A new one for me..

I have my internet with a landline. But I don't plug a handset into it. I don't use my landline number for anything. I just use my mobile phone.

My husband plays along with the "you have had an accident " ones. He says he did and his head fell off but was sewn back on. That's when they swear and put the phone down!

If you hang up on cold callers don't forget to also block their number, otherwise they can keep ringing. You should be able to do this in your call history

Go to 1471 to get the phone no. of who called you (if possible - sometimes it's withheld) and then block it if you can. We got one of those phones where you have to announce who you are before we will answer the call, and that has put an end to virtually all spam.

I have both landline and smartphone.
My landline phone is a BT model which has a device which intercepts callers and asks for their name. I then get to listen to what they say and press the appropriate button - one of which will reject the call and one which will accept it.
It also has a 'phonebook' where I put the names and numbers of my contacts, so when they call they are not intercepted and are put straight through. So I get no scam calls! ( I guard my mobile number so only a few know it)

25 Avalon.
According to Virgin I have to have a landline for which I’m charged £17a month on top of my Virgin bill.
I don’t particularly need it either.

These calls are commonplace and always the same recorded voice, same amounts etc. An obvious con! However some cons are more convincing. I had a real man called claiming to be from the local police and saying they had arrested someone with cards in my name. They told me to phone my bank to make sure there had been no money taken. The call was on my landline but I then used my mobile to phone the bank, as my calls are included in my contract and I have to pay for landline calls. Pretty soon I had another call from the same man saying "Why are you not phoning your bank?" How did he think he knew? Because he hadn't hung up the first call. If I'd used my landline he would have asked for all sorts of information which I may have been stupid enough to give. When I said I was using my other phone he slammed the phone down in disgust. Thankfully I had wasted quite a bit of his time preventing him trying it on someone else!

The police came to talk to a group I attend about security and I was surprised they didn't mention this so I brought it up in the Q&A. I did check with both my banks but as expected there was no problem, but the man was very convincing so if the original call had been on my mobile I may have fallen victim!

I don't get phone calls, but I do get e-mails of much the same kind.

They are never sent from a recognisable company and usually so badly worded that whoever wrote them is certainly not employed in any reputable firm.

I always wonder who actually falls for these patent fake messages.

Someone must or the scammers would have given up ages ago.

My now late husband took one of those calls from ORANGE (our internet and phone provider in France)....the man said, the usual spiel .....you have a problem with your Orange computer ...please can you turn it on ...well, I was out, and my husband knew absolutely nothing about computers ...but he went to my office and looked ...he said (!)...I can see a black computer and a silver one, but there is NO Orange one ...............they hung up !!! ha ha ......never called again ...of course it was a scam !

I hope everyone on here checks their bank statements, I've had 2 bogus transactions on my debit card and 2 on my credit card not large amounts. Debit card was 2 separate payments of £60 for fuel credits which flagged up as I pay by direct debit monthly to a totally different company. The credit card payments were a fine payment in London of £100 and a payment to Westminster Council of £110. I live in the East Midlands. Do the scammers think you wont notice?
Reported to the banks concerned & Action Fraud, got refunded by the banks and they issued me with new cards but gave no explanation, or information regarding the fraud. Just makes me wonder how often this happens. I mostly draw out cash now to pay for items really don't trust card payments or online payments anymore.

Welshy

I have my internet with a landline. But I don't plug a handset into it. I don't use my landline number for anything. I just use my mobile phone.

But just using your mobile phone will not prevent scam calls. I had an O2 Scam call on my mobile yesterday. And that came on my new number. Changed because my mobile phone account was hacked and a fraudulent account set up for a loan in my name!
So please don't think just using a mobile will protect you from scammers, because it won't. Be alert.

Aldom

Welshy

I have my internet with a landline. But I don't plug a handset into it. I don't use my landline number for anything. I just use my mobile phone.

But just using your mobile phone will not prevent scam calls. I had an O2 Scam call on my mobile yesterday. And that came on my new number. Changed because my mobile phone account was hacked and a fraudulent account set up for a loan in my name!
So please don't think just using a mobile will protect you from scammers, because it won't. Be alert.

Sorry Aldom I should have made myself clear. I was referring to tanith and Georgesgran's comments.

But yes I agree with you just using a mobile will not protect you from scammers and I'm sorry to hear you were

Because a lot of phone numbers are recycled, I have had several business calls asking for one same male person, not so frequent now as I have had this number for years.

We have one of the call blocking phones with caller ID. Caller has to announce themselves if not programmed into the phone. Works well and blocks suspect calls.

that's how BT call guardian works.