Industrial Workers Office Scamming

FOREVER21

Grandad_Graham wrote: »

3of3
I then told him that I'm a retired Fraud Officer (which I am) and that there are ways to track down organisations like the one he works for. He thought this very amusing and asked if I'd send a SWAT team in to stop them. He appeared to be deliberately engaging me in conversation, so I asked him if it was a premium rate line and told him to ring off, which he refused to do. So I put the phone down.

I would have thought as an ex fraud officer you would have known that premium line or not it would not have cost you anything as they called you!

Grandad_Graham

?via ggogle: nationalworkersoffice.co.uk

Grandad_Graham

Im trying to help people identify who these people are and hopefully put a stop to their potentially unlawful activities.

Grandad_Graham

As you will note there is a potential contact address and phone number in Blackburn if its the same people.

pinkrdchick

I've just come across this forum as we've had a call from these people today.

I don't know if any of the earlier posters are still reading this thread but wanted to mention that we've just bought a new home phone which has Call Guardian. What this does is intercept all incoming calls, if the call comes from a number we've saved in the phone as someone we know, it gets put straight through, if it's a withheld number, or international, or a number we don't recognise, the call guardian answers the call for us, and asks the caller to announce their name, then press the hash key.

When they've done this, the phone then rings, and when we pick up, it tells us who is waiting on the phone. We can then choose to take the call or block it. So if the person calling doesn't want to tell us their name, they don't get through, and we don't get a call we don't want.

All the incoming calls are shown on the phone's call list, even if they've been blocked, so as calls are added to the list we can choose to always block numbers (so callers won't even get the chance to give their name), or always allow numbers, if they turn out to be people we do actually want to speak to.

We've only had our new phones for about a week but they've been worth every penny, and no sales calls have got through at all. I think they're going to be worth every penny. You can buy a thing called Truecall as a stand-alone box that you connect to your existing phone, or you can buy the BT8500 phone (from Argos or online), which works out cheaper.

I don't work for TrueCall, or BT by the way, I'm just so impressed with the call guardian that I want to share it with as many people as possible because I'm sick of these unwanted calls too.

AngryLouie

After numerous similar calls, I decided to "humour" these guys (CLI. 01564 634364) to try and get to the bottom of whatever they are up to and, perhaps foolishly, let slip my DOB., at which point they became very interested and I swiftly ended up speaking to someone else calling himself "Peter Jones" who made me an appointment, for which I subsequently got a confirmation letter, to attend one of their "hearing clinics" locally; before the end of the call he also stressed that they need my NINO!
The letter has the logo of "Zebra CLAIMS" and "LOCUM Unit NIHL Clinics" - Anchorage House, 252 The Quays, Erie Basin Salford Quays M50 3SD Tel:0161 814 0016. (NIHL = Noise Induced Hearing Loss).
Apart from confirming the appointment, it also says
"Please bring with you 2 forms of ID this could be:
a) Passport
b) Driving License
c) Utility Bill
and then "Please also remember to bring your National Insurance Number"
I was called again by "Peter Jones" (0161 786 0912) the day before the appointment to make sure I was still coming and also on the day, just an hour beforehand, when NINO. was again mentioned and he said I should ask for him on arrival.
I dutifully turned up at a local chain hotel but armed only with the appointment letter, to find a piece of paper taped to the front door reading "HEARING CLINIC THIS WAY" and was then ushered into a "reception room" by some bloke who wouldn't have looked out of place "working" outside the door our local nighttime trouble spot!
I asked for "Peter Jones" but the permanently sickly smiled "lady receptionist" said she was aware of him but he was not available and then proceeded to "register" my attendance for "our Audiologist", on some sort of form and once she had got past writing my N&A details from the letter, predictably moved onto asking for the more sensitive stuff, at which point I refused point blank, at least until it was satisfactorily explained to me how this data would be used.
There was a steady stream of people there, I would say mostly much older than me (58), freely brandishing their Passports & Driving Licenses etc., so they clearly wouldn't want a "scene" and I was hastily "ushered" into the corridor and introduced to "a Manager", a female dripping cheap jewellery, who explained that I couldn't "see the Audiologist without satisfactory registration". (I did see a woman through another room door window with what seemed like a white coat on.) I proceeded to protest that it was totally unreasonable to constantly harangue people by 'phone and expect them to divulge personal information and particularly mentioned NINO. She retorted that they were only "helping people get the compensation they deserve" and needed NINO. to look it up on something like "The National Workers Register to make sure they worked where they say they did", before they hand the data over to solicitors at Zebra Claims.
I expressed my doubts over their legitimacy and that any such register exists and that even if it did, that they would have authorised access to it without proper data protection restraints; I insisted that my data be expunged from their system and this was supposedly satisfied by the receptionist retrieving the original half-completed form from her waste bin and writing "REMOVE FROM SYSTEM" on the top. I was then ushered out; as I left, I wanted to scream out "don't do it" to the poor unsuspecting oldsters sitting waiting to be seen, who seemed to be mentally drooling over the amount of money, supposedly soon to be “won for them"!
"Peter Jones" (from 0161 786 0912 again) yet again called my home at about 18:30 that evening "to ask how I got on". When I expressed surprise that I had not met him, he said that he had to urgently attend a "complaint in Birmingham" (about 15 miles from the hotel) but that he was now "back in the office" (Manchester?). When I related my story and conclusions, he described my attitude as "bizarre" and said he had never heard anyone express such thoughts before "after 18 years in this industry"! I told him that what they were doing, especially persistently calling demanding personal data, at least amounted to harassment and was probably criminal; he retorted that there were other unscrupulous people doing similar things and causing problems but that his company would never be responsible for such behaviour. I told him that if they are legitimate they should get their act together, explain better to people what they are really about and generally behave in a more professional manner and put the ‘phone down.
I know this will be a bit controversial but everyone I have came across in this saga all have similar broad “regional” accents (I am from the north, so keep your hair on if you have one too!) and an air of what I would describe as "slightly thick cockiness" . My overall impression is that there may be SOME legitimacy here but the feeling I get is that these people are verging on petty criminals at best and I would not trust any of them people to take my rubbish to the bin without doing something untoward. I strongly suspect that the real exercise is harvesting personal data for criminal purposes like identity theft! I will let other people investigate further and draw their own conclusions.

babyj3

I too have had several calls from these people over a number of months
I answer a call to find someone mumbling at the other end of the line so I ask them to speak up and they raise their voice slightly but I still cant hear what they are saying so ask them to speak louder at which point they talk normally and say that they are from the National Hearing Clinic and I clearly have a hearing problem
What a cheek! The first time I found it mildly amusing that they would think anyone would be fooled by their tactics but it seems that a lot of people do fall for their ruse
I asked how they got my telephone number as I am ex directory and told them that I am registered with the TPS to stop calls such as this and asked for my name to be taken from their database and was assured that they would
Since then I have received several calls including three in one day this week alone am pm and evening
They are an absolute pest and nothing I say stops them ringing so call guardian seems to be the answer. I can't wait to get it up and running
I too have been tempted to answer their calls by shouting eh! What I can't hear you and keep telling them that until they get fed up and give up on me but thought it might just encourage them to keep ringing although they do that anyway

pinkrdchick wrote: »

I've just come across this forum as we've had a call from these people today.

I don't know if any of the earlier posters are still reading this thread but wanted to mention that we've just bought a new home phone which has Call Guardian. What this does is intercept all incoming calls, if the call comes from a number we've saved in the phone as someone we know, it gets put straight through, if it's a withheld number, or international, or a number we don't recognise, the call guardian answers the call for us, and asks the caller to announce their name, then press the hash key.

When they've done this, the phone then rings, and when we pick up, it tells us who is waiting on the phone. We can then choose to take the call or block it. So if the person calling doesn't want to tell us their name, they don't get through, and we don't get a call we don't want.

All the incoming calls are shown on the phone's call list, even if they've been blocked, so as calls are added to the list we can choose to always block numbers (so callers won't even get the chance to give their name), or always allow numbers, if they turn out to be people we do actually want to speak to.

We've only had our new phones for about a week but they've been worth every penny, and no sales calls have got through at all. I think they're going to be worth every penny. You can buy a thing called Truecall as a stand-alone box that you connect to your existing phone, or you can buy the BT8500 phone (from Argos or online), which works out cheaper.

I don't work for TrueCall, or BT by the way, I'm just so impressed with the call guardian that I want to share it with as many people as possible because I'm sick of these unwanted calls too.

AngryLouie

From "The Hearing Clinic" 01332 895906

Said they would remove me from their lists as I have already attended; we'll see!!!!!!!!!!!!

tykesi

call_centre_rep wrote: »

Thanx for the laugh AngryLouie... so I take it from the way you talk that you didn't bring your I.d.. and of course they are going to 'rob your identity' never heard such paranoid nonsense.

That's it, you vent your anger that you can't get a better job!

Why not just admit it's all a scam? Reputable company, my !!!!!

wealdroam

call_centre_rep wrote: »

I like how you call yourself the 'victim' and your inappropriate almost deceased joke that is so old by now that there is a rotting corpse in the cemetery with its name on the gravestone...

call_centre_rep wrote: »

Thanx for the laugh AngryLouie... so I take it from the way you talk that you didn't bring your I.d.. and of course they are going to 'rob your identity' never heard such paranoid nonsense.

Wow! is that the sort of behaviour we can expect from a call centre rep employed by National Advice?

On another thread you told us:

call_centre_rep wrote: »

I work for the National Advice company and we are a credible compensation firm...

Don't look too credible to me.