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How to toy with non-UK auto dial cold callers
jamesbrownontheroad
Posts: 619 Forumite
in Phones & TV
Cross posted from the Debt Free Wannabe forums, because this is increasingly useful / effective / satisfying ...
Here's my handy tactic for dealing with foreign automated cold callers... if you haven't received one, these are easy to spot. An automated system bulk-calls thousands of random, probably sequential, numbers every day, with no regard for the TPS database. You will hear a recorded message informing you of a prize, holiday, car etc that invites you to press 9 to find out more.
These companies have been investigated before. They are effectively above UK law because they are calling from outside the country and Ofcom legislation does not apply to them. By bulk calling people, and only getting connected to those who respond by pressing a number on their keypad, they make cold calling substantially more cost effective by cutting out wasted call centre rep time. When you dial 1471 the system will give you a forged UK number such as 01789 0000000, 01789 9999999 or 01607 999999(9).
Now, you might just hang up at this point. But I prefer to dial 9 and act as excited as I possibly can...
Cold caller: Hello, and thanks for taking part in the [ spurious and utterly dubious "competition" ]. Can I have your name please?
Callee: [ gives fake name ] ... this sounds great, but could you just hold on one second, my kettle's just boiling / the cat is eating my grapes / the front door is open / etc.
Quietly put the handset down next to your phone, and leave it there until you hear the frustrated call centre rep terminate the call. After all, if they're prepared to waste your time, you should be prepared to waste theirs. The best I've had so far was about four and a half minutes, which is a loooong time for a call centre rep who's being paid by commission
Finally, if you're a BT customer, don't forget to call the BT Nuisance-call team on 0800 661441 (open 24/7) and log the call on option 3. Although there is no way of preventing these calls or getting legal recourse at the moment, every call logged with BT will be used in future investigations and or action.
For more information, see:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology...d-faking-fraud
And perhaps consider joining the very young and very small Facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=627999061
Here's my handy tactic for dealing with foreign automated cold callers... if you haven't received one, these are easy to spot. An automated system bulk-calls thousands of random, probably sequential, numbers every day, with no regard for the TPS database. You will hear a recorded message informing you of a prize, holiday, car etc that invites you to press 9 to find out more.
These companies have been investigated before. They are effectively above UK law because they are calling from outside the country and Ofcom legislation does not apply to them. By bulk calling people, and only getting connected to those who respond by pressing a number on their keypad, they make cold calling substantially more cost effective by cutting out wasted call centre rep time. When you dial 1471 the system will give you a forged UK number such as 01789 0000000, 01789 9999999 or 01607 999999(9).
Now, you might just hang up at this point. But I prefer to dial 9 and act as excited as I possibly can...
Cold caller: Hello, and thanks for taking part in the [ spurious and utterly dubious "competition" ]. Can I have your name please?
Callee: [ gives fake name ] ... this sounds great, but could you just hold on one second, my kettle's just boiling / the cat is eating my grapes / the front door is open / etc.
Quietly put the handset down next to your phone, and leave it there until you hear the frustrated call centre rep terminate the call. After all, if they're prepared to waste your time, you should be prepared to waste theirs. The best I've had so far was about four and a half minutes, which is a loooong time for a call centre rep who's being paid by commission
Finally, if you're a BT customer, don't forget to call the BT Nuisance-call team on 0800 661441 (open 24/7) and log the call on option 3. Although there is no way of preventing these calls or getting legal recourse at the moment, every call logged with BT will be used in future investigations and or action.
For more information, see:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology...d-faking-fraud
And perhaps consider joining the very young and very small Facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=627999061
0
Comments
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jamesbrownontheroad wrote: »The best I've had so far was about four and a half minutes, which is a loooong time for a call centre rep who's being paid by commission
wow, perhaps we could get the forum to set up an interesting new hobbies board, then this thread could be transferred there0
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