Nuisance Calls from 'Out Of Area'

ispartacus75

I have Sky Talk. For the last few weeks we have been getting up to 5 calls per day from an 'Out of Area' number saying that

We would like to speak to you about your recent loan application. Press 5 to speak to one of our operators

1. We never press 5. Heard of too many scams involving number pressing
2. We havent applied for any loans
3. We have no idea what the 'company' is
4. We cant find out as the phone display always shows 'Out of Area'

We have spoken to Sky about changing our number as previous to this we were, and still are, getting calls for a Mr Reynolds. We assume Mr Reynolds was the previous user of our number as we are the first people to live in our apartment so the number cant be connected to the address. Sky told us that for them to be able to change the number we have to report the calls to the police and get a crime number. As all the calls, both the loan calls and the Reynolds calls, come from out of area we know there is little that the police can or would do. But Sky expect us to waste the police time and paperwork just to get a crime number so that they can issue us with another phone number.

We are already registered with TPS, but obviously that is making no difference. The Reynolds calls are made by people with non-English accents so assume they are from overseas call centres. Im guessing that the loan ones are aswell.

Is my only option wasting the police' time?

cajef

The police will not want to know, get a phone with answerphone included and caller display, if it displays 'Out of Area', 'International, or 'Number Withheld' let the answerphone cut in, they usually ring off as soon as it cuts in, if it someone who is genuine they will leave a message or you can pick the handset up when you know who it is.

We have a daughter that lives abroad, she knows to start a message and we will then pick the handset up.

Heinz

Number changing is part of the service any decent line provider would do.

Sky are giving you that BS (what crime has been committed?) so they don't have to do anything.

Buzby

Not sure why you don't want to press ant number. There are no 'scams' (unless you mean urban myths fooling phone users). When I got one, I discovered the code #100 got me into the call routing system and as the password was 9999, I completely reprogrammed it....

david39

Clearly the calls are some form of scam, otherwise they would not be repeated. They will be trying to get you to enter into an IVA or will offer to get all your debts written off(!) or will be offering to arrange a loan that never materialises (any of these for an initial fee of £xxx up-front)!

The calls are probably computer generated and you only get transferred to a human if you press a digit. The computer probably does not record that you have picked up the receiver and only does so when you respond by pressing a digit.

DON'T press a digit - you will be acknowledging to them that the number dialled is a "live" number and that someone on the line will talk - which is just what they want. The next call will then be directly from a human who will try to engage you in lengthy conversation.

But, no talking from you - no chance of the scam - eventually (after many months) they will go away!

Start talking and they will sell your number on to other scammers as a Live Prospect and your number will get onto an international list of prospects who might be gullible - thus multiplying the number of calls you get.

I went through this similar process for years until I realised that responding to the calls (reasonably, angrily or sarcastically) got me nowhere. After two years of picking up the phone and put it straight down again, I'm eventually free of them (I think!)

mezelks

Not sure of how true this is but...
I heard that if someone calls you more than three times, it's classed as harrassment, which IS a crime.
I had a really rude cold caller before, and I don't normally swear at them, but told him to P off. He called back to say 'don't tell me to P off', I told him to F off. He called back, and I said F off you somethingorother. He didn't call back. I presume that if P off had wound him up, if he was allowed to call again, he would have done?
Again, not sure if it's true and my call was just a coincidence, but maybe pressing 1, not 5 and speaking to someone and telling them it's harrassment might scare them into removing you from the calling list?
Hope you get to the bottom of it!

Mark_In_Hampshire

Sky can get the number changed for you. Even Talk Talk managed to get my phone number changed for me five years ago after it "got out" (I never give landline phone numbers to companies, it only leads to you having to have the number changed in the end when the numbers circulate. Now we don't have a landline so I don't get junk calls, as junk callers don't normally call mobiles).

Maybe out of the goodness of their hearts they will do it free of charge when accompanied by a police report backing up your claims, except that the Police have better things to do. The number change with Talk Talk cost me about £40 if I recall correctly.

Buzby

Afraid it is an urban myth that 3+ calls = 'harassment'. There is no such connection, and the police will most likely tell you to go away. To be legally harassed, there has to be an actual threat and a verifiable one. Further, no prosecution would ever be contemplated unless the CPS felt there was a reasonable chance of conviction. For 3 calls this is unlikely.

boyoboi

You may wish to call your provider and request a calling feature called Anonymous call rejection if the company withelds their number. This would stop all private numbers from calling you or Choose to Refuse is another option where you can block a number from calling you. These features are chargeable.

unholyangel

I had a similar problem. Got a new line with virgin and kept getting calls for the previous owner. I eventually got fed up of being woken up (i work nights and they were calling when i was sleeping for work) so i called virgin and they changed the number for me.

While i didnt want to change my number, very few people have it so it wasnt a huge hassle to inform them.

Virgin did originally tell me to register with TPS - which i couldnt do as the number had already been registered. I had also informed the people calling me (who were based in the UK) that the number no long belonged to that person. When that didnt work i told them that under DPA they have to ensure their records were accurate and up to date and correct any mistakes and by not doing so, they were in breach of DPA........still didnt stop the calls despite them promising me they had removed my phone number from this persons account.