done above but that would only be for my reply at this stage).

There have been quite a few similar Topics on TLF to date, some probably at DAK.

Edit: Here's a recent one:

Telephone Cold calling
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=19544

[stevensfo]

This is one reason why I would not buy shares in BT.... They could limit the number of rogue calls by allowing customers to dial a 4 digit number to register the last number called, and if BT receive , say 50 , independent on that number in a day, it gets blocked.

The only reason why I currently have a BT landline ( plusnet ) is for broadband access. As mobile phone data becomes increasingly cheaper ( some mobile phones now give unlimited data) and 4g/5g speeds improve, I ask myself whether I can do without a BT landline (*) ( another reason not to buy their shares )? I'm actually paying BT to provide a facility for scammers to contact me directly at all hours of the day. We screen calls using a "blocker" device ( Call Saint.no longer available? ) but the scammers change numbers daily so it catches many but not all.
(*) I often use my mobile as a wifi hotspot and connect it up to a tablet if I'm out and about or on holiday. It's easy to connect a wifi signal from a mobile to a laptop or other device.

True. After many years, everyone knows that we rarely answer the telephone, so they either send a quick SMS to ask if they can phone, or send a message, or call our mobiles, or email...etc. We're out all day so no idea how many cold calls, but when I visit my Mum, I'm really shocked at how many she receives. I have one mobile that I use all the time and another that I use for when I register for something, order stuff etc that gets switched on every few weeks.

Steve

[Redmires]

We're out all day so no idea how many cold calls, but when I visit my Mum, I'm really shocked at how many she receives.

Steve

My elderly mother-in-law had the same problem. I manage her BT account online and could see the number of scam calls she was receiving, sometimes several per day. A couple of months ago we got her a call blocking phone from BT which has cut the calls to zero. You can program in all your known contact numbers and these will get straight through. All other calls are screened by the phone and callers have to leave a short message. The phone will then ring and you can decide to accept or reject the call. In practice, none of the scammers try to get through and the phone doesn't ring. I can still see the calls being received but these don't get put through. Magic !

[swill453]

A couple of months ago we got her a call blocking phone from BT which has cut the calls to zero. You can program in all your known contact numbers and these will get straight through. All other calls are screened by the phone and callers have to leave a short message. The phone will then ring and you can decide to accept or reject the call. In practice, none of the scammers try to get through and the phone doesn't ring. I can still see the calls being received but these don't get put through. Magic !

Yes I concur with that. I got one years ago, and scam calls went down from more or less every day to none, ever. Literally haven't had a single one since.

To clarify - this is a BT phone that you buy, and can use on any landline (mine is Virgin) with no ongoing cost or external service involved.

It's very configurable, but the default settings work fine for me.

Scott.

[UncleEbenezer]

Although I have caller display, I find a lot of the time it just says "incoming call" which is not exactly helpful. Since this applies when my daughter rings from her mobile and some other callers I wouldn't want to miss, I always try to answer though the answering service sometimes cuts in before I have reached the phone.

Sounds like an unhelpful (perhaps rather ancient) version of caller display. Mine has distinguished between withheld and unavailable numbers for as long as I can remember, though the latter have been pretty rare since caller ID went global. Nowadays I don't even need an extra app for android to tell me it believes a call to be junk.

As for your daughter's mobile, you could ask her to stop withholding her number. Make it a choice between that and going unanswered!