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Landline scam calls

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Xenophon PCDGS

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This morning, I had a new one of these to add to my collection of landline scam calls. This one purported to be from BT Open Reach about a two week period of their monitoring of "error messages".

I said that I was a manager with BT Open Reach and asked the person for "their 16 digit authorisation code" at which the line went dead.

A recourse to 1471 normally does not reveal a number, but in this case it was shown as being 00240 52016, which of course is not a recognisable number.
 
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cf111

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I used to work for BT and dealt with many people who had fallen victim to these kind of scams, the tools we had at our disposal were quite good when it came to tracking down the offenders so it was often quite a satisfying job.

I'm glad you were switched on enough to send this one back from whence he came Paul!
 

JoeGJ1984

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A recourse to 1471 normally does not reveal a number, but in this case it was shown as being 00240 52016, which of course is not a recognisable number.

A number beginning with 00 indicates an international call and the code 20 (according to Wikipedia) represents Egypt.
 

ExRes

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Hundreds of comments on google referring to this phone number, it is also inked to another number, a London one this time, 02020586621

All comments refer to 'Indian' callers and either Sky or BT
 

Howardh

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Had a good one yesterday from some kind of call center abroad. After his usual "hello Mr so and so, my name is David (heavy Indian accent, never mind) and blah blah.
I replied, "Oh, hello, I have a cheque for you and I've lost your companies address to send it to for the work they've done. Can you repeat it for me, thank you?"
Er...oh...er....er....ah.....*cut off*.
 

Domh245

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According to this website, it would seem that they are quite prolific

As a side note, had they rang you 13 days ago, the number would have matched to the date of the call.
 

507021

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I've had numerous calls from a particular caller trying to sell me a healthcare product I didn't want, even after saying that I wasn't interested in buying it and putting the phone down when they kept going on and on about it. The caller continuously rang me (at least six or seven times in total over three or four days) and they were very insistent on me giving them my bank details which I repeatedly refused to give them, despite their insistence that I buy a product which I wasn't convinced in the slightest was genuine in the first place. I dialled 1471 after the first call, telling me the number used had a London area code.

The last time they called me I got really fed up of it, so I gave the phone to my girlfriend who was visiting me at the time and she gave them a right earful to say the least, which was very entertaining to listen to.

They haven't called back since.
 

Harbornite

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Just tell the twots that they're breaching the data protection act or whatever and hang up on them.
 

miami

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"hold please"

*push button which plays recording of screaming baby in background*
 

Howardh

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My answerphone deals with them nicely! Sometimes I do like to pick it up and mess them around.
 

HMS Ark Royal

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I got this number myself - being in a mischievous mood, I told them they had reached the office of the Chief Constable of Humberside Police
 

me123

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I like to see how long I can sting them along for. I was off work one day and quite bored when I got a call - managed to keep them on the phone for 30 minutes talking about a fictional road traffic accident involving a forklift truck and a space hopper! (Turned out I wasn't entitled to compensation).
 

alxndr

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Hearing things like this make me quite glad I've never bothered to buy a phone to plug into the landline. At least the odd one that makes it through to my mobile can be blocked to prevent further calls from that particular number.

(Although of course I recognise I'm fortunate in this regard to now live in a town with good reception, it wouldn't have been possible not to have one when I lived in the countryside.)
 
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swt_passenger

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Caller - this is the Microsoft help desk, we have detected a problem with your Windows.

Me - I don't think so, my Windows are new.

Caller - no there's definitely a problem.

Me - no they're OK, they are white and double glazed just like I wanted.

Caller - screams...

(That's the summary, I actually kept the guy talking about double glazing for ages.)
 
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Geezertronic

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Father in law has some sort of call protection from BT which means that a person has to "announce" themselves to an automated service which then rings him and plays the callers announcement so he can choose whether to answer the call or not. Should be standard with any landline in my opinion - I am with VirginMedia and don't know if they offer such a service
 

me123

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I don't think it's the telecoms company that does it, but the phone itself. My parents recently bought a phone with "call guardian" on it. This screens all callers, and if they are in your contacts list they get through straight away, as normal. Any unknown or withheld numbers have to leave a short message with their name and when the recipient picks up the phone they hear this and decide whether to hang up or take the call.

Cold callers and sales people almost invariably just hang up when they hear this. Legitimate users announce their name and get through. It's great. My parents are blocking over ten calls a day with it. Thankfully, I get nowhere near this many.
 

crispy1978

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I love winding them up - I see it as my vocation in life when they ring my landline and I aren't busy.

Obviously I never give them any personal details, but I have had one of them on the phone for nearly an hour just going round and round in circles about an accident I had with a tractor and that the car got crumpled up in the baler that was attached to the back of it.

Keeps me occupied anyway!!!
 

Clip

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Everything on my landline goes straight to answer machine and the ringer is off all the time as I cant be dealing with this stuff.

TruCall
that featured on Dragons Den is a handy device for screening calls.
 

backontrack

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The other day we got one of these. So, I picked up the phone, counted silently to three, and blew a very loud raspberry down the phone. Then I put it down again. :lol:
 

richw

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Father in law has some sort of call protection from BT which means that a person has to "announce" themselves to an automated service which then rings him and plays the callers announcement so he can choose whether to answer the call or not. Should be standard with any landline in my opinion - I am with VirginMedia and don't know if they offer such a service

BT call minder. I believe its a premium service.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I love winding them up - I see it as my vocation in life when they ring my landline and I aren't busy.

Obviously I never give them any personal details, but I have had one of them on the phone for nearly an hour just going round and round in circles about an accident I had with a tractor and that the car got crumpled up in the baler that was attached to the back of it.

Keeps me occupied anyway!!!

I do this as well. I found out about my accident yesterday. I suggested it must have been bad as took my memory and she got excited on the other end,
 

swj99

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BT call minder. I believe its a premium service.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


I do this as well. I found out about my accident yesterday. I suggested it must have been bad as took my memory and she got excited on the other end,
I remember when Mark and Lard used to be on Radio 1 a few years ago, and one of their comedy routines was called 'It's a Wind Up'.
One day Lard pretended to phone up a claim company and said he was thinking of having an accident. Anyone remember this ?
 

SS4

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Caller - this is the Microsoft help desk, we have detected a problem with your Windows.

Me - I don't think so, my Windows are new.

Caller - no there's definitely a problem.

Me - no they're OK, they are white and double glazed just like I wanted.

Caller - screams...

(That's the summary, I actually kept the guy talking about double glazing for ages.)

Reminds me of this prank call

[youtube]WSqJN4xnPDI[/youtube]
 

GrimsbyPacer

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I got this number myself - being in a mischievous mood, I told them they had reached the office of the Chief Constable of Humberside Police

I bet they hung up very fast! :)

I don't get landline spam calls anymore, we got so many we just turned the phone off permanently. My mobile gets loads every day, and there's a limit to how many number I can block on these repeat callers, so I always add a contact for each one depending on area code if available, Klingons for thr Kidderminster number for example.
 

Bevan Price

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Despite being registered with the telephone preference service, I get spam phone calls which all start immediately with a pre-recorded message, often claiming to be about some government-approved scheme.

If anyone asked for my password, etc, they would probably get seven letters, beginning and ending with "f".

In the past, some email spammers have been sent replies consisting only of links to youtube sites playing songs such as "Liar" or "Lies, lies".
 

Peter Mugridge

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In the past, some email spammers have been sent replies consisting only of links to youtube sites playing songs such as "Liar" or "Lies, lies".

Bad move I'm afraid - that serves only to tell them the e-address is active and in use. Far better to report them to Action Fraud ( although it's a bit of a pain having to fill in their online form for each individual mail ).
 

ATW Alex 101

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Depending on the mood I'm in, either I tell them to F off or if I've got the time, will play along, it's great wasting their precious time!

I did once ask what happens now I've switched my computer on and an apple has appeared on the screen. :lol:
 
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