Blocking scam calls

Mr Badger

Mr Badger

Mr Badger

Soldato
Joined
27 Dec 2009
Posts
10,881
Are there any good products for blocking scam telephone calls on a land line? Rather than nuisance marketing callers we're talking about actual scammers pretending to be from your bank or similar.

This is for an elderly person who has never owned a computer or smartphone and unfortunately seems to believe official sounding calls telling them there has been fraud on their card and the like.
 
Be super vigilant. If she is getting lots it usually indicates she has fallen for one and is now on the short list.

At this stage, best thing to do is call forward to your number and then transfer the legit calls for her.
 
We used to be inundated by these calls a few years ago. I got fed up and ended up buying a BT8500 call blocking phone and we have had zero spam calls since. If I remember right we paid £56 for a twinset.
 
I've been plagued by scam calls. I was receiving 5 or 6 a day.

What makes me so cross is that I have given NO ONE my landline number. I only have it for emergencies in case my mobile packs up.

I purchased the phone below and have zero scam calls since. One of the best purchases, for my peace of mind, that I've made.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01EFVLIRS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It is a "refurbished" unit, but it arrived in a brand new box and it appeared to be completely unused.
 
Hussman said:
What makes me so cross is that I have given NO ONE my landline number. I only have it for emergencies in case my mobile packs up.
Click to expand...

I don't believe they need to have "obtained" your phone number from anywhere. In a lot of cases they'll just pick an area code and just randomly dial, in most cases they're likely to get a hit.
 
Semple said:
I don't believe they need to have "obtained" your phone number from anywhere. In a lot of cases they'll just pick an area code and just randomly dial, in most cases they're likely to get a hit.
Click to expand...

Yes, I think you're quite right.
 
I think I dislike is when the scammers spoof any numbers they can find. My wife has received a few calls in the past from people who have insisted that she called them when she hadn't. Her number had been spoofed. EE said they couldn't do anything apart from change her number.
 
So the consensus is that these call blocking phones are actually worth having then.

Aside from the features and quality of the phone, does anyone know if there is any difference in the "trueCall call blocking technology" between the various BT models or do they all work the same?
 
I seem to get 2 every Wednesday on my mobile, it's weird

On house phone we just don't answer any calls unless we recognise the number and let it go through to answer machine, usually the scam call ends before it goes to the answer machine, so we're just left with important (subjective) messages
 
Same basic principle with most of the trucall phones/products AFAIK, they let pre-approved numbers pass straight through and everyone else is challenged with a message - in some cases that might mean the unrecognized number needs to reply with who they are in other cases it can be set up to simply block anyone without a code.

Essentially it gets rid of all automated scam phone calls as most of those require some interaction from you to press a button etc.. and it filters out most human scammers as they won't tend to bother answering the challenge and saying who they are.

Elderly people who have never owned computers must be getting a bit rarer these days! Even people in their 90s today were only in their 60s back when PCs, the internet etc.. were taking off.

Still, if they're a bit gullible or starting to lose their marbles a bit then it might be worth getting power of attorney and making sure they can't do anything too silly.
 
I also have a BT land line with spam blocker phone- Please note that the call isn't blocked automatically - you have to answer it then if it is spam you press the red button - According to OP the elderly person believes someone that sound official so will she press the button. -
I used to press red button only to have another call later on a different number - after a while they either got fed up or ran out of spammed numbers.
If I get a call now and do not recognise the number or it doesn't come up on caller disply as in my address book I let it ring -if they leave a message it usually isn't spam.
They always seem to come in spurts - Load in a week then nothing for weeks.
I am getting a load on my mobile but I never answer those unless the number is recognised -then just block the number after.

I am ex-directory but it doesn't help. Not since every place you buy something from wan't your number. If you don't fill in the number they won't let you past half the time.

ps - I read Dowies post and yes my phone can be set to answer the call or intercept it and it asks for the name of person ringing -Couldn't be assed to set that up.
 
We've got a truecall type thing and it helps reduce the spam a lot, but unfortunately I can't lock it down fully as the likes of the GP/Hospital call via "withheld" numbers and occasionally via mobile numbers so I have to leave mobile/withheld open, or more annoyingly they spoof a local number.

If I could drop the landline I would, but there are still reasons to keep it.
 
I bought a truecall unit a few years back for a business number. It was getting to the point where +50% of calls were scam/sales. It massively reduced nusciance calls. Recently we've had the odd local number spoofing call, which there isn't a lot you can do about. I'm sure I read somewhere they were putting a stop to number spoofing which I hope is true. I haven't bothered with a home landline for about 15 years.
 
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