I think fake callers are getting nastier

They definitely are! My husband had one who repeatedly called and threatened to kill him! ?

Certainly sounds more desperate but how horrid for you.

Poor ‘John’ being rumbled, probably and hopefully, for the umpteenth time that day. Shows you were successful Ladyleftfieldlover in riling him.

I’m getting nastier,too. I slam the phone down now, don’t even bother to talk.

Fed up with Scam Calls but Yesterday answered phone to A James with an accent, ready to give him hell because I am terrible in the Morning. Anyway his Child screaming in the background , he asked for me by name and said he had tried to get hold of me several times, so I said I don't answer strange numbers and have an answerphone, started to have a go about scamming when I suddenly realised he was from the local council lol!!! I did apologise

Tell them their mother would be so proud, then leave phone hanging, they have to pay the bill.

Ladyleftfieldlover are they still trying it on with that Microsoft nonsense, honestly? Well over ten years ago I answered the landline to one such call and we hadn’t even got internet then so I just laughed and the guy became hysterical with rage. I just unplugged the phone for a bit to ensure the line was cleared.

We are getting better at identifying fake callers so their despicable job of phone scamming must be getting harder. ‘John’ is needing to reassess his career prospects.

Granmarderby10

Ladyleftfieldlover are they still trying it on with that Microsoft nonsense, honestly? Well over ten years ago I answered the landline to one such call and we hadn’t even got internet then so I just laughed and the guy became hysterical with rage. I just unplugged the phone for a bit to ensure the line was cleared.

It seems to be either Microsoft or Amazon Prime!

I put the phone on the side and leave them to it.
They have gone when i go back to it,eventualy they will get the picture.

Funny how so many of these Indian-sounding men making these calls have English names. There was a thread on here once with hilarious ways in which people wound these callers up. I don’t have enough imagination, just tell them they’re filthy crooked scammers after my money, hang up and put the number on the BT blocking system. They must have access to endless phone numbers as they still get through though not so frequently now. The pandemic seems to have hit them. One man was very rude to me once when I challenged him, called me the c-word. Charming.

Don't talk to them. Put the phone down. Don't bother slamming it down, they don't care and you'll only end up breaking your phone.

They have access to all the phone numbers because its an automated system that works its way through all the numbers that exist. The TPS system only works for organisations that sign up to it. There are myriad ways they can "pretend" to be from another number so blocking it doesn't help either.

Really. Just hang up.

To those that work in the Indian call centres it is not a scam. The Microsoft one is selling anti virus software, so they are actually selling a real product albeit in an underhand way saying that you have a virus. Call centre staff are just given a script to work from.

I think the call centre staff can be abrupt and rude because that is how they are spoken to, some may not understand exactly what they are saying in english but copy the tone that is used to them.

A relative worked briefly in a call centre in India whilst travelling.

Very few people work in a call centre anywhere by choice, they get paid a pittance and put up with constant abuse. Call centre and care work are often the only jobs available.

I had an Indian woman call me and I let her do her opening words to tell me l had to go to my computer and put in my details because there was a problem with my account. So l told her to go and get a proper job like decent people to and she replied “oh how rude”
Coming from the woman who wanted the rip me off and steal money from me ?

TPS isn’t the same as the BT call blocking system, which allows you to block all further calls from a particular number. By referring to callers having access to a lot of numbers I meant that they have a lot of numbers from which to call. I realise there are automated systems which can access all existing numbers, hence the not infrequent silent calls because the machine has dialled the number but there is no ‘caller’ available to speak. I have no doubt that some are genuinely trying to sell a product and that that’s a miserable existence but a lot just want to get access to your computer and thereby financial information.

The last one I had was purporting to be from Windows; telling me that I needed to upgrade to avoid a virus. I spent a pleasant few minutes telling him that there was nothing wrong with my Windows as Steve the window cleaner had only called that week and cleaned them all, inside and out and I could see through them perfectly! He hung up; probably in despair!

Germanshepherdsmum

TPS isn’t the same as the BT call blocking system, which allows you to block all further calls from a particular number. By referring to callers having access to a lot of numbers I meant that they have a lot of numbers from which to call. I realise there are automated systems which can access all existing numbers, hence the not infrequent silent calls because the machine has dialled the number but there is no ‘caller’ available to speak. I have no doubt that some are genuinely trying to sell a product and that that’s a miserable existence but a lot just want to get access to your computer and thereby financial information.

Ah, I see what you mean, sorry I misunderstood Germanshepherdmum

Still no point blocking them though, they just cycle through all the numbers that their organisation has purchased for them to call from.

I once worked in an organisation where people in a call centre were required to call people in a particular profession, all over Europe, to alert them that their subscription to an industry-mandated piece of software was about to expire. They were trying to prevent them becoming illegal. The abuse and swearing that they were subjected to was abysmal, so I have no patience at all with people who think its clever to abuse call centre staff of any kind.

I’ve had lots of calls lately purporting to be from Virgin Media. One caller got quite indignant when I suggested she put it all in writing to me, and told me not to waste her time

I usually say 'do you think your mother, when she was nursing you in her arms, would be proud of what you're doing today?' then I put the phone down and block them.

I had a call yesterday from an Indian man who said his name was Pauline. I had to laugh!

There seems to be an impression that people who work in a call centre work for a pittance. Many years ago I took a part time job in a call centre working for a top UK company. My salary plus bonus was more than I would have been paid in my profession working full time.

Then you were lucky.

www.payscale.com/research/UK/Job=Call_Center_Agent/Salary

Why bother having any communication with them at all. I just end the call within seconds without saying anything.

is this on a land line ?
i have not had one since i got BT Call Guardian phone.
wish i'd got it earlier. widely available, got mine robert dyas.