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Fraud calls..."I am ringing about your Microsoft computer"

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Johnuk123

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As mentioned above, this can block legit calls too.

Not to mention that many scam calls seem to have numbers on them these days, even if they are rather odd numbers.

I know they might stop the odd legitimate call that's what I said.

Any call that doesn't say 'withheld' but contains a number as soon as you know it's a scam one you simply press the red button and that number will never ring your phone again.
 
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David

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As mentioned above, this can block legit calls too.

Not to mention that many scam calls seem to have numbers on them these days, even if they are rather odd numbers.

Then again, the scammers are getting rather clever with numbers ....

My dad had a call supposedly from Nationwide about some dubious transactions on his account, and to verify they needed his card number, etc. Anyway, the penny finally dropped and he hung up, and on dialing 1471, the number given to us, was actually a number used by Nationwide.
 

Kite159

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The best investment my brother made was in a "true call" call management device. Kills most cold calls dead.
 

deltic1989

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"Nottingham Mortuary. You stab em' we slab em'" "Top Valley Whorehouse. You got the Dough we got the Hoe" works in most cases (Note I only do this to numbers I don't recognise, this isn't the way I usually answer the phone).

Speaking to them in German works most of the time too.
My 3 year old loves it when Daddy get his "silly calls" because she gets to tell them all about her day, she invited one to her Birthday Party once too.
Another simple way to get rid of them is to tell them you are busy right this second but if they could call you back on your "other line" in about 30 mins you will be able to speak to them. You then proceed to give them the number of your local Police station. Obviously give the Police station a call to give them the heads up.

I got one on my mobile a while ago, whilst down the pub with a few old Navy mates. A rousing chorus of 'Hearts of Oak' followed by 'Over the Hills and Far Away' got rid of them.
 

507021

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I've had these calls a few times now. The first time (about four years ago) I told the caller that my computer was fine as I'd not long bought it and I'd know if there was a virus on it before putting the phone down

I had another about four years later later (this time on my mobile) whilst I was out having a meal with my girlfriend. I answered it but then gave the phone to my girlfriend saying that I needed to go and answer the door. She read the menu to caller and then spoke in German for about five minutes or so before the caller hung up

A couple of months later after getting home from work I received another telephone call with the caller telling me that my computer had a virus and that they would fix it for me. I asked how they would know this at least four times however I didn't get an answer. I then decided to tell them that I didn't actually have a computer because my old one had recently failed and I had yet to replace it even though I actually had bought a replacement computer about 24 hours after my old one stopped working

I then spent fifteen minutes telling the caller exactly what had gone wrong with my old computer and the story of when and where I bought it and how old it was when the hard drive decided to fail. The caller then tried telling me it was actually the failed laptop that had a virus - to which I asked them how they would know if the computer in question is broken and I had no intentions of repairing it because of how much it would cost and how old it was. In the end I gave up and put the phone down - I haven't had any calls about my computer on either my landline or mobile since!
 

skyhigh

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Once I was doing work experience at a Microsoft partner and someone actually called one of the managers to tell him that his computer had a virus whilst I was with him! This resulted in an extremely enjoyable phone call which went on for almost an hour as he messed them about, ending in them telling him that he was wasting their time and he should hang up. He refused, causing a back and forth of "No, you hang up!" for another five minutes or so.

The other approach used by my family is to answer unknown numbers asking to speak to people by saying that "It's funny you're asking for them, but they're unavailable because they're a deep sea diver and are currently in the Indian Ocean/mountaineer and up Everest at the moment/at work but they work for GCHQ, so they're probably listening anyway"!
 

maniacmartin

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Last year I decided I would chase one of these calls up. I strung the caller along a bit and eventually managed to get them to divulge a UK number which I could call them back on. A quick poke around OFCOM's number allocations spreadsheet showed that the number was allocated to a telecoms company that had been bought out by Vodafone Business.

I called Vodafone, and they first refused to speak to me as I wasn't a Vodafone customer. Then the person on the other end claimed "We don't care what our customers use our lines for. If it's illegal, take it up with the police."

When caller ID is so easy to spoof in the age and international dialling is so cheap in the age of VOIP, and with telecoms companies that I have chased this up with not really caring, there is little that can be done about these callers sadly
 

Minilad

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I have a simple way of avoiding this nonsense. I never answer a call if I don't know the number. If it is important then they will leave a message
 

Southwest

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If I'm in a playful mood and nothing's on the TV, I let them spout about how good whatever it is they are trying to sell me is. I had one guy a few months ago trying to sell me a new kitchen, we talked about this and that and I sounded enthusiastic at all the right times. We were on the phone for a good 20 minutes and I was getting a bit bored, so I dropped the immortal line "oh, I should tell you that I'm a declared bankrupt, does it matter?"

If I'm not in a playful mood I tell them to foxtrot oscar:D
 

fishquinn

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I have a simple way of avoiding this nonsense. I never answer a call if I don't know the number. If it is important then they will leave a message

What if you have a landline that doesn't show a number?
 

cactustwirly

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What if you have a landline that doesn't show a number?

You hang up!

I get a ton from "the refund team", my answering machine picks up the tail end of each phone call (I get 3 a day) It gets very annoying.
 
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455driver

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"Nottingham Mortuary. You stab em' we slab em'" "Top Valley Whorehouse. You got the Dough we got the Hoe" works in most cases (Note I only do this to numbers I don't recognise, this isn't the way I usually answer the phone).

Or-
War department, do you want a fight!

Please don't use it when the ex-wife rings though! ;)
 

Strat-tastic

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Last time it happened, I said to her, "I'm so glad you called, I'd love to tell you all about the love of Jesus Christ."

So I proceeded to tell her all about it, she didn't know how to respond. Finally she just said, "Thank you" and hung up.

Never heard from them again :D
 

Minilad

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Last time it happened, I said to her, "I'm so glad you called, I'd love to tell you all about the love of Jesus Christ."

So I proceeded to tell her all about it, she didn't know how to respond. Finally she just said, "Thank you" and hung up.

Never heard from them again :D

So basically you are as guilty as they are at making stuff up then
 

Howardh

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A year ago I installed a simple answerphone;
Me " In order to filter unwanted marketing and phishing calls please leave a message and return number after the tone, and if it a genuine call I will pick the phone up or ring you back, thank you".
I notice that by the time they get to "message" they hang up. Works for all but automated calls, and the number of spam calls has definetely reduced.
 

AM9

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So basically you are as guilty as they are at making stuff up then

In terms of the truth maybe but the call was unsolicited and apart from offensive language, they have no right to complain about their time being wasted.
 

SS4

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I have a simple way of avoiding this nonsense. I never answer a call if I don't know the number. If it is important then they will leave a message

What if Tim Sherwood rings you to call you up :P
 

Crossover

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Then again, the scammers are getting rather clever with numbers ....

My dad had a call supposedly from Nationwide about some dubious transactions on his account, and to verify they needed his card number, etc. Anyway, the penny finally dropped and he hung up, and on dialing 1471, the number given to us, was actually a number used by Nationwide.

In the world of VoIP and SIP trunks it is very easy it seems. It seems you merely have to sign a disclaimer saying you won't impersonate any numbers, but it seems to be a trust thing from what I can tell. Much like email addresses can be equally simple to spoof too
 
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Xenophon PCDGS

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Just had a new one on to me yesterday claiming to be from the Philippines claiming I am owed money from a mortgage I am supposed to hold. A much more professional and as such, plausible style of telephone manner than those of the Indian area ones but I just told them that my property portfolio is asset rich and that I had no need of mortgage facilities.
 

swj99

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Assuming you're content for all withheld calls to be blocked simply invest a few quid in a call blocker, works perfectly.

Anybody who thinks these Indian fraudsters are unaware they're scamming must be mad.
And they always sound like their phone is in a bucket of water.
I bought a pair of BT7600 call blocker handsets, secondhand off ebay. Best £22 I've spent this year. We were getting loads of sales calls, despite being on TPS. I've set it to block all withheld, unknown and abroad numbers. The caller gets a ringing tone, but our phone doesn't ring. They can still leave a message, so if it's important and not a bull$hitsales call, I can ring them back (hardly ever happens).

When caller ID is so easy to spoof in the age and international dialling is so cheap in the age of VOIP, and with telecoms companies that I have chased this up with not really caring, there is little that can be done about these callers sadly
I think where it's headed is that people are using phones a lot less because of how open to abuse they are. A friend of mine gets so many annoying calls and hardly any from people he actually knows or wants to speak to, that he never even has his landline plugged into an actual phone at all anymore. It's only still connected for his broadband.

Internet service providings - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U12ZYBTnHvM
 
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jon0844

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My home phone is just for the broadband too. There is a cordless phone plugged in but it hasn't rung for weeks so I suspect it may actually be broken or the battery has died.
 

AM9

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Slighlt OT, but a family of five JWs knocked at my door this morning, - I was still in my dressing gown and hadn't yet unlocked the door. I didn't get angry or abusive, I just put on a 'you've got me out of bed look' and they were suitably embarrassed.
 

jon0844

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They woke me up a few weeks ago and were also quite embarrassed seeing me in my hastily thrown on dressing gown - but what did they expect? They must have started around 7am! I was surprisingly nice too, but probably because I was quite zombiefied.
 

Groningen

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Who is Tim Sherwood? Manager Aston Villa?! Be a little bit more serious please!
 

yorksrob

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So basically you are as guilty as they are at making stuff up then

Sorry, no moral relativism thank you very much.

If they hadn't made the unsolicited call, the above poster wouldn't have had need to retaliate, so to try and establish some sort of moral equivalence is drivel, quite frankly.
 
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