BT Broadband Scam Calls

Chrishazle

Been getting 1 or 2 a week recently, someone sounding very far away and with a thick, sometimes almost incomprehensible, Indian accent. First calls the number calling was visible, so I blocked it - so they called from another number, then another. Now it's showing as "Private, Number Witheld".

Haven't bothered listening more than a few seconds before cutting the call off. Damned annoying, as my phone is XD No Calls and listed with TPS - but I am a BT customer!(line rental, call package, broadband and TV!).

Chrishazle

Just had another, getting worse, this one claimed to be about a debt collection matter. Chat to BT online,they offered BTCallProtect, which has the facility to block 2number withheld" calls. Fine, except some of our friends are also XD so a call from them comes up "number withheld" and would also be blocked. Terminated the chat, almost immediately got a phone call from the adviser I was chatting to online! still no closer to a solution, especially one that traces the scammers!!

teddysmum

If you loo around on here you will see that they are common,under the guise of BT, Microsoft and even Openreach, who don't even make contact with the public .


I usually have fun stringing them along, as all they want is for you to allow them access to your machine via something like teamviewer or to con you into paying them a fee.


Unsually I had two yesterday and was not in a good mood to deal with them,as they woke me after being upmost of the night because our elderly dogs were too hot.


I usually pretend to be a little old lady who is an absolute computer beginner , asking such questions as ' Which modem sent you the message ? The white one or the black one ?' or (which computer should I turn on,my old one or the one my husband does the banking on?'


I've decided that next time, I have a moment ,I'll waste their time by being a religious zealot who needs to pray before any procedure and invite them to join in lots of gibberish.

Mister_G

I can wholeheartedly recommend the BT 8500/8600 TrueCall system.

It will challenge the caller and they have the option to state their name and business. This will cope with legitimate callers who choose to withhold their numbers. The scammers usually give up.

You can, of course, programme it with the numbers that you want to get through and also the ones that you don't.

I've had mine two years now and not one of these scam calls has got through.

Gloomendoom

Mister_G wrote: »

I can wholeheartedly recommend the BT 8500/8600 TrueCall system.

So can I. We got one well over a year ago now and it stopped the nuisance calls dead. Not a single one has got through since.

Chrishazle

Thankyou both, but replacing 5 phones at a cost of about £140 is not really an option, especially as our current Panasonics are not that old! It is the only way I've seen so far of handling the "number withheld" problem - interesting that the BT chat person did not suggest it!

Mister_G

I had a similar issue with already having a set of Panasonic cordless phones.

Assuming that they are DECT compatible (which they should be!) then they will work perfectly well with the BT8500.

I ended up just getting the BT 8500 base unit with answerphone and two BT 8500 handsets.

I have 4 phones on my system and it works fine. The only thing that you have to do is have separate phone books on the two types.

brewerdave

Mister_G wrote: »

I can wholeheartedly recommend the BT 8500/8600 TrueCall system.

It will challenge the caller and they have the option to state their name and business. This will cope with legitimate callers who choose to withhold their numbers. The scammers usually give up.

You can, of course, programme it with the numbers that you want to get through and also the ones that you don't.

I've had mine two years now and not one of these scam calls has got through.

...also,don't forget that you need CLID activated on your phone line for these to work....and some providers charge extra for this! (Plusnet for one:mad:)

Mister_G

So do Origin, but I feel that it's been worth every penny!

peakoilisnow

I do respect those with the ability to wind up the scammers.

I have neither the time nor the patience. I always ask them what myBT customer no is. If you are really online to the technical dept they will still know this.

The scammers ring off at that point.

[Deleted User]

Many moons ago after I had first registered with TPS the only nuisance calls I continued to receive were from......you guessed it BT, it took a strongly worded letter to the top of the greasy pole to shut them up.