What can i do about persistent boiler room calls to elderly MIL??

Ruadh

How about a really unpleasant sound down the phone (high pitched / feedback...)? Might just put them off phoning.

fiscalfreckles

Thanks guys, I think changing the number would be best, but they got terribly flustered when I suggested this and are not keen.

I have gathered quite a bit of evidence that this is a scam, and have shown them and told them to just hang up if the guy keeps calling, maybe I should buy them a whistle too.

It is so WRONG that this company is preying on vulnerable elderly people, who are easily flustered and intimidated though. On Scan.com, it seems this has been going on for over a year now, it is dreadful that nothing can be done to stop it.

Even if they changed their number, it is likely somebody like this could get the new one and it could all start again!

Sooler

Is asking MIL to not answer witheld numbers an option?

fiscalfreckles

Sooler wrote: »

Is asking MIL to not answer witheld numbers an option?

Asking is an option, but whether her curiosity will allow her to do so, or whether she will even remember to do so is another matter!

fiscalfreckles

setmefree2 wrote: »

Hi

I feel really sorry for you as my Dad got scammed like this quite a few years back. I still have the fake shares to prove it. :rolleyes:

My Dad is not very good with money as my Mum was and she always dealt with the money side of things. After she died he fell for every scam going - (including the "leather" jackets mentioned on another thread recently) and sent £3500 to a swiss bank accont for his fake shares (don't:o). He kept answering the phone to them and just wouldn't believe he was being fleeced. Only when he couldn't sell the shares did he finally accept that he had been turned over by them - And STILL they kept phoning and STILL he kept talking to them:mad: Apparently, the "victim" keeps hoping they'll get their money back- eventually they asked him for more money after promising to give him his money back and the penny dropped. I'm not aware that you can stop them phoning if your parents keep answering. Frustrating.

Mind you he got fleeced my the Abbey (The shabby Abbey) too - so not all scammers sound like something of phonejacker.

Sorry to hear about your Dad.

I suppose I should be grateful that they haven't actually agreed to anything yet, and did at least tell me about it, but it all makes me very nervous for them.

Reggie_Rebel

Get a whistle and blow it down the 'phone at them.

hollydays

I too listened to the radio 4 programme another poster refers too-this is an area the DOT (? or similar!) are looking at. One person whose parents had been scammed was proposing using postmen to identify when particular vulnerable people appear to be being targetted by mail scammers..but it is a truly difficult problem-I wish you luck.

skylight

I cannot recommend a whistle. All this does is annoy the bu**er at the other end and they call back with their own whistle.

If they are nasty enough to con vulnerable people, they are nasty enough to retaliate.

Amalea

I believe BT can find out a phone number even if the caller witholds their number-have you contacted them stating that they are nuisance calls with some dates/times that they have called? They probably can't tell you what the number is, but they should still be able to check and block the number at their end.

setmefree2

Hi FF,

You are right to be worried - they really have no scruples. They played on my Mum's death for goodness sake. Saying that she had trusted them, made loads of money from them, etc etc...she dealt in shares and I think they had found out all about her somehow. My Dad was very vunerable and I think he liked hearing someone talk about my Mum. _pale_ So, they really were extremely underhanded. There is lots about these scams on the internet- google "boiler house scams". Tell your parents about my Dad.

Me and my sibs had very little children at the time and tired brains. We kept telling him it was dodgy but he wouldn't listen....

SMF2