Nuisance callers - Area codes?

Clum · 22 Apr 2016 at 18:16

Does anyone know if these absolute mutants have some sort or area code scrambler when they make outgoing calls?

I was knocked off my motorbike last year and am now getting literally dozens of phone calls every day from apparently every fake solicitor in the UK. Annoying, and I should really change my number but am just too lazy.

Anyway the reason Im asking, and what I find strange is that these calls seem to originate from all kinds of places throughout the country. Some from pretty unheard of, small towns which I'm pretty sure wouldn't have call centres. Also, there can sometimes be a sequence of 5 or 6 calls, one immediately after the other, but originating from very different places, suggesting its the same person/company. Seems to me that they are deliberately hiding where they are calling from so that they can't get in trouble for harassment?

dowie · 22 Apr 2016 at 18:19

some of them do seem to spoof the number they use, presumably to get around people who ignore or block unknown numbers

Will Gill · 22 Apr 2016 at 18:21

yeah phone codes mean nothing anymore, I use grasshopper for my business calls and I can change my number as many times a day as I like. Very unsportsmanlike

Clum · 22 Apr 2016 at 19:00

Ah thanks guys. Good to know I can safely visit Pwllheli, Bishops Castle or Looe without solicitors chasing me down the street wondering why I've been ignoring their calls!

Pawnless Endgame · 23 Apr 2016 at 00:18

TPS buddy, TPS :-)

I can't remember when I last had a rogue call (years). The only downside of TPS is that they can't block PPI text messages as they're usually from an overseas sender and overseas doesn't apply to the TPS.

datalol-jack · 23 Apr 2016 at 00:52

Pawnless Endgame said:
TPS buddy, TPS

I can't remember when I last had a rogue call (years). The only downside of TPS is that they can't block PPI text messages as they're usually from an overseas sender and overseas doesn't apply to the TPS.

+1

Register and forget.

Clum · 23 Apr 2016 at 07:10

Already registered, but does not work with the ambulance chasers, as they seem to think theyve been appointed by my insurance company, so they are not marketing, rather acting under instruction. Total rubbish of course as I have my own solicitor who has sorted everything out months ago. Pretty annoying that the either my insurers, or the 3rd party insurance obviously sold on my details.

Iamzod · 23 Apr 2016 at 10:08

They often like to send someone out with paperwork. Play along with them then turn them away when they come out to you, waste as much of their time & money as possible.

LiGhTfasT · 23 Apr 2016 at 10:11

You can give any CLI you like nowadays you dont even have to own that number.

Werewolf · 23 Apr 2016 at 10:52

TPS also doesn't work if the caller is from an overseas call centre, as are about 95% of the calls we get from "uk preferences", "computer support"*, or "UK survey".

Unfortunately I can't just block calls where the number has been withheld as some of the family etc have such numbers.

*One day when I have the energy I'm going to have some fun with them, I'm sure I can find an Acorn Electron or BBC micro emulator online that includes the sounds of tape loading.

Draeger · 23 Apr 2016 at 11:19

Forget TPS, it's worth signing up to but ultimately useless. BT 8500 or the new 8600 handsets with BT Call Guardian are the answer to stop nuisance calls. We have had our 8500 phones for about 6 months and so far they have been utterly incredible. From the minute they were plugged in and set up we have had not one single unsolicited call. Not one.

Wish I had bought these years ago. :cool:

Will Gill · 23 Apr 2016 at 11:28

I have the BT phones at home but my mobile get spammed massively, all my numbers are signed up on TPS - waste of space. So I now have resorted to rotating my mobile and land line numbers using grasshopper, annoying I have to pay to dodge the spam but so be it, guess I should feel grateful so many people want to investigate my ppi/car crash/household insurance etc...

gothic_hobbit · 23 Apr 2016 at 13:07

This is the very reason why I ditched my land line.

Scania · 23 Apr 2016 at 13:31

Get them frequently from Cairo(!) for ppi usually, best one was Rio de Janeiro!!!

LeeUK · 23 Apr 2016 at 19:07

I keep getting calls to my VOIP line from random strings of numbers where the 'area code' part does not even exist in real life.

Stealthploit · 24 Apr 2016 at 09:19

Thier probly using a spoofer ... what they want to represent you in a court case???

Sasso · 25 Apr 2016 at 12:28

But sir, are you aware that the insurance company puts aside up to £3500 for claims and can be reclaimed for things like mild discomfort or inconvenience? And noisy cases don't even go to court.

/sigh

Here this at least once a week and my accident was over 4 years now.

VincentHanna · 25 Apr 2016 at 12:51

We use VOIP phones at work, and have the ability (which we've never used) to make it look like calls are from whatever area code we like.

eldergeek · 25 Apr 2016 at 13:25

Draeger said:
Forget TPS, it's worth signing up to but ultimately useless. BT 8500 or the new 8600 handsets with BT Call Guardian are the answer to stop nuisance calls. We have had our 8500 phones for about 6 months and so far they have been utterly incredible. From the minute they were plugged in and set up we have had not one single unsolicited call. Not one.

Wish I had bought these years ago.

My solution is to ask them what kind of underwear they're wearing, and their cup size. Or what the weather's like in bangladesh, or to make it sound like I'm fapping. OR if they have a muslim name, I'll ask where they're planning to murder people next, so I can go back in time and put right what once went wrong.

Other times, I pretend I'm gollum, or gandalf, or if I'm feeling particularly mischievous, I put the phone next to a speaker while Valentina Nappi is getting pipe laid in both her holes.

Funny story - they don't seem to call back after that.

Werewolf · 25 Apr 2016 at 13:47

I wonder how hard it would be, if the government ever got serious about dealing with unwanted calls from these companies to put in something to automate the complaints process to a large degree.

For example at the moment because most of these parasites use withheld numbers (or spoofed numbers) it's practically impossible to make a complaint, but the phone companies must have a way of handling the billing.

So what you do is add an option similar to the "ring them back" option on 1471, so that when you get a call from one of these companies you simply dial 1471, then get given the option to
"press 9 if the previous call was an unwanted sales call and you wish to make a complaint"
"press 9 if the company has been asked to stop calling you"
"press 9 if the company has called you repeatedly".
"Thank you for your feedback, information regarding this has now been recorded and will be passed on to OFCOM".

And have the likes of OFCOM and the ICO automatically look into any company that gets over a certain number of these complaints in a set period of time.

I had 6 ******* calls from "UK preferences" in one afternoon the other day, at a time when I was waiting on a call from someone whose number I didn't know (so couldn't just ignore unlisted calls, take the phone off the hook or whatever).