Strange phone call....

They will be back mickieboy I've had two calls from them today

We've had the same problem, a strange random number calling the house phone telling me there's something wrong with my laptop when there clearly isn't, so what we did is when they was trying to tell and sell us stuff we began to pretend to sell them stuff back, stupid things like rabbits etc, works a treat they shut up and haven't phoned since.

If the Chinese can block the Internet and a lot of these calls are I believe computer generated, then I would have thought the techies could have come up with something!

Lilygran I am receiving the same e-mails every day some times 6/7 every day I just delete them also loads of PPI claims information all these are also from a Canadian site,its not worth the trouble unsubcribing to them as they then know they have your interest and send a load more in the hope that you will one day respond.

Just emailed my MP asking if there's anything that can be done.

Glossolallia when they call!

Elegran - I'm actually having trouble at the moment with messages pretending to come from Amazon (they look very authentic) about a cancelled order. When I clicked on the link in the first one, it sent me to what it said was a Canadian site where I could buy Viagra. Amazon asked me to forward future messages to them which I do but they keep coming! The other thing is that while you can subscribe to a telephone preference service, it doesn't apply to calls from abroad.

And I don't think many of the call centre operatives would give a fig about 'voice recognition' anyway! They're probably being paid peanuts and aren't really aware that what their company is doing is wrong!

I had an idea, which I aired on a previous thread, that if everyone recorded these conversations,( or said they were recording them if your phone cannot do this), and told the callers in best official voice that the recording would be subjected to voice recognition software and included in a database for future reference, they might be persuaded to believe that they would be recognised and their calls blocked.

It does need a lot of similar responses, though, to get "urban myth" status and reach the perpetrators.

Perhaps it is even possible to really do it, but I can imagine them squawking about their privacy being invaded (tough)

How about using our inventive,imaginative acting skills and pretending we are deaf or daft e.g recite poetry or talk in a foreign language.could have a script ready by the phone to use as soon as we realise it's a nuisance call.
I'm told that hitting the hash key several times quickly deletes your number from their database.

But surely there's a way of stopping them getting through? It could almost be considered 'abuse/harrasment', couldn't it?

The trouble is, if they come from overseas call centres (i.e. most of them!) there's nothing that can be done about them....

What I good idea jeni it's about time something was done about these calls.

Quite! Goodnight

I'll go off to bed soon, too - maybe my cognitivity (pedant alert!) might kick in while I'm kipping!

I'm to bed! I'll have a cognitive period during dormition

Lobby?

Anagram ! I wonder if there IS anything we could do, jeni - although I've heard somewhere that the police can't do anything to stop it.

Can't we do anything about this? Surely granny power could campaign with police, BT,etc:-

An elderly acquaintance of mine fell for that one, green, and thought she was just paying a one-off fee of £60, but they actually took £180!

I bought a new tumble dryer the other week and activated the one year guarantee. Had a phone call from someone today advising me to take out their £6 a month cover in case it breaks down. I pointed out that, as it wasn't all that expensive I'd just buy a new one in a years time if that happened. With hindsight [it's always with hindsight, unfortunately] I should have said 'so, what you're telling me is that I've bought a rubbish tumble dryer from you and I need to cover myself because it's likely to break down; thanks but no thanks!'

The 'caller' reeled off my name and address and then went on to tell me that he was conducting a UK consumer survey. A friend of mine (who isn't at all gullible, usually) received a call from someone describing themselves as Windows Support (or something). They asked her to switch on her computer and after a wee while she saw the cursor moving around. They told her they were rectifying problems that they'd previously identified. They then told her that there were further problems that they could rectify, but she would have to pay for this service and asked for her bank details. By this time, she'd 'cottoned-on' to the fact that it was a scam. She put the phone down and phoned her husband at work, who told her to shut down the computer. No further communications until yesterday, when they tried again.

I had one last week from a man with a very strong Indian accent - I could hardly tell what he was saying - telling me that his company was going to arrange for all the bank charges I had paid over recent years to be reimbursed. I asked him which bank I was with, and he reeled off a list of every UK bank you could think of and said he was empowered to reclaim money from all of them!

I really am getting tired of these scam calls - a gullible person could have just handed out their bank account details and hoped for a mini-windfall. How they expect people to actually understand them in the first place is a mystery to me. If I were working such a scam I'd make sure I employed credible-sounding callers!

I've had 5 calls today from people with a 'foreign' accent. 4 times I put the phone down and the 5th time I told the caller that I'd like to know how they got through to me as I use the Telephone Preference Service. They put the phone down on me.... It looks like there's a spate of these calls happening again.

I am fed up of calls telling me I have not taken up my government home insulation grant. I have the correct amount of lagging in my roof, double glazing and solid stone walls :- no cavity!