A new, would-be scam

My favourite and very useful comment I make if ever I get a phone call that I dont trust is to say in a firm voice, Just to let you know that all my calls are recorded. If it is anything dodgy they usually put the phone downm It works a treat and in one case I had a call left on my answerphone that sounded very suspicious and so I was able to take the recording to the police and let them hear it and there was something going on in the area at the time

I think this is one of those scams where they try to get you to say yes so they can use it in some nefarious way..so never say yes, or no, to anyone you don't know is the answer..

flappergirl

Probably a scam but he could also have just been trying to sell something.

So why would he have hung up as soon as he twigged that dh was not some poor naive old thing who was going to dish out his bank a/c or cc details to such a ‘nicely-spoken’ person?

We have a system on our landline similar to CallAlice
where a caller has to identify themself and we choose whether or not to answer. Once we accept the call then the number is added to our ‘approved’ list and they get straight through next time.
It works brilliantly, and was free to set up.
I can’t remember the last time I had a hoax/ sales call on my iPhone.

Most drs and hospitals here leave text messages, they rarely ring directly.

It is a scam. There are people who phone and ask a simple question to which people would normally answer yes. If you google this there is much more info.

I use landline for hospital calls etc as mobile signal unpredictable. They always show up as caller unknown

Probably a scam but he could also have just been trying to sell something.

I answer every call - as soon as I hear the first couple of words and I suspect it’s a scam, I just hang up. I am afraid I will miss an important call. A few years ago, my son had a motorcycle accident. His friend, whose number I didn’t know, rang me . Had I not picked it up, I would not have known about my son. He had fractured one of his vertebrae, took a long time to recover, but thank Heaven, is fine now, though has occasional backache. Could have been so much worse.

I had a call on my landline a couple of weeks ago....I didn't hear the phone ring because I had my hairdryer on, when I saw the number it was a local number ,I googled who calls me from this number....it was a scammer....

If I get a call on my mobile from a number that I don't know, or is not in my contacts list, I just answer it with silence. Most scam calls are auto-dialled and if there is no response from the person who picks up, it is time-responsive and automatically shuts down.

We have a call-guard on our landline (we never make calls on it but our AC and friends sometimes use it to call us) which filters out any cold-callers. The caller has to identify themselves verbally and we can choose to accept or not. If we accept, the number is automatically registered and there is no need to identify for future calls.

How do you know it was a new scam?

I get very frequent calls from often the same woman.... I now recognize her voice... saying she is our local energy advisor. I always ask her what is the area? And of course she doesn't know and she rings off. Sadly it's a different number each time. If I can be bothered I tell her FGS get a better job that isn't lying all day long. But normally I can't be bothered. Sometimes I Google the number and others have said the same that it is a scam.

I run a NHS hospital clinic that has to contact patients by phone.
We clearly say that we will ring them, we tend to ring a landline as that gets answered mobiles only half the time.
But we can't leave a message as our ID is withheld unless the household has added a message to confirm who they are and we have the correct number.
We do try a few times to contact them but after that we send a letter to get them to ring us. Therefore holding up the patients expected results.
As a heartfelt request from someone who has spent hours trying to get hold of a patient.. Please add your family name to your answer phone. message.

I am getting lots of calls from mobile numbers on my landline.
Umlass it is a number known to me I don’t answer.
Most haven’t left a message when I check but just yesterday one left a message.
“ if this was not you making this purchase press 1”
That is the complete message.
I just deleted it but what would have happened if I did press 1?

AGAA4

My landline shows the number of who's calling. If I don't recognise it then I don't answer. If it's a legitimate call they can leave a message.

The problem with this is that many GP surgeries and hospitals use withheld numbers so it is possible to miss an important call and f rom. experience they don't always leave a message for patient confidentiality reasons

Any scam text or phone calls I always report. If you report it will be blocked then no vulnerable person will be targeted along with information others to be on the lookout in case also receive

It could have been Hyacinth Bouquet, about to invite you to a candlelit supper?

I think it's best to be very wary of 'cold calling'. They are almost always after your money.

I never answer our landline unless it says who it is. They can leave a message if they are genuine but, funny that, they don’t.

AGAA4

My landline shows the number of who's calling. If I don't recognise it then I don't answer. If it's a legitimate call they can leave a message.

If you have a landline - we do - it's best to regard it as a 'stand-by' for your own comfort and convenience.

Nearly every call we get on ours is either a scam or someone selling something or other.

Friends and family hardly ever use it, and will leave a message if they do.

... so, we never answer landline calls. Just use that service for when our mobiles are showing "No Service" because a mast is down somewhere (or whatever). It's basically for emergency use.

But elderly people who do not have mobiles, few though they might be, really need to be educated by family and friends about the scams and sales pitches. They are a vulnerable target and I don't think enough is being done to protect them.

I don't know how it's done, but scammers can use a local number to call you which makes it more likely you will pick up. This is really not good enough.

Google the number that called, it will tell you what the scam was about if others have reported it.

It’s quite likely a scam call.

AGAA4

My landline shows the number of who's calling. If I don't recognise it then I don't answer. If it's a legitimate call they can leave a message.

Yes, but you’re savvy. We had to assume that whatever the scam was, it was targeted at those who - they hoped - are not.

My landline shows the number of who's calling. If I don't recognise it then I don't answer. If it's a legitimate call they can leave a message.