👮 Scam phone calls and texts

[Garacesh]

There are weird boxes you can get that MITM between your phone and line and the caller has to type in a code or the phone call won't go through.

Pain in the backside, and it means you have to give everyone the code, so probably best not to do any business-y stuff through your landline, but it's an option.

 

... or you just do that I do and don't even bother plugging a phone in. The landlane is for internet

[mikeprice]

Thanks for the advise

 

I think we are going to tell everyone to ring only the mobiles - then leave the landlines downstairs overnight

 

 

hopefully the extra elevation will make at least one of the mobiles keep signal all night - we shall see

[ChrisC]

Do your mobiles have WiFi calling capability?

 

I get next to no signal at home, so WiFi calling really helps!

[mikeprice]

Do your mobiles have WiFi calling capability?

 

I get next to no signal at home, so WiFi calling really helps!

 

I can't see any way of doing it

 

I have looked for the Virgin app but I think my version of Android is too old

[elsiegee40]

I can't see any way of doing it

 

I have looked for the Virgin app but I think my version of Android is too old

 

Which? Article on how to block nuisance callers

 

https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/cordless-phones/article/how-to-block-nuisance-calls-aHkHz1m7wCes

 

My sister has her landline with TalkTalk and they have a thing that intercepts incoming calls and only lets through known/whitelisted numbers.

 

It has been very successful is stopping the nighttime nuisance that she was getting

[elsiegee40]

Also take a look at TrueCall devices

 

https://www.truecall.co.uk/

[LeMarchand]

My sister has her landline with TalkTalk and they have a thing that intercepts incoming calls and only lets through known/whitelisted numbers.

 

It has been very successful is stopping the nighttime nuisance that she was getting

 

I think @mikeprice has the same problem as me: Could get calls from hospitals, which don't often show a number and even if they did, he won't have likely to have been able to whitelist them.

[elsiegee40]

I think @mikeprice has the same problem as me: Could get calls from hospitals, which don't often show a number and even if they did, he won't have likely to have been able to whitelist them.

 

If your number isn’t whitelisted, you have to say who you are and it will ring through immediately. The person on the other end can then choose to answer (and optionally whitelist immediately) or block.

 

Nuisance callers are generally bots and they don’t say who they are so it doesn’t ring through.

 

Hospital calls would get through to you as the person calling just has to say who they are. It’s not a problem

[LeMarchand]

Nuisance callers are generally bots and they don’t say who they are so it doesn’t ring through.

 

"Walter" from BT would probably have got through .

[mikeprice]

"Walter" from BT would probably have got through .

 

Its amazing how many people with a very strong Indian accent and limited understanding of the quirks of the English language

 

seem to have traditional English names

 

whereas people of Indian heritage that I have met/known often have Indian type names but speak English like a native - because they are - even if some have an accent

 

but these people on the phone .........

[AJWhite1970]

We took the decision to take out the land line about 18 months ago, we are on an internet only account with SSE which works fine. We only use our mobiles for communication, both are iPhones with TrueCaller installed and that cuts out the majority of junk calls.

 

Not perfect but the add caller to junk function is handy after we google an unknown number...

[LeMarchand]

We took the decision to take out the land line about 18 months ago

 

I'd like to do this, but "the elderlies" don't like to ring those newfangled mobile phones (yes, that could be a selling point )and for some reason Mme LeMarchand insists we need one.

Edited November 4, 2020 by elsiegee40

[Garacesh]

Well today I had a call from Montenegro that I summarily ignored, then two hours later a call from London (likely to just be a rented/redirected number) which actually left a robotic voicemail about how HMRC have a fraud case in my name and I must press 1 to speak to an advisor.

[mikeprice]

Well today I had a call from Montenegro that I summarily ignored, then two hours later a call from London (likely to just be a rented/redirected number) which actually left a robotic voicemail about how HMRC have a fraud case in my name and I must press 1 to speak to an advisor.

 

They are on their way round to arrest me as well

 

don't worry though - the officers sent to get me seem to be walking from southern Greece 'cos they started months ago

 

anyway - I'll see you in the cells - with no Edit or Edubytes we could so with a catch up

[elsiegee40]

Not a phone call, but a text. I don’t have a Netflix subscription so that’s easy

 

Forwarded to 7726 for them to deal with

[mikeprice]

Not a phone call, but a text. I don’t have a Netflix subscription so that’s easy

 

Forwarded to 7726 for them to deal with

[ATTACH]59720[/ATTACH]

 

probably runs on the same software as my Amazon Prime membership

 

although they seem to have given up - no calls for 3 days now!

[Simcfc73]

I had one pretending to be from Google asking me for the support ID in my Google domain...very strong accent so I hung up.. they never phoned back.

[mikeprice]

Had a call yesterday saying they were from Virgin and they had detected a problem slowing down our internet and if we didn't do something about it it could damage our equipment

 

which is different

 

Mrs mikeprice answered it and told then they were talking b******s and hung up

 

things is - the comms equipment is actually theirs anyway - so it it got broken by a fault on the line they would have to fix it because they caused it

AND because the contract says it is their stuff and they have to keep it working

 

so seriously after people who are not totally aware of how the system works

 

i.e. the vulnerable and 'hard of thinking' - who are also vulnerable

[Davit2005]

Not a phone call, but a text. I don’t have a Netflix subscription so that’s easy

 

Forwarded to 7726 for them to deal with

[ATTACH]59720[/ATTACH]

 

Being getting a few scam/smishing txts lately. o2 and PayPal both about failed payments.

Edited December 4, 2020 by Davit2005

[Brimstone]

This BT customer service call is somewhat famous on YouTube. If you've not seen it before, a warning it contains very strong language

 

[Davit2005]

This BT customer service call is somewhat famous on YouTube. If you've not seen it before, a warning it contains very strong language

 

 

There are a few on there.

Edited December 4, 2020 by Davit2005

[elsiegee40]

Just got this text about a grant for coming out of lockdown.

 

Reported to 7726, the spam text reporting number, but this will pick up a lot of people ☹️

[Protec]

I can see that catching a few less tech-savvy people out! Even the URL doesn't look "that" out of the ordinary.

[mikeprice]

the main problem with these scammer is that they are not stupid

 

and if they appear to be dumb - they are simply weeding out the intelligent and aiming for the vulnerable

 

 

evil is probably the word in many cases

[LeMarchand]

Just had "Supreme Choice Advisors" calling about my car accident. Ringwood number, though apparently they normally show as Warwick.

 

I only got as far as:

 

"But I thought... my friend said... he'd covered it up.. Oh God! Those children! Those poor children!" (Sobbing)

 

Before she hung up.