I had a call earlier from a gentleman with an Indian accent who claimed to be calling from BT Openreach and said there was a problem with my internet. I had not experienced any difficulties lately so I asked him what the nature of the problem was. He said he had been receiving error measures concerning my connection which resulted from it having been changed from a private to a public network. Although I am not really qualified to comment on the credibility of this claim I was not convinced and told him that this sounded like a load of bollocks and he hung up on me.
I have since been wondering whether my profanity was justified. I’m pretty sure it was a scam call but I suspect the caller may only have been a minion serving some higher villainy, possibly on a zero hours contract and/or minimal commission while attempting to support an extended family, although I’m not really familiar with the hierachy within the scamming community.
(I did have a call some weeks ago from another potential scammer offering to arrange my covid vaccination in exchange for a fee. I was extremely rude to this one and I’m not sorry for that.)
Well I just hang up because I can’t even be bothered to tell them to fuck off, but remember that they are preying on people less savvy than you, ideal targets being vulnerable older people. And for that they can fuck all the way off and beyond. If being told so is an occupational hazard I find it hard to dig up any sympathy.
Having twice had to wipe my father-in-law’s laptop and reinstall Windows in order to remove the ‘help’ programme these c*nts persuaded him to install, and twice had to freeze/replace his bank accounts, he’s made Mrs F his legal guardian thingy. At least he had the nous to ring us up the second time and say “I think I’ve done something daft”.
If you could find out this fella’s name and address, I’d glady fly over to India and tell him to F*ck Off face to face on your behalf.
And there is no BT “public network” setting.
I don’t answer the phone if I don’t recognise the number, they can leave a message if it is actually important to me.
Once as a favour to a friend of my then wife’s I had to “cold call” a list of people offering them a (genuine) service. Did it for a few hours and absolutely hated it. Can imagine it is a really awful way to make a living.
It is. During my first visit to LA in 1985, I tried to find some work to extend my stay. A friend of a friend needed someone to make “cold calls.” I lasted an afternoon.
Checked and eight years ago I did this.
Had a phone call today from ‘Steve’, he was concerned that my computer’s windows/microsoft systems had been compromised. Actually it was difficult to hear him at times as his voice kept going in and out like the tides, and my voice echoes back as I spoke. Could I turn on my computer. Well I replied my computer is steam-powered and I need to put some more coal on to get it fired up. Could he ring back in half an hour when I would be sure it would be ready. Half an hour later ‘Steve’ rang back. Yes I’ll turn on my computer, I said. I looked at the screen as instructed and then down at my keyboard. ‘No ‘ I said ‘I can’t see the keys you mean I’ve an apple computer, not windows.. Any way how can you tell if my computer has been compromised if you don’t know which system I use, and why don’t you stop wasting time on scams and sod off’.
I don’t even bother to engage with them now.
Sorry, got zero sympathy for scam callers..
If i’m in a particularly foul mood I’ll tell them the computer is in the other room and the take ages pretending to go back and forth.
At some point the scammer will inevitably ask “can you tell me what it says on the computer screen?” At which point l’ll say “yes, it says you’re a lying thieving time-wasting cunt” and hang up.
The only time it annoys me when i get these calls is when I don’t have the time to string them along for a while. Any time they’re talking to me is time they can’t spend actually scamming someone.
A few years back we had to start recording all my mum’s calls. Some of the conversations we listened back to were alarming. Once they get the sniff of a credit card being available they’re ruthless. It’s only fair to respond in kind.
I’ve recently been getting an automated version of Keef’s call, in which a well-spoken woman announces “Dear customer, this is to advise you that your internet connection will be suspended within 4 hours due to a router malfunction. Please press 1 to speak to our IT helpline.” When this happened for the third day running, I was sorely tempted to press 1 just to ask why, over 72 hours since they first claimed I had 4 hours left, my internet was still fine and dandy. I didn’t, of course, although I do wonder if you could wind up the scammer if you got to speak to them in person.
Presumably enough poor souls fall for this nonsense to make it worth their while?
I bought a new landline phone the other week and it has some kind of nuisance call blocking feature on it. I’ve no idea how it works, or even if it’s tuned on, as I get very few. I do get more since I’ve been wfh; I may have got them before but not noticed because they would hang up on reaching an answering machine.
I’ve been registered with TPS for decades so probably only get ones which automate calling random numbers until they get through to someone.
https://www.tpsonline.org.uk/register
TPS is toothless I’m afraid.
Run by the marketing scum who work for the industry, so whaddya expect?
It did the trick for me, but it must be nearly 20 years since I registered.
I registered my mobile which has cut down on nearly all junk calls.
I did it ages ago and get almost no scam calls. Possibly coincidental, but what have you got to lose?
Yes, it ‘works’ to a degree, but only just. The proof of the pudding should be the consequences visited upon those who ignore its existence, but there are essentially none.
When companies who ignore the TPS are hugely fined, with their directors all hung in cages at the crossroads for popular ridicule and bombardment with rotten vegetables, we might see a better level of compliance.
Retribution is what I want to see.
But I am seeing a better level of compliance. I’m not getting any cold calls.
#confused
I used to have fun with them and waste their time – invariably the calls were from Microsoft about detecting an issue with my Windows systems, when in reality we are a 100% Apple household.
These days the majority of scam calls we get here in Singapore originate from China and they try and converse with me in Chinese…….. I just hang up.
We now have a useful feature that the government / telcos added where all overseas numbers must show the plus sign – thus even if they spoof a local number it shows as +65 (the country code for Singapore) so you immediately know it’s a scam call.
Nice. Wish we could get the telcos here (UK – Useless Kingdom) to do the same.
There are quite a few videos on YT created by people that bait the scammers, make them hang on as long as possible, basically screw with them. Most of them prey on the old and/or vulnerable, and will gladly milk them of thousands if they can. I’ve seen some videos where the baiter was able to hack into the scammers webcam, and it is obvious none of these people is working under duress, they all know exactly what they’re doing.
Depending on the time available, I try to string them along for as long as possible; as mentioned by another poster, time with me is time they can’t use to scam some old dear out of their savings.
I came home one day to find my father (90 odd, dementia) trying to read out his debit card details to some bastard on the phone. Luckily I cottoned on what was happening, and took the phone from my dad. The scammer was left in no doubt regarding my feelings towards him & his ilk.
If I can be arsed, I ask them if they believe in God, as God will eternally torment those who lie, cheat, and use deceit on the innocent. They soon give up.
I must try this ingenious approach – the phone equivalent of inviting door knocking Jehovah’s Witnesses in for a nice cup of tea and a chat about the benefits of Satanism.
if Ive got the time or inclination I’ll play with them and try and keep them hanging on for as long as possible before telling them that they’re a cunt but we bought a BT call guardian phone which makes them give their name before putting the call through to me so 99% don’t get through that. However Ive been getting a lot on my mobile recently – mainly the automated calls which start off saying that they’re from HMRC and that there’s been a tax fraud noted in my name – which is untrue on both counts as a)there isn’t and b) HMRC would never do this. I should know as I used to work for them !! With these I just note the number and time of the call and forward details to th HMRC anti-phishing line. These people are scum of the highest order and deserve to be cast into the pits of hell and forced to listen to Ed Sheeran for eternity backwards.
My wife has just said we’ve had two calls from Amazon.
“Oh I’ve never been to South America ”
Phone went dead.
It is not possible to be too mean to scammers. Their rung position on the ladder is irrelevant. No-one can be ignorant of the crime with which they are involved. That they prey upon the elderly as some kind of business plan says it all. They are utterly evil.
And I do wonder why there is no greater effort to stamp them out. My father got hooked badly a few years ago (badly = sharp intake of breath and worse than you expected). But the police won’t get involved unless the victim comes forward. Due to a combination of shame, embarrassment and, in our case, not wanting to admit that you ignored good advice, very often victims will not come forward. No investigation takes place and the scammer waltzes on to the next victim.
I think the lack of effort to stop this is down to most telecom providers wanting to sell customers a solution.
Like the Millennium bug. A lot of people made a lot of money out of that.
There were a lot of scam artists getting people to fork out large sums for nothing much, but there were also a lot of really important computer systems that would not have survived into the 21st century without serious work being done on them.
An acquaintance earnt himself about 20,000 quid for being on site and on duty overnight in case Telehouse (London’s internet exchange in Docklands) went tits-up because of something that had been overlooked.
He didn’t have to do anything at all, as it had all been checked, double checked and then checked again a few times more over the previous few months.
At that time I was working as a developer for a mail order company. We got through without any problems, simply because we spent the previous 6 months amending the systems and reformatting data to ensure that it worked.
Last year I had a call during breakfast.
My router was compromised, was the claim. I said I would have to boot up my computer, so would he mind hanging on?
I put the phone down and got on with my breakfast. 10 to 15 minutes later I picked up and said “You’re absolutely right, my router is not working at all”. He asked me to reboot it.
I asked if he’s mind holding on again, while I rebooted.
I put the phone down and got on with whatever I was doing.
Another 10 to 15 minutes later I picked up the phone and said everything is working.
I proceeded to get all his instructions wrong for another 5 or 10 minutes.
So he spelled out exactly what I needed to put in, letter by letter, punctuation mark by punctuation mark. After he told me to hit enter he asked me what I could see.
“A picture of Bugs Bunny” I replied.
He shouted down the phone “You think you’re funny man, but I’m smarter than you”.
“Not so smart as to realise that I’ve been stringing you along for the last half hour or so, because you’re greedy and want to get hold of my money”.
Then, knock me down with a feather, he replied “YOU owe me money”
“Oh, how do you work that one out?” I asked.
“200 years ago your ancestors stole a diamond from my ancestors”
“You don’t know anything about my ancestors” I replied and started telling him about The Highland Clearances, but he hung up.
So there it is. If we return the Koh-i-Noor diamond, all these calls will stop.
Or not.
@carl
You rock!
I must get 5 to 6 calls per week from scammers or bullshit merchants wanting me to invest in Bitcoin or properties or write off debts.
Usually there is a gap between me answering the phone and the voice coming on the phone. Usually very bad English. ‘Am I speaking to Steve Turner?’ to which I reply ‘you tell me, you dialled the number’. Sometimes this will result in a click, at other times they will persist and within a number of worthless minutes I will them them to fuck off.
I had one Bitcoin man who sounded quite rough and ready. I told him I was quite interested but could I think about it overnight and he could call me the following morning. When he called I told him I had thought about it and was not interested. He started shouting ‘you have wasted my time’.
Yep.
Very sensible advice from Forbes, applicable to UK
The second you start talking you are giving information which adds to their profile of the number…..
Nothing you can say will really faze them…
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2016/05/28/six-reasons-not-to-engage-with-scammers-no-matter-what-your-facebook-friends-tell-you/?sh=3dcad618439d
I have been involved in at least 15 different road traffic incidents without any fault on my part, just in the last year it seems. I stand to make a fortune in compensation claims. The odd thing is, I have no recollection at all of any of the incidents in question.
You must have been well out of it. Don’t beat yourself up, we’ve all done it.
“Do you want to spend hundreds of pounds on old music, that you never much liked in the first place, badly pressed onto childishly coloured vinyl?”
“Wait… don’t go away, I have one kidney left, I can sell that!”
I interact as little as possible with them. My landline goes to an answerphone and I never pick up unless they leave a message and I actually want to speak to them. My Mobile seems to weed out scam callers all by itself. Dodgy numbers are flagged with a red “Spam” symbol so I just swipe upwards to reject the call and then block that number on the phone. It doesn’t stop them but it makes the interaction brief and relatively painless.
Before I had an answerphone, if I discovered I’d been cold-called I’d say “Just a minute”, put the receiver down on the phone shelf and carry on with whatever I was doing.
After a while of this they realise I’m not coming back on the line and hang up to call someone else. Then after a while the Telco will put that tone on the line to let you know your receiver is off the hook.
The bane of everyone’s life these days, especially the aged and vulnerable, and it makes you wonder what action the phone regulators take, although I suppose it’s an impossible task when many are based abroad. At least spam emails are easier to spot and deal with – today I had one from some Bitcoin scam promising ‘JK Rowling reveals how he made his fortune’……
That’s her brother Jonathan Kevin.
We only have a landline for broadband and there’s no phone connected to it.
Is the correct answer.
This is another in a series of problems Afterworders suffer but I don’t. No one rings the landline except my sister who calls from the UK. I don’t know why we bother with it really. Most people here just have mobiles. If my mobile rings and it’s an unknown number I don’t answer. I assume if it’s for real they will leave a message. I google the number and it’s usually some kind of sales, market research. I block those numbers. Never had a scam, fake IT type call.
Yeah but always that easy – I use my company mobile for my private calls too. There is a company called Beneficial who must have called me about 30 times this year. Every time they call me it is a different landline number from different parts of the country – impossible to block. I have sworn at them, told them to take me off their data base and still the calls continue.
Since I’ve been back in Oz I have given my details to a whole host of different check-in services in coffee shops etc. The result has been a vast increase in scam calls and texts. Thankfully the QLD government has finally got round to producing an app of its own, only a year late, which I hope will see the scammers off.
We only keep a landline because my wife thinks that in an earthquake it’s something that might still work when all the mobile networks go down.
I went along with this – thinking she was being a bit over-careful but that’s exactly what happened when Christchurch had its big shakes. In NZ this is why landlines still exist – can’t remember the last time I received a call on it though.
Solved this problem almost entirely by unplugging my landline phone and rarely answering unknown numbers on my mobile.
When I do answer unknown numbers it’s sometimes ‘cos I’m bored and half hoping its some scammer I can tell to fuck off.
Keep a whistle by the phone, one long blast sure to discourage.
That’s a great idea! Or how about simply answering every question with the word “arse.” Surely not even scammers will waste their time on an obvious lunatic?
@stevieblunder
I was considering doing that until a mate advised me that I could potentially burst my caller’s eardrum. Scummy though scammers are, that seemed to me to be a bit OTT
The telephone preference service now operates for mobiles, as well as landlines. Has anyone tried it? My parents are good old-fashioned ‘ex-directory’ on their landline, and they still get scam calls.
We now have GDPR and DPA 2018 regulations that, in theory, protect your personal data better than ever. Strangely, it seems to be the tighter data regulations are, it’s inverse to the number of times scammers have access to your data.
My full sympathy for those with elderly parents – it’s easy to blame people for being too trusting, but the scammers are growing increasingly sophisticated.
When they generate the numbers inn the fly, they don’t need any database and are not subject to GDPR.
Still makes me smile. This guy just cant be beaten. How to lose it properly.
AI used to waste scammers’ time:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/technology-56458267
Something to bear in mind is: Are you wasting your own time trying to waste theirs?
Scammers make the mistake of calling one of the Money Box team when he’s in the recording studio:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000tmb4
Just seen this in the latest Chris Brookmyre crime novel, “The Cut”.
Now this is being mean to a scammer:
[Expecting an important call]
«”Hello?” she answered eagerly.
“Oh, good afternoon. I’m calling because I believe you were recently involved in an accident.”
She wanted to scream, but Millicent had long ago learned to suppress displays of rage. She had also learned that they have to come out somewhere, so they are best sublimated into other energies.
“God, yes, the accident,” she replied, her voice faltering. “It was my sister. She was emptying the dishwasher and she slipped. She landed on the carving knife. She bled out in front of me. All over the kitchen floor. Are you calling from the coroner’s office?”
There was a satisfying silence.
“No. I…”
“Just kidding. It wasn’t an accident. I killed her. I cut open her abdomen, pulled her guts out and strangled her with her own intestines. And I’ll do the same to you if you call this number again.” »