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

1jim

Its probably not the ideal solution but I would change the telephone number, make it ex-directory and only give the number to trusted people/companies that really need it, make sure not to put the number down on competitions forms/fliers etc. Seems the only way to stop this

Horasio

They are talking about it a lot on Working Lunch as I speak

trisontana

CCStar wrote: »

They are talking about it a lot on Working Lunch as I speak

Yesterday the programme interviewed a former worker who detailed how these companies operate. You can still hear the feature here (Real Player) :-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/youandyours/items/01/2008_12_wed.shtml

MothballsWallet

Just something that might be of interest:

Tonight (Good Friday) on BBC2 at 7pm is a programme called "The Great British Shares Swindle" about boiler room selling. I think it's one of the specials done by The Money Programme.

Might be worth a watch as it's talking about how these firms work and how they're not authorised by the UK financial regulators.

baldelectrician

You can do a few things

Firstly I would suggest anonymous caller reject (and give the hospitals a mobile number to call as a second option- buy your MIL a mobile for £40)

http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumer/consumerProducts/pdf/BT_Calling_Features_Userguide.pdf

It's one of the few useful things from BT (their call centres in India aren't)

Another option I use personally (not really suited to non technical people)
I have a mobile with a symbian opearting system (Nokia 6100 Navigator), and I bought a program that screens calls (£10) .
I can pick what calls to take - I make it sling unknown and witheld numbers to voicemail.
If a number calls from someone I don't want to speak to (sales usually) I reject this number and the program asks if I want this number added to the list.
This works as I divert all landline calls to my mobile and it does all the work, not totally useful for most MIL's but good if you run a small business and are harassed by people selling things 2-3 times a day.

trisontana

Not only was this story featured on the Money Programme but several editions of Working Lunch last week mentioned this story and interviewed some of the people who had fallen for this scam.

The numbers were staggering. People had lost between £20,00 to over £100,000 buying worthless shares. Some of the people featured weren't your typical frail old pensioner, but middle-aged people who seemed to be very savvy regarding money matters yet still fell for the high-pressure sale tactics.

It seems that Barcelona is one of the main centres of this operation. Perhaps the local authorities there could close them down, just as they did with the companies operating the "City Directory" scams. Mind you, these firms just moved to Valencia and opened up again.