How to Beat Doorstep Callers

Paul_Varjak

custardy wrote: »

Lol,Keep those knickers untwisted.
I may have to unleash a tea salesman on you

I think you will just run to teacher crying your little eyes out.

custardy

Paul_Varjak wrote: »

I think you will just run to teacher crying your little eyes out.

I like you

MothballsWallet

Paul_Varjak wrote: »

They would just be reported to the local Council for littering

It certainly is possible, I have such a system running for around a year now and it costs me nothing.

The withhold thing is an option in the telephone network's protocols that only affects whether the number appears on caller display - the calling and called numbers are passed across the system regardless because they are needed for billing purposes.

Disclaimer: I'm a former telephony engineer.

miss_scrooge

Paul_Varjak wrote: »

Crime happens all the time. One of my elderly neighbours did not answer the door to a caller for the same reason you would not answer the door. That caller, who had just been released from prison, then banged on their window demanding they opened the door because he was selling door-to-door.

Had my neighbour been able to answer with an intercom or phone that may well have diffused the situation.

I answered my door to the very same person who attempted to push his way in when I would not buy from him.

We had other callers, gypsies, from Brigg - that whole family is now in prison - you can read about them here...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2311680/David-Price-Rogue-trader-says-pay-1-3million-elderly-people-conned-spent-Big-Fat-Gypsy-Wedding-style-presents.html

And even one of my former neighbours got arrested for murder, just weeks after I moved in after he shot someone with a gun.

I know crime happens all the time worst crime have happened in my city and everywhere else doesn't mean you have to live in fear whatever happens otherwise you are letting the criminals win.You twist what I say so no point replying back anymore.

Paul_Varjak

MothballsWallet wrote: »

The withhold thing is an option in the telephone network's protocols that only affects whether the number appears on caller display - the calling and called numbers are passed across the system regardless because they are needed for billing purposes.

Disclaimer: I'm a former telephony engineer.

The calling number is transmitted for billing purposes and can be revealed if the call is made to a SIP number or can be diverted to a SIP number. The worlds most notorious cyber hacker (Kevin Mitnick) described this at a conference which was videoed and put on Youtube.

I don't have to expertise to manipulate the SIP protocol, like Mitnick, to reveal the number - I just divert calls from my number provider to a SIP provider and the unmasking happens automatically and for free.

Some numbers though seem to be 'unavailable', rather than just 'withheld'. My SIP phone will unmask 'withheld' numbers but cannot, of course, unmask 'unavailable' numbers.

Paul_Varjak

miss_scrooge wrote: »

I know crime happens all the time worst crime have happened in my city and everywhere else doesn't mean you have to live in fear whatever happens otherwise you are letting the criminals win.You twist what I say so no point replying back anymore.

I have not twisted what you say. You say crime is hardly likely to happen. My experience is the opposite. Most of the doorstep callers at my door are bogus in some way or another.

Callers to my home provide fake IDs, fake addresses, claim to raise money for charity when they are not etc. Many are ex-convicts. Even invited callers from apparently reputable companies turn out to be criminals in some way or another.

I invited a company rep to my home some months ago. He told a pack of lies in order to get a sale. Luckily, I recorded the whole visit. Trading Standards are to interview a director of the company and the salesman in the next few days. Trading Standards tell me that they intend to prosecute.

I simply do not want these bogus callers at my house, I cannot be bothered to listen to the utter claptrap they have to tell me in order to make a sale. They are are wasting my time as well as their own.

Any bogus callers at my house get automatically reported to Trading Standards via the Citizens Advice Consumer Service. If the bogus callers knew that I do report them, I am sure they would be eternally grateful for the fact that I will soon deny them contact by having a locked gate.

MothballsWallet

Paul_Varjak wrote: »

The calling number is transmitted for billing purposes and can be revealed if the call is made to a SIP number or can be diverted to a SIP number. The worlds most notorious cyber hacker (Kevin Mitnick) described this at a conference which was videoed and put on Youtube.

I don't have to expertise to manipulate the SIP protocol, like Mitnick, to reveal the number - I just divert calls from my number provider to a SIP provider and the unmasking happens automatically and for free.

Some numbers though seem to be 'unavailable', rather than just 'withheld'. My SIP phone will unmask 'withheld' numbers but cannot, of course, unmask 'unavailable' numbers.

You could also get it if you set up a PC with computer telephony hardware and software

Paul_Varjak

MothballsWallet wrote: »

You could also get it if you set up a PC with computer telephony hardware and software

You can also use just SIP software on a Windows desktop (no hardware required) to achieve the same.

One good Sip phone for Windows is DialNow, which is also a SIP provider. In addition to unmasking withheld numbers, it will also allow you to make outgoing calls at below wholesale prices: 0.1p/min to UK landlines and 0.7p/min. to UK mobiles.

Unfortunately, DialNow's Android SIP client will only allow you to make outgoing SIP calls - incoming SIP calls are NOT allowed.

meer53

OP, you are paranoid.

I don't think i've ever had a bogus salesperson at my door, nor am i offended by junk mail. It goes straight in the bin. I have caller display on my phone, if i don't recognise the number, i don't answer, if it's someone who needs to speak to me, they leave a message and i call them back.

"Callers to my home provide fake IDs, fake addresses, claim to raise money for charity when they are not etc. Many are ex-convicts. Even invited callers from apparently reputable companies turn out to be criminals in some way or another."

This statement is ridiculous. Do you vet everyone who comes to your door ?

Paul_Varjak

meer53 wrote: »

OP, you are paranoid

I don't think i've ever had a bogus salesperson at my door, nor am i offended by junk mail. It goes straight in the bin. I have caller display on my phone, if i don't recognise the number, i don't answer, if it's someone who needs to speak to me, they leave a message and i call them back.

"Callers to my home provide fake IDs, fake addresses, claim to raise money for charity when they are not etc. Many are ex-convicts. Even invited callers from apparently reputable companies turn out to be criminals in some way or another."

This statement is ridiculous. Do you vet everyone who comes to your door ?

How can a statement that is true be ridiculous?

I have had numerous companies leaving 'charity bags'. A quick check at Companies House reveals that the said companies have never existed, or did exist but dissolved. When I contact Trading Standards they are usually already aware of them.

You must have missed my post about gypsies (bogus tree surgeons) who lived just 10 miles away and made calls in our village. The whole family is now in prison, one of them for 7 years 8 months.

We had other callers from the same gypsy community in Brigg. They provided false address details to me but the address they provided turned out to be an ex-teacher who had had actually taught the Gypsy as a boy. She had been inundated with complaints from people who had been scammed. The HMRC were also chasing that gypsy at her address.

You obviously also failed to read about the ex-convict who visited me and my neighbour. He was part of a team of ex-convicts and thanks to the diligence of one Policeman who defied his own sergeant decided to arrest the team. They were convicted and that team is no longer seen in the area, thanks in part to my frequent reports to the Police about them.

Ex-convicts (from the same team as above) have provided me with 'pedlars licences' on numerous occasions. Without exception, all those pedlars licences have turned out to be fake. They simply assume that a member of the public will not check them out.

Pedlars licences are issued by the Police and the chances that the Police would issue such a licence to an ex-convict are, I would suggest somewhere between nil and none.

Despite your views which, quite frankly count for nought, the local Trading Standards team are always interested after I make a report to Citizens Advice as they know I always provide reliable and well-researched evidence.

If you have failed to spot a bogus caller it is because you fail to question and verify what doorstep callers tell you. Next time someone comes to your door I suggest you answer that door with a more enquiring mind.