How to stop scam phone calls for good?

[Martin Hamilton 1Participant @martinhamilton1]

Posted by Stuart Smith 5 on 21/07/2020 21:45:32:

We were always being pestered by nuisance calls, so I bought a BT branded cordless phone (actually have 3 phones but you can get just the one). This incorporates call screening and blocking facilities without any extra ongoing costs and can be used with any service provider.

Have had it for a couple of years now and it has completely stopped nuisance calls.

You can programme friends, family etc in and they get through straight away. Any number not in the list gets a recorded message asking who is calling. A legitimate caller responds, the phone then rings and plays the callers message. You can choose to accept or reject the call, or leave it to let the answerphone switch in. Scammers and nuisance callers don’t respond and also silent calls don’t even cause the phone to ring.

Cant recommend it highly enough.

It incorporates Truecall technology, but there are no ongoing costs.

Stuart

Yes i agree Stuart, we tried all the different options over time that BT had to offer but still it did not eliminate all the junk calls. Even still got UK companys who were selling or marketing still come through, not to mention the scammers from other countries. When we spoke to BT about all the various options we had tried over time but still ended up getting more & more unwanted calls. BT told us that it was virtually impossible for them to keep up with the methods used by the scammers to get through, they said that their new truecall technology was the way to go. Like Stuart we have never looked back since getting these BT Premium handsets, another bonus was our old Panasonic handsets which we had had for several years were starting to play up re batteries not charging properly & other problems were due for renewal anyway. So it didn't cost us anymore than we were going to spend anyway.

[SandgrounderParticipant @sandgrounder]

How does one know that the call is a nuisance call unless you answer it? I've had quite a few calls in the past that couldn't be identified as genuine until answered but which turned out to be important, and this afternoon my wife and I were out walking on the beach and her mobile rang, the dispay read 'No caller ID', should I answer it she asked me, I said yes definitely and it turned out to be from the Physio at the local hospital, I always answer them.

John

[KWILParticipant @kwil]

I have very few such calls, number is Ex D and I do not give it out to all and sundry.

Some web sites require phone number when you order, even had the number printed on the address label, which led me to not providing one. Just insert the exchange number and 000 000, seems to satisfy the computer at the other end!

Has not caused any problems with the courier companies when delivering.

[Martyn DuncumbParticipant @martynduncumb88863]

We are with PluSNet and get very few unwanted calls.

Our problem is, as Sandgrounder mentions, that hospitals and GPs come up as ‘No caller ID’ or ‘Number withheld’, so we now have to answer them. Somehow we have managed to guess correctly that it is a medical call but it is a bit of a lottery. Hopefully they will be able to sort this out as it must waste a lot of NHS time with people not answering their calls because they think they are scams.

Martyn

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

Back in the bad old days my nuisance calls stopped when my bank account dropped to around zero

Bank account goes up… nuisance calls started up again…

[Stuart Smith 5Participant @stuartsmith5]

Buy a BT branded phone (or phones) with call screening and blocker built in.

See my earlier post.

Since we have had this we have had no nuisance calls.

Any number you have programmed into your contacts gets through straightaway. They don’t even know you have call screening.

Other callers get a recorded message asking them to say their name. The phone rings and plays their name and you decide to accept the call, block the number or let it go to the answerphone. So genuine callers, such as doctors, hospital etc will give their name and the phone will ring.

This gives the best of all worlds. No nuisance calls, friends and family get through as normal and other genuine callers get through by announcing their name. Can be used with any network and no ongoing cost once you have bought the phone.

Stuart

 

Edited By Stuart Smith 5 on 26/08/2020 17:12:10

[Enough!Participant @enough]

Sounds like an interesting device, Stuart. I wonder if anything similar is available on this side of the (big) pond.

Of course it will cost money which still leaves me in the annoying position of paying for a telephone service and then paying again to make it work (over 90% of my calls are nuisance/scam and I have an other-half who cannot not-answer a ringing phone) … but I would pay.

(I still feel this nuisance call problem could easily be solved with action by politicians and the phone companies but there's no will on either side).

[Peter G. ShawParticipant @peterg-shaw75338]

We have BT Caller Display, plus we are registered with TPS, and are Ex-D. We do get a small number of scam calls, perhaps one or two a week, if that, and our usual way of dealing with them is to either hang up if an obvious recording, or if a genuine person, say that we are not interested and then hang up. Also, our 'phones are three elderly Panasonic cordless types, ie non-BT.

We do have two mobile phones, and these numbers are not given out except in very execptional circumstances, indeed they probably spend 99% of their time switched off. Result is no scam calls.

In respect of the GP's surgery, and the Main Hospitals, up until recently we did not know when they were calling, eg number withheld etc, however a few months before Covid-19 they started using a specific number for all return calls. Initially this was from the GP's surgery but was the wrong STD code so I programmed our 'phones to show Dr Return No. but now the hospitals are also using it so my designation is wrong. But at least I've a good idea that it is likely to be important.

A few weeks ago we did get a possible scam in that someone at our bank rang up asking for Mr. Shaw to contact them on what turned out to be their fraud number. Of course, we ignored it even though there may have ben a problem with one of my wife's transactions expecting that if genuine we would eventually be sent a letter. Eventually, like a week or two later, it turned out that the Mr Shaw required was my younger son who was stuck in S. Korea with a pair of cards which didn't work and he had either forgotten, or didn't know about 2-factor authorisation. Fortunately he was able to contact his older brother via Facebook and thus obtain funding to be able to return home.

I must admit that I find it sad that I have come to having an Ex-D number when for possibly 50 years I used to think that Ex-D should be banned, but such is the world we live in. Fortunately, we don't get that many, and even the scam emails appear to have stopped.

Peter G. Shaw

Edited By Peter G. Shaw on 26/08/2020 21:46:04

[Ian Skeldon 2Participant @ianskeldon2]

Please do be aware that sometimes it is necessary for your local hospital or gp surgery to contact you, call blocking such as mentioned means we can not get through to the intended recipient, so then they have a wasted journey and car parking fees, there is a reason hospitals and doctors ask for your contact details.

[Stuart Smith 5Participant @stuartsmith5]

Ian

The BT phones I mentioned do not block a genuine caller such as the hospital. They just ask the person ringing to say who they are.

That is the big advantage over our old Panasonic phones for instance which were not as sophisticated.

As you say, phones that block all unknown numbers cause problems for genuine callers.

Stuart

[ZanParticipant @zan]

Said all this Several times here before. Just have your answer phone on all the time. They just hang up as soon. As “hello we are not at home at the………… Most stop at “we are” All friends know and speak n we answer. Unknown genuine callers start to leave a message and we pick up. Simple.

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

I have had my landline for 34 years and have been ex directory for all that time. I have very few nuisance calls which is a bit boring as I like a bit of sport with a nuisance caller. My mother is plagued by nuisance calls so her policy is to not answer or just nudge the handset to cancel the call, I happened to be round and answered the phone, it was the pacemaker clinic reminder for her checkup. She will never master any call blocking system so she will miss important calls or answer endless silent calls or attempted scammers. The solutions are for people who are a bit tech savvy but not 90 years old and beginning to to lose the plot a bit.

Mike

[MK_ChrisParticipant @mk_chris]

+1 for Zan. My answering machine message is "Hello, this is Chris. If I do not recognise your number then I wait for the answer machine. Please speak after the tone".

A lot of callers hang up immediately, although the last part of an automated message usually gets recorded. The genuine callers identify themselves so it works OK for me.

Chris.

[I.M. OUTAHEREParticipant @i-m-outahere]

I was watching a YouTube video a while back and the guy got a scam call about his credit card while he was recording , he said can you hang on a minute i have to go out to the car and get my card and put them on hold – 5 minutes later he decided to check if they were still there and they were – now that’s tenacity for you ! He said sorry i forgot I don’t have a credit card and you could hear the phone on the other end get slammed down as they hung up !

I only have a mobile so if I don’t recognise the number I won’t answer it , i did have a problem with my telco calling me trying to sell something to me or asking if i can do a survey — after a tirade of abusive language i made it perfectly clear that if they ever call me again i will be changing telcos and I haven’t heard from them in about 3 years !

[HowiParticipant @howi]

registering for TPS sorted most scam calls for me, the few that do now get through allow me to vent my spleen in a tirade of expletifs.

don't see the point of spending money oin trying to eliminate them, as BT says, almost impossible to stop completely and usually results in important calls not getting through.

Had a call recently from the hospital that I had been ignoring as no number shown, they were contacting me about a colonoscopy that was due ( actually 6 months late!).

I said "A Colonoscopy? you can stick that where the sun don't shine!"

Yes! she said, that's the general idea……….

Edited By Howi on 27/08/2020 09:29:26

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Howi on 27/08/2020 09:28:56:

… the few that do now get through allow me to vent my spleen in a tirade of expletifs…

…

If you have time to spare by far the best tactic is to string them along. My record is 48 minutes. Hurts them in various ways:

• They're paying for the call and their employee, and the building he's working in.
• Employee is probably bonused on results, and you spoil his hit-rate.
• Whilst bogged down with a time-waster the employee misses many opportunities of the auto-dialer finding a gullible mark.
• Being led up the garden path by the victim is thoroughly bad for morale. Confidence tricks depend on the perpetrator being confident, and they don't like having their chain pulled. As it's hard to tell the difference between an elderly person simulating dementia and the real thing, they have to give silly old grandad the benefit of the doubt, even if they suspect they're being fluffed. In comparison a brief shower of abuse they don't listen to is a relative treat!

Be careful though. Mother's friend, (aged 93), who is tech savvy and bright as a button, was caught last week. Whilst she was already chasing a delayed package, "Amazon" rang to say they owed her money and could they have her bank account details for a refund. Fortunately, she twigged minutes after the call and reported she'd been conned to her Bank, who blocked it…

Dave

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

As I've said before I bought the BT phone system soon after it came out, I dont miss calls as the likes of the Doctors etc have my mobile no, the home phone sits quietly in the corner doing its job of blocking calls, we get the odd one or two a week blocked by the phone which are easily deleted.

Martin P

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

I don't have any blocking software or pay for any such services, and I get maybe 2 silly phone calls a month. As soon as I answer, if I or my phone don't recognise the caller, I ask what it's about, and if it's any unsolicited business I just say 'No, not interested' and hang up immediately.

As I said, unsolicited calls certainly haven't stopped completely, but they're not giving me much grief these days.

[DMBParticipant @dmb]

Look around the market near the end of contract for the nxt cheap supplier and dont take phone no. with you. Just pass new no. on to friends and relatives and club membership secretaries with instruction not to publish. Members know to contact the M.S. for info missing from membership list. Only give out new no. where forced to do so, leaving all the commerciial sites to "whistle" with obsolete no. My phone never rings from scammers these days.

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

I think the main problem is that most of these calls originate from random diallers that take a valid STD code and combine it with a random number. Then they use an ISDN connection to throw this at the network, generating calls at a very high rate. Only if the call is answered will the computer doing this pass it on to a human operator, and often not even then as they can engage the person called with a recorded message so only bring in a human scammer if the called person selects an option or stays on the line. Very often when we get a call and do answer it, it quickly disconnects anyway as they clearly don't even have the computer capacity to play the recorded message. These calls can be generated so quickly and easily and cheaply for the scammer that they only need a small hit rate to make money.

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