Who’s been dishing out my phone number?

Get plenty of ‘out of the blue’ calls apparently I have a loft (I don’t) I have a car (I don’t) and my house needs a new roof ( it doesn’t )

It annoys so much, as do charities etc knocking on the door! I do not pick up ANY calls I don’t recognise, working on the basis that if it’s urgent they’ll leave a voice message and we’ve not had a landline phone for years as we all have a mobile

I also never answer calls from unknown numbers. I check the number on Who Called Me and block and report suspicious ones.

TBH I’ve had a couple of others very recently, from what would seem to be foreign call centres, so almost certainly scams. I just said No Thanks straightaway and put the phone down.

But today there was one I assumed to be a scam call - a very unclear, evidently foreign accent so put the phone down - but they called back - it was my dental practice, asking if I could come 10 minutes earlier for my appt. on Friday!

Oh Witzend I got caught out like that too. A foreign woman asking if I was Mrs …. I’m afraid I snapped ‘who wants to know’ only to find she was my GP!

I have had two calls on consecutive days from Age International asking for a monthly donation. Their approach is lengthy and intense to the point of being hostile, if I don’t pledge a donation people will die or suffer injury, starvation and persecution! It got to the point in the second call that I had to cut them off……..the pressure was just too much and it was clear they were reading from a script and not allowing me to ask any questions. It was really hard sell!
Don’t get me wrong, I do donate to charities on a monthly basis, Alzheimer's UK, RNLI, LNAA, and I often supplement those donations by buying their raffle tickets so I have no conscience about refusing Age International.

Astitch intime It doesn't matter how much you give to charity or even if you give none aat all. No charity should ring you and hector you in that way.

A new fundraisers code was made statutory on 25 November 2025. Section 7.1.1. says you must not act in a way that:

^ could reasonably upset or cause anxiety to potential donors;
is dishonest or manipulative, or tries to make potential donors feel guilty^ www.fundraisingregulator.org.uk/code/standards-which-apply-specific-fundraising-methods/public-fundraising

You should complain to the Fund Raising Regulator.

I think Charities pass on donor details to each other.

Oreo

I think Charities pass on donor details to each other.

I dare say, but I’ve never given any of them my phone number!

Years ago I was stopped in a central London street by a chugger for a charity for the blind. I agreed to sign up for a small monthly donation, but declined to give my age (irrelevant and none of their business) or my phone number (didn’t want them ringing me).
Gave all necessary details.

About a week later I received a letter from the charity saying that they were ‘unable’ to process my ‘application’ without my age/phone number information!

The cheek of it! Anyone would think I was asking them for money!
Needless to say, the letter went in the bin, and the money started coming out of my account anyway.

"Contact Christian Aid Directly: You can ask them to stop calling you and remove your details from their marketing lists.

Call a member of their team on 02075 232493 (for the UK).
Alternatively, email them at [email protected].

Register with the Fundraising Preference Service (FPS): This free service, run by the Fundraising Regulator, allows you to stop emails, telephone calls, addressed post, and/or text messages from a selected charity or charities.

Register online at fundraisingpreference.org.uk.
Call the FPS on 0300 303 3517."

AI generated

I never used to answer calls from unknown numbers. One day ignored two calls from the same number. Took the third call and it was one of my sister's friends telling me that she had a stroke. I now pick up calls from UK numbers but wait for them to speak first.

Lots of times it's just random numbers and they make lots of hits. I get some spam calls especially from Microsoft, I say thank you so much my son built for me so I will ask him to have a look. Throws them of. I just play them at their own game. it's them paying the for the phone call.

My husband and I both changed mobile providers. Within seconds of installing the new sims we had both received scam texts. Were these just sitting in the system waiting for the sim to be activated, having been sent to random numbers? We have gone back to our old numbers now.

The ones where they start by saying "Look, I'm not trying to sell you anything..." my dad used to say "Oh good! Can I sell you something then?"!

When adding personal details to websites in order to access their services, I only give my correct phone number if I may need them to contact me about a delivery. I just change the final digit. I rarely get spam calls, I never answer them but as soon as the ringing stops I 'block & report as spam'.

Sadgrandma

Oh Witzend I got caught out like that too. A foreign woman asking if I was Mrs …. I’m afraid I snapped ‘who wants to know’ only to find she was my GP!

It would be helpful if there was a way the doctor could show it was them instead of showing 'Witheld Number'. I understand they don't want their personal number known but unless I'm expecting the doctor to call I probably wouldn't answer unless I was in the mood for winding up a scammer! I sometimes enjoy baiting a scammer but if I'm busy, not so much.

I may be missing something, but why do you assume that someone has been dishing-out your phone number.

There are such things as online directories, and by typing in a name you can find a telephone number.

Just happened to me litterally 1 second ago!- a call and i waited & there was a lot of shuffling noise in background then clicked off. I blocked number.

Witzend

This morning I had a call from Christian Aid, asking for a donation.

I make quite a lot of charity donations, both by direct debit and online one-offs now and then, especially around Christmas time. But I never give my phone number, precisely because I don’t want them ringing me.

The Christian Aid chap did say he’d remove me from their phone list.
I know personal details are often sold on, but I’d usually connected such a practice with scams, where apparently the selling-on of (especially) potentially vulnerable people’s details is rife.

whatever makes you think he really was from Christian Aid ?

Same happened to me , when I didn’t want to give my date of birth on a supermarket car park the charity person said oh go on I won’t tell any body how old you are . I said you don’t need all my personal details , I think I was going to join a charity lottery , he said he had to confirm I was over 18, I asked him if he had sight problems, I am 70 ha ha

I get regular calls about my solar panels. I don’t have solar panels but often the caller won’t have it. “Am I sure?” “Your husband had them installed and didn’t tell you”. “They are there and you haven’t noticed”. Just how stupid do these people think I am, I never noticed a team removing part of my roof to put solar panels on it or traipsing through my home to go up into the loft to work in there.

AuntieE

I may be missing something, but why do you assume that someone has been dishing-out your phone number.

There are such things as online directories, and by typing in a name you can find a telephone number.

You may have missed quite a lot, Auntie.

I'm not in any online directories. In ye olde days of paper telephone directories, I wasn't in those either.

My phone number is registered (free) with the UK Telephone Preference Service. Takes seconds and its free.

No legitimate UK business or charity cold- calls TPS-registered numbers.

www.tpsonline.org.uk/

I used to get similar calls quite a while ago but thought charities were no longer allowed to do this.
I was very surprised to get a thank you letter for a donation to Save the Children this year. I have sent a donation every year but never had a thank you before - my nieces and nephews could learn from this!

I've had the 'we're calling about the accident' calls and my usual reply is 'yes, unfortunately I was fatally injured'. It sometimes takes quite a while for the penny to drop.