Nuisance, scam phone calls

[Mandryka]

I get a lot of automated calls these days. Very annoying, as I now have to 'screen' all my calls.

How does one go about getting 'number display', or whatever it is?

[Andrew Slater]

I have been told that so long as they are connected to me, they cannot then connect to anyone else. ....... Does anyone know if this is correct and such an action does in fact jam up the caller at the other end?

I think it's actually the other way round: the calling party controls the line, so that the called party cannot clear the line.

[french frank]

How does one go about getting 'number display', or whatever it is?

It's Caller Display with BT. If you're with BT you ring their customer services to arrange for the service to be supplied (it's quite cheap). You then have to buy a handset with the appropriate display to show the information.

[mangerton]

I am signed up to the Telephone Protection Service (details on Page 6 in the front of my phone book) and that seems to filter out most of the rubbish.

TPS only filters calls emanating from UK. I have had a number of calls recently from an outfit calling themselves "British Consumers". You can google them. On tghe last occasion the male caller, an Indian sounding individual, asked for me by name. I did not say who I was, but asked who he was and what he wanted. He again asked for me by name. When I did not confirm who I was, he called me a "f...... c..." and quickly disconnected. The number, of course, was withheld.

[MrGongGong]

TPS only filters calls emanating from UK. I have had a number of calls recently from an outfit calling themselves "British Consumers". You can google them. On tghe last occasion the male caller, an Indian sounding individual, asked for me by name. I did not say who I was, but asked who he was and what he wanted. He again asked for me by name. When I did not confirm who I was, he called me a "f...... c..." and quickly disconnected. The number, of course, was withheld.

I had them , when I asked where they were calling from they said Eastbourne so I asked what the code was from there so could check. The number they gave was a discontinued one for the island of Eigg !!! Very lovely place
I usually try to engage them with an increasingly surreal conversation and also then ask why they think that it ok to try and scam me , which sometimes does make them more than a little agitated but I also have played the opening of Black Angels at phone scammers

[Segilla]

Telephone Protection Service seems not to bar calls from abroad. Occasionally when engaging in conversation with people who do not have a foreign accent I mention TPS and the call is usually rapidly terminated at their end.

Of late I've been bothered by more calls than ever, by people who make a brave but hopeless attempt to pronounce my real name.
If in a good mood or my music is not interrupted, I ask them to hang on ..... or politely decline their invitation.

if in a bad one I can resort to crude language and jokes which they probably don't understand. It's demeaning - but it does make me feel better.

[mercia]

I clicked on "Nuisance, scam phone calls" because I thought this was going to be another thread about the breakfast show silly me

[Roehre]

It's Caller Display with BT. If you're with BT you ring their customer services to arrange for the service to be supplied (it's quite cheap). You then have to buy a handset with the appropriate display to show the information.

And than simply don't pick up calls starting with the numbers 0843.. or 0844... (these ring normally 5 or 6 times), or pick up and disconnect immediately.
Unfortunately "Withheld" numbers can be "real" calls very well.
As it is a legal requirement in Wales for firms to provide Welsh spoken information, I do ask (in Welsh) for it: disconnection follows suit....

[Dave2002]

Another one a few minutes ago.

Where can I get a cheap sports/school whistle. I want to say "times up!" ... Whistle.

Amazon?

[Dave2002]

PS: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&k...l_5syt0ud4vp_b

The first on this list - http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&k...l_5syt0ud4vp_b - though marked as a toy, seems to get high approval ratings!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

You beat me to it. I came up with this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acme-Thunderer-Whistle-Safety-Lanyard/dp/B000OSKJFY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316251071&sr=8-1

[mangerton]

You beat me to it. I came up with this one:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acme-Thunder...6251071&sr=8-1

Acme? As used by Wile E Coyote, presumably.

[Petrushka]

Alsi had an increasing number of these calls. One ploy of mine is to put the phone down very quietly bit the other day I came up with a better one: I kept the caller talking while silently turning on R3. I then held the phone to one of my speakers and quickly turned the volume up to maximum.

Better still, for those who possess that CD of 1812 Overture with the cannon demonstation just give the caller an earful of that!

[MrGongGong]

Yes but they will start complaining about the compression

[BetweenTheStaves]

Caller display isn't always that useful particularly as many incoming calls are flagged Unknown. Which is fine except that many legitimate organisations and individuals in the UK also withhold their numbers and so you have no way of knowing. The trouble is that the phone has already rung and interrupted whatever you were doing. So I am afraid that if I get a cold caller then they are not-so-politely told to **** ***.

I am similarly plagued by these calls on my mobile but have at least come up with one elegant solution that works, at least, for the calls that have a number. You set up a contact - Junk - in your phone address book and save all these numbers as they come in. My phone has about 10 slots for numbers per contact. It doesn't matter which slot you use (work, home, mobile, mobile-work, fax etc) for each incoming number. Just allocate a slot and then when that contact is full, create a new one - Junk2 and so on. Now here is the clever bit. Record 30 seconds of silence on your phone. Then assign this 'silence' to be the ring tone associated with Junk, Junk2 etc. That way whenever any of these vermin call you, you are simply unaware and can carry on with your daily business.