Telephone Con?

hollydays

From the guardian


Nuisance calls: hang up on firms asking you to pay to stop them
Consumers who sign up to services that charge to stop nuisance calls are wasting their money, warns the Telephone Preference Service
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Melanie Wright
The Observer, Sunday 24 November 2013
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Blocking nuisance calls can be done for free through the Telephone Preference Service. Photograph: Getty Images/Fotosearch RF
Nuisance calls promising compensation for mis-sold financial products or an accident you've apparently had are the bane of many of people's lives, but you should beware of paying fees to block them.

Several companies are preying on people's frustration by charging for a similar service to the Telephone Preference Service (TPS), the free Ofcom-regulated register where consumers can opt out of receiving unsolicited sales and marketing calls. The companies typically charge between £2 and £4 a month, or a three-yearly or one-off charge of between £39 and £99.

"Consumers who sign up to services which charge fees are wasting their money," warns John Mitchison, the head of the TPS. "The TPS is the only official opt-out service that companies are required to abide by under UK law, and it is the only one regulated by Ofgem. These companies certainly don't do any more than the TPS."

There is no cost to join the TPS, but you have to allow 28 days from registration for your number to become effective. As at the end of October, a staggering 19.48 million people had registered.

However, although the TPS can prevent sales and marketing calls, it does not cover calls made from overseas, silent calls, recorded messages, market research calls, or scam or fraudulent calls, which is why people may be tempted to sign up to companies claiming they offer greater protection.

Many companies say they go further than the TPS by offering "call blocker", a small unit that plugs in between your phone socket and phone, which stops cold calls from overseas and lets you record your own screening message.

Mitchison says these have a limited effect. "You can use them to either block all overseas calls or calls with withheld numbers, but that could make things difficult if you have friends or relatives overseas, plus a number of organisations such as the police and doctors legitimately use withheld numbers," he says.

The TPS publishes a list of unregulated companies that charge for their services. These include Opt Out UK, Cold Call Elimination, CPR Global, Telephone Restriction Services, and Telephone Blocking Services.

There are no regulations prohibiting commercial operators from offering alternative call suppression services, but these must comply with relevant consumer protection legislation, which includes Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading regulations and Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations.

Some services say they will sign customers up for TPS or check that they are registered. However, TPS says it does not accept registrations from any third party companies other than BT – although companies could in theory use its online registration service to add people.

Ofcom wrote to a number of these commercial organisations in February to remind them of the need to explain accurately the service they offer and to make sure they do not make misleading claims about their effectiveness. A spokesman for the regulator said it was currently "engaging further" with one of those organisations about a number of claims on its website which it considers potentially misleading.

The TPS also alleges that several organisations operate a scam by which they cold-call consumers claiming to be the TPS. Organisations named by the TPS include SAIS Corp, Icon Global Services, Alien Touch and ITC.

A spokesman for the TPS says: "[Some organisations] ask for your credit card details to complete a registration to stop unwanted calls. They often claim that you previously gave your permission for this call. This is a scam. Never give out your credit card details over the phone."

Anyone who has registered with one of these companies and feels they were misled into thinking it was associated with the TPS should get in touch with their local Trading Standards office.

An all-party parliamentary group has just published a report with its recommendations to tackle nuisance calls. Proposals include making it easier to report that you have received unsolicited calls, and telecom companies blocking numbers that are known to make nuisance calls.

It also calls for stronger powers for regulators to allow them to take action against nuisance callers.

HOW TO FIGHT BACK

If you are receiving silent or abandoned calls, complain to Ofcom via its online form or by ringing its Consumer Contact team on 0300 123 3333.

If you are being plagued by overseas nuisance calls you can report them to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), with the aim that it can investigate and fine companies breaking the law. Earlier this year, the ICO issued £225,000 in penalties to two companies that are part of a call centre.

Scam and fraudulent calls should be reported to your local Trading Standards office. You can find contact details at its website.

Some telecoms providers are offering alternative solutions. For example, BT offers a phone that it claims blocks up to 80% of unwanted calls. It costs between £44.99 and £109.99 depending on the number of handsets ordered, and enables users to block calls from withheld numbers, international numbers and payphone numbers, as well as calls that don't have caller ID. Users can also bar up to 10 specific numbers.

CKhalvashi

zygurat789 wrote: »

Or someone just sat down in the local library with a copy of the electoral roll and a telephone directory

I think this is the most likely thing.

It needs to be reported to Action Fraud.

CK

zygurat789

CKhalvashi wrote: »

I think this is the most likely thing.

It needs to be reported to Action Fraud.

CK

Both sources of data are public, how is this fraud?

CKhalvashi

zygurat789 wrote: »

Both sources of data are public, how is this fraud?

It would appear that the data collected is being used for dubious purposes.

LEES1

Tulip Communications are still very much in business. I had a call from them yesterday and a further very aggressive call from them today, calling me a liar on at least 5 occasions!

Yesterday the call was from what sounded like an Indian call centre. he stated that we had had a conversation a month and a half ago where I asked them to remove my number from lists of nuisance callers. He said that he had done so and as agreed had taken payment from my bank for £49. He was asking for confirmation of this and my details.

I refused to give him any details and said that there had been no such agreement at all. In the end I ended the call as he was so insistent.

Today I received another call from another man with an English accent from Tulip Communications stating the same thing that I owed £49 as they had carried out the service that I had requested. I told him I had received a call yesterday and I had reported the call and I wanted his name and contact telephone number. he refused to give me those details and had previously called me a liar on a number of occasions when I said I had not signed up to any such agreement. He kept saying 'why are you lying to me for the sake of £49'.

I insisted that if his company was above board he would happily give me his name and contact details. there was a silence and he hung up.

This second call was even more aggressive than the first and left me feeling very angry and a little shaken up. What on earth would this kind of call do to someone in a vulnerable state.

I am outraged and would like some advice as to who I could report them too. Both times I have dialed 1471 and the number is not listed.

Any ideas?
Thanks in advance, this MUST stop as it is nothing more than Fraudulent activity.

zagfles

LEES1 wrote: »

Tulip Communications are still very much in business. I had a call from them yesterday and a further very aggressive call from them today, calling me a liar on at least 5 occasions!

Yesterday the call was from what sounded like an Indian call centre. he stated that we had had a conversation a month and a half ago where I asked them to remove my number from lists of nuisance callers. He said that he had done so and as agreed had taken payment from my bank for £49. He was asking for confirmation of this and my details.

I refused to give him any details and said that there had been no such agreement at all. In the end I ended the call as he was so insistent.

Today I received another call from another man with an English accent from Tulip Communications stating the same thing that I owed £49 as they had carried out the service that I had requested. I told him I had received a call yesterday and I had reported the call and I wanted his name and contact telephone number. he refused to give me those details and had previously called me a liar on a number of occasions when I said I had not signed up to any such agreement. He kept saying 'why are you lying to me for the sake of £49'.

I insisted that if his company was above board he would happily give me his name and contact details. there was a silence and he hung up.

This second call was even more aggressive than the first and left me feeling very angry and a little shaken up. What on earth would this kind of call do to someone in a vulnerable state.

I am outraged and would like some advice as to who I could report them too. Both times I have dialed 1471 and the number is not listed.

Any ideas?
Thanks in advance, this MUST stop as it is nothing more than Fraudulent activity.

You could report it to Action Fraud http://www.actionfraud.police.uk

The way I approach these type of cold calls is simply to play with them or waste their time. Don't enter into any kind of serious dialogue with then, don't get angry, don't take them seriously by saying you don't believe them or you think it's a scam, that'll just encourage them to try convincing you it's not.

I often just say "hang on a minute, someone's at the door", then leave the phone off the hook for 20 mins till they've gone. Or give them false details, or pretend not to understand, or try to get 3 Beatles song titles into the conversation etc. There's a bingo card you can do if you really want :rotfl:

LEES1

Just a Follow up in case anyone else has a similar experience. I have reported them to ACTION FRAUD and have logged the complaint with them for investigation. Their number is 0300 1232040.

Hope the info helps.

good_advice

This post is now 4 months old.
I think op will have sorted it by now?

Ilona

good_advice wrote: »

This post is now 4 months old.
I think op will have sorted it by now?

The OP was not asking for any help with sorting the problem out, merely alerting others to be wary of the scam. His/her points are still valid four months later, as are all the replies up to the current date. The thread is still useful even if the earlier comments are not 'fresh'. Thank you LEES1 for the follow ups.
Ilona

pollypenny

The BBC Wales programme, X Ray, has featured this scam on a couple of occasions.

Definitely report them.