Phone scams

muffins2

Does anybody know of an organisation or body that is trying to get something done about phone scams? Because I would dearly like to join it.

jon81uk

The telephone preference scheme does something about UK cold callers Telephone Preference Service (tpsonline.org.uk)

But if they are an overseas company then there is no-one that can help. 

DullGreyGuy

According to OfCom you should be reporting them to Action Fraud https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice-for-consumers/scams but you probably need to be realistic about how much effort they will be putting into tracing the overseas agents that are making the call etc. 

muffins2

Thanks, John, but I want to get something done about all the calls I get despite TPS. Both foreign callers, and UK callers who don't care about TPS because enforcement is so lax. There was a bill in Parliament in around 2013 but it foundered at the end of that Parliament. Also - Action Fraud - I've tried them but they only get involved if an actual attempt to defraud you has been made, so pretty pointless as far as stopping the calls is concerned.

jon81uk

muffins2 said:

Thanks, John, but I want to get something done about all the calls I get despite TPS. Both foreign callers, and UK callers who don't care about TPS because enforcement is so lax. There was a bill in Parliament in around 2013 but it foundered at the end of that Parliament. Also - Action Fraud - I've tried them but they only get involved if an actual attempt to defraud you has been made, so pretty pointless as far as stopping the calls is concerned.

You could try writing to your MP, but I don't think anyone can do anything about calls coming from abroad as our government has no jurisdiction.

lincroft1710

muffins2 said:

Thanks, John, but I want to get something done about all the calls I get despite TPS. Both foreign callers, and UK callers who don't care about TPS because enforcement is so lax. There was a bill in Parliament in around 2013 but it foundered at the end of that Parliament. Also - Action Fraud - I've tried them but they only get involved if an actual attempt to defraud you has been made, so pretty pointless as far as stopping the calls is concerned.

Basically there is nothing you can do. The government has too much on its plate to consider legislation, which even if any were passed could only be enforceable on UK companies.

MeteredOut

I find the best way is to waste their time, play along, annoy them "hang on, there's someone at the door" and then just go back to do what you were doing.

Or, if you have some time, string them along, tell them you're doing things you're not doing, make things up, act silly so they have to repeat themselves, and finally laugh at them,

It'll likely end up with them swearing at you and threatening you "I know where you live, you'll have someone at the door" but that's all hot air.

If you really want to wind them up, google for some common "local dialect" put-down phrases to throw back to them; they really don't like that.

Not productive, but cathartic.

eddddy

MeteredOut said:

I find the best way is to waste their time, play along, annoy them "hang on, there's someone at the door" and then just go back to do what you were doing.

Yep - I get loads of scam calls. If I'm not busy, I'll either play along, or do things to irritate them (like play weird Youtube video soundtracks at them),  or sometimes engage them in a random discussion.

I sometimes ask them why they've decided to be scammers. One guy (from India) told me that it's because Britain stole the Koh-i-Noor diamond from India, and Britain generally stole India's wealth during colonial times - so he felt justified in scamming British people to steal their money in return.

I'm not sure that was really the scammer's motivation (I think he was really just a low-life thief who wanted have lots of money), but it was an interesting discussion.

Bridlington1

I know someone who got a scam telephone call from someone trying to sell him a patio so he pretended to fall for it and asked if they could build a Gazebo and do his triple glazing whilst he was at it and asked how much it would cost and if he wouldn't mind it in cash etc before giving him an address.

I imagine the scammer will have been over the moon until he discovered that he had been given the address of a 10th floor flat that had been demolished a couple of years earlier.

MeteredOut

Bridlington1 said:

I know someone who got a scam telephone call from someone trying to sell him a patio so he pretended to fall for it and asked if they could build a Gazebo and do his triple glazing whilst he was at it and asked how much it would cost and if he wouldn't mind it in cash etc before giving him an address.

I imagine the scammer will have been over the moon until he discovered that he had been given the address of a 10th floor flat that had been demolished a couple of years earlier.

That's a variation from years ago when people used to get nuisance calls from conservatory salesmen. Some would string them along and finally arrange for them to come out to do a survey, and then give their 5th floor flat address.

sheramber

A friend used to hand the phone to her toddler who loved speaking on the phone.

My husband just put the phone on the side and walked away, leaving them talking.