Telephone/mobile scams

[JAParticipant @ja]

Am I the only person to think that the number of phone and mobile scams have fallen recently?

If I am not, does this mean the phone companies have taken action or is it a result of COVID in India?

JA

[JAParticipant @ja]

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

What you might be seeing is an effect of your refusal to play their game. It's made you less valuable to them; either directly or to similar cheats to whom they sell your details. If so, you will be largely left alone for some time, but the calls may start again in future, perhaps from different gangs.

Whilst the appalling situation there may have weakened the crime-gangs in India, that is by no means the only country in which such gangs operate.

I don't think the phone companies can take action except perhaps in the originators' own countries. I don't understand the technical details but apparently it is by no means as easy as many think, for the companies to act against the fraudsters.

Some accuse the telephone firms as having a vested interest in doing nothing, and while that might be valid in some countries hosting the crooks, I don't really believe that of major companies in the victims' countries if only for reputation-protection.

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

In most cases your details don't matter (except the ones where they address you by name) – they just dial at random. If anything I have seen an increase – the other day two people within an hour offering a cheaper service contract on my boiler. Since I have neither a boiler or a service contract they were easily confused!

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Nigel Graham 2 on 30/04/2021 13:46:43:

What you might be seeing is an effect of your refusal to play their game…

+1 : I think that's one of the two major causes. Most people are now wide-awake to the strong possibility that a phone call is a con-trick. Claiming to be Microsoft or similar is just too obvious to be worth trying. Second reason, young folk (anyone under 60!) are walking away from land-line telephones in droves. Even in my household, the landline is rarely used for business: if it rings, the caller is treated with instant suspicion. Most of my purchasing and stuff is conducted over the internet, initiated by me, and encrypted. Not much telephony involved.

But don't relax! Recent cons have become more sophisticated, for example those imitating bank security phone calls, As this type of security is new, there's a chance some will fall for it. My mum thinks these warnings are real but fortunately always refers them to my sister to sort out. Fairly obvious to spot it's a game when online banking is understood and one is reasonably up to speed with the latest technology, more difficult for anyone with a hazy knowledge of computers brought up on cheque books and High Street Banks.

I worry most about being victim of a con where they have obtained enough personal data to fool me that I'm dealing with a legitimate business. Knowing a marks name, address, phone number, date of birth, Bank, account numbers, energy supplier, car registration, mother's maiden name, and similar can all be exploited to gain the victims trust. For that reason, and knowing a bit about computer security, I avoid sharing personal data on the internet!

Dave

[Harry WilkesParticipant @harrywilkes58467]

Had one yesterday first for me my NI number will be suspended if I fail to ring this number

H

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by JA on 30/04/2021 13:23:57:

Am I the only person to think that the number of phone and mobile scams have fallen recently?

If I am not, does this mean the phone companies have taken action or is it a result of COVID in India?

JA

What on earth are you implying? India doesn't appear in the top ranks of any list of scam origin countries I've found.

[Tony Pratt 1Participant @tonypratt1]

First search I did came up with India first for telephone scams & Nigeria first for email scams, but that could be a lot of BS. I'll leave it at that

Tony

[TomekParticipant @tomek]

I had a phone call from UK mobile number earlier on this week. Very nice gentleman with very strong Indian accent said he's from BT technical department and reason of this call is that my modem sending strange signals? He asked if I noticed that my internet was slow recently, "Oh yes" I replied. So he said that he can solve the problem and I really wouldn't mind if he could speed up our broadband a bit, only problem is we're not a BT customers since 2016!

I don't know where he get my mobile number from but exactly the same phone call I had this afternoon and guy was reading the same script as well. First number I've reported and blocked straight away but second phone call was from a different mobile number (UK as well)

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