Phone companies to block scam calls from abroad that are masked behind a UK number

MSE_Emily

Phone companies have agreed to block the majority of internet phone calls made from abroad where it looks as though the call is coming from a UK number...

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Phone companies to block scam calls from abroad that are masked behind a UK number

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redux

I hope they have some clever systems that can tell the difference between legitimate and dodgy use.

Otherwise that might block all my home outgoing VoIP calls, which I believe come from servers in the Netherlands.

[Deleted User]

Best thing I did was buy a call blocker phone. I don't answer unless I recognise the number, if it is genuine/important they  leave a message, the scammers/automated callers never leave one. Then I block the number.

robinwales

I actually like them calling now. I really wind them up. Did you see the movie Glengarry Glenross? Jack Lemon, one of the salesmen finally gets a sale from one of the rubbish 'leads'. Turns out the old couple just string the saleman along to have someone to talk to.

donnac2558

I have been getting a few which look like local numbers, never answer.

One, I did phone back, and it was a family home and their number knew nothing about me?

The other one I rang, and it was a deadline.

I blocked both numbers

Liku

Maybe I will stop getting calls in Mandarin then! Don't know why I get them, I can't speak it and have no connection to China. But I don't even answer random numbers unless I am expecting a call, they just leave a message in Mandarin.
My mobile often says the company it is from or if it is spam, though not always. I don't even have a home phone connected any more.

CKhalvashi

redux said:

I hope they have some clever systems that can tell the difference between legitimate and dodgy use.

Otherwise that might block all my home outgoing VoIP calls, which I believe come from servers in the Netherlands.

We're in the same position as a company (not sure where they're routed through), and OH's employer (a large multinational) has group operations department centralised in the Head Office that requires constant communication.

I fear this is going to make the job of legitimate companies a lot more difficult while the fraudsters find a workaround to the problem at great speed.

Bigphil1474

Won't take the scammers long to find a work around. Interestingly, I got a call from a random call centre, and the fake mobile number it claimed to be calling from was one of my colleagues numbers. All our company mobiles have the same first 5 digits, and we have thousands of these numbers but recognised the one colleague who I ring regularly.

armith

Oh, that's strange - I had a call today that came up as a friends number but was one of the "you've just paid Amazon three hundred dollars, press 1 to be scammed mercilessly" ones.
Thing is, will this be effective for scammers? I mean, I thought it was a friend calling me - when it turns out to be a recorded message will that really make me think it's actually Amazon and I need to "press 1"?

Tula100

Hooray!  I have been asking phone companies for ages to make it impossible to spoof numbers for spam calls.  It is no good not answering numbers you don't recognise or withheld numbers.  I could be your doctor or a family member who has had to borrow someone's phone in an emergency.

[Deleted User]

Tula100 said:

Hooray!  I have been asking phone companies for ages to make it impossible to spoof numbers for spam calls.  It is no good not answering numbers you don't recognise or withheld numbers.  I could be your doctor or a family member who has had to borrow someone's phone in an emergency.

That is why the answer phone part of the blocker is good. If it is important, they will leave a message. The answer phone also loudspeaker and I can hear it.