These phone scammers are truly despicable.... surely something can be done?

GSDMum

Just took a call; I didn't recognise the number but as I'm due a call from the hospital, scammers weren't on my mind.

The call was automated, I heard a man's voice saying (something like) "If you ignore this call you will be in violation of [some authority] and you'll be charged by a court prosecutor for ....." - at this point I stopped the call. 

Something like this can tip a frail person over the edge with worry. I'm so sick of having my space violated by these morons! 

Surely someone in high places, a CEO from EE or the like, maybe even a judge, can help stop these fraudsters. I can't accept that nothing can be done.

FreeBear

GSDMum said: Surely someone in high places, a CEO from EE or the like, maybe even a judge, can help stop these fraudsters. I can't accept that nothing can be done.

Unfortunately, many of these scammers operate from overseas (such as India). Using such technologies as Voice over IP and caller ID spoofing, they can evade many of the techniques to block the calls. If the carriers such as OpenReach would block these calls at source, much of the damage these scammers do would be cut dramatically. But it is a nice little earner for the TelCo, so as long as they get paid for carring the calls, they won't care.

For my part, I will bait the scammers, wind them up for as long as I can, and waste their time.

Mickey666

GSDMum said:

I can't accept that nothing can be done.

There are all sorts of call blockers available.

Personally, I think wider education is the key.  People really should understand that no official authority is EVER going to make the sorts of calls you mention.  No bank is going to ask for your PIN number, the taxman is not going to call you about a tax refund and ask for all your banking details, no court is going to threaten anything over the phone . . . . and even in the remotest possibility that they might, they would fully understand if you didn't want to give any such information over the phone.  Ask them to write you a letter and if they ask for your address then you know they are scammers because a bank or the taxman or any official body would already know your address.

There have always been scammers and there always will be.

Carrot007

Nothing will be done unless the government insist upon it, and even then it would be easily bypassed.

These calls do not originate in the UK (mostly, probably all) and we will not ban all incoming calls from overseas. Caller ID is useless and not implemented correctly, however only worldwide ocrrection of the matter on data calls woudl solve the problem, but no one is going to agree to that.

So they only opption left is cutting off the call after a regognised scam recording is played at you. Unfortunatly slight automatic changes would be implemented and it would not work.

Really all that can be done is educate people on these calls and stop answering the phone (unless you are expecting a call).

Of course all businesses could move to app based calls which would only give you legitimate calls, but again, not going to happen.

Things that need to astop being used for people safety. Phones, Emails. Neither is a good system for anything these days. They could be of course but using them correctly would set the bar too high and so it will never happen.

Jimmy_Boy

It is truly despicable the way these scammers operate, and how they intimidate and verbally abuse the elderly & vulnerable. What I find just as frustrating is the lack of action taken against them, the only person I have found doing something constructive (not just baiting them / wasting there time) is Jim Browning. The guy needs more recognition for the work he does as authorities dont seem interested.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le71yVPh4uk

TELLIT01

Action has been taken against them when they are based in the UK and it has been proven that they are acting illegally.  It's close to impossible to stop those calling from abroad.  If my caller display shows a number I don't recognise or 'Unknown' I do pick up the phone but say nothing.  If it's a legitimate call the person on the other end will speak, but in most cases the call cuts off after a few seconds.

Advise any elderly or vulnerable friends and relatives that they must NEVER press any key on the phone in response to calls received.  Simply hang up.

giraffe69

If you don't speak then the automated calls tend not to start and you can buy call blockers which in varying degrees will stop at least some of the nonsense. Having been spare much of this for no discernible reason I have had quite a number recently telling me of problems with paying my BT Bill and offering to send the police round with regard to unpaid tax. Famous last words but I don't think I am about to fall for one of these but its not the way to carry on. To not be able to answer a call without a bit of silence first to test whether it is an automated call or set up a system where only people you have chosen to put on a white list can easily get through is appalling. The Telcos need to be pressured to sort this out and if most calls come from abroad on spoofed numbers then they know where to start. If reluctant a few large fines may make it more palatable to fix.

GSDMum

TELLIT01 said:

Action has been taken against them when they are based in the UK and it has been proven that they are acting illegally.  It's close to impossible to stop those calling from abroad.  If my caller display shows a number I don't recognise or 'Unknown' I do pick up the phone but say nothing.  If it's a legitimate call the person on the other end will speak, but in most cases the call cuts off after a few seconds.

Advise any elderly or vulnerable friends and relatives that they must NEVER press any key on the phone in response to calls received.  Simply hang up.

Think there was a group arrested last week. I believe the Authorities are trying to crack down on the spammers, and I can see their hands are tied when the spammers are overseas. Perhaps such overseas' Governments should be held account for the international actions of their subjects, bit like they're held to account over pollution! Perhaps fining such Govs by withholding UK's right's of way, o/s aid, etc., I'm sure overseas Governments minds would soon be focused. 

To say we've got to live with this, constantly having to protect the vulnerable, and educating the populace to the never ending criminal ingenuity of spammers, could be seen as defeatism. Though I can see it's the only way we currently have. We shouldn't put up with this though, our interests don't appear to be protected.  All most of us want is to live in peace 

BTW I know I'm naïve   

Cornucopia

Jimmy_Boy said:

It is truly despicable the way these scammers operate, and how they intimidate and verbally abuse the elderly & vulnerable. What I find just as frustrating is the lack of action taken against them, the only person I have found doing something constructive (not just baiting them / wasting there time) is Jim Browning. The guy needs more recognition for the work he does as authorities dont seem interested.

Jim Browning is excellent, and there are a number of other scam baiters like Atomic Shrimp, Scambaiter, Scammer Payback and Kitboga.  

I think that the Telcos, the Government and the Banks could do more (although the Scammers seem to be using gift cards to get around tighter controls on online banking).  

I know that Jim Browning has given offender details to the Indian authorities on several occasions but action has been limited.  

dickibobboy

I had an interesting few last week. In the space of a morning i had 5 calls all from UK phone numbers. I answered 2 out of the 5 and were of a similar nature of the police are on their way etc.. 

Later that day i blocked my caller ID and called each number back, 2 people answered and had no idea what i was talking about. They’re either very good at spoofing or something else is going off!

Ectophile

The problem is that the telephone companies in the UK aren't checking that caller ID numbers generated by customers are genuine. Anyone with a digital exchange on their premises can generate their own caller IDs, and there is nothing in place to check them.

OFCOM needs to stop being the feeble regulator, and start telling phone service providers that they are responsible for checking caller ID, and that they will be held responsible if fake caller IDs get on to the phone network.