owre-weel Posted February 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2013 Is anyone else suffering these constant calls from scammers telling you there is an issue with your computer or something similar? We have had at least two a day over the last fortnight, mostly come up as international and a few with an "06......." Number. Seem to be from different sources as they have different scripts. It is starting to get pretty annoying. Is there nothing that can be done to put a stop to this ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owdwife Posted February 19, 2013 Report Share Posted February 19, 2013 TPS doesn't work if its an international call which most of these are.An old lady I know let them go on to the end of their spiel and then said that she was looking forward to them giving her a computer so they could mend it. She hasn't had any more calls! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hector's House Posted February 19, 2013 Report Share Posted February 19, 2013 mostly come up as international and a few with an "06......." Number presumably you have caller ID, so why not just leave them unanswered, or let them go to ansafone? A more satisfying act is ask them to hold, and put the handset in front of a radio for a minute... and if you're really narked with them, blow a whistle down the line - that should create some aversion to calling you back! Of course, if you have the time and are feeling devilish, engage them in a lengthy & pointless discussion about how to put their software onto your BBC 'B' computer ("can you send it to me on a cassette?") On a slightly different level, aren't most of these calls to BTinternet customers, and from Indian accented people? If so, it's not a great leap to link the calls to the call centre staff... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owre-weel Posted February 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2013 It does cut down on the number of unwanted telemarketers, it does for us, have not received the calls you are talking about. It's up to you if you add your number to get less unwanted telemarketers, keep getting them if you wish. Anyway off to work now. Vitalite I'm already on the telephone preference service, but as these calls originate from outside the uk, it doesn't stop them. I used to get the occasional call, but latterly it seems to be getting ridiculous. I have tried ignoring, putting them on hold, playing along, but rather than getting fewer it seems to be increasing. I have checked with family near me and they are getting as many as me. Often when you answer the calls, there is silence before the phone eventually goes dead. As they don't have caller I'D they find this a bit worrying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hector's House Posted February 19, 2013 Report Share Posted February 19, 2013 Often when you answer the calls, there is silence before the phone eventually goes dead. That will be an automated calling system, dials dozens of numbers at the same time & allocates any answered ones to available operators - if none are free you just get the silence. It has been outlawed (I think) in the UK but our laws don't matter a jot to anyone else.Perhaps David Cameron should be addressing this issue while on his jolly to India? Unfortunately it takes weeks of unanswered calls to get the software to put you into the "probably not going to fall for it" pile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted February 19, 2013 Report Share Posted February 19, 2013 Whatever you do DO NOT blow a whistle down the line as this is not only illegal but dangerous and could lead to prosecution by the person on the other end and BT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owre-weel Posted February 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2013 Whatever you do DO NOT blow a whistle down the line as this is not only illegal but dangerous and could lead to prosecution by the person on the other end and BT. I would never thought of blowing a whistle, but it would be interesting to see if those on the other end would prosecute from India or wherever as they are breaking the law regarding the scam they are running. It might expose them! Somehow I could not see them taking any action, but two wrongs don't make a right, so I will try not answering for a while and see if that helps, which is ok for folk with caller ID or those who don't have friend or family phoning from abroad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted February 19, 2013 Report Share Posted February 19, 2013 Don't forget not all call centre's are in India. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hector's House Posted February 19, 2013 Report Share Posted February 19, 2013 Don't forget not all call centre's are in India. The ones that offer to "fix" your computer are! And yes yes, it's all very touchy-feely to point out the Health & Safety spin on my "whistleblower" suggestion (which was tongue-in-cheek - anyone with half a brain will realise that targetting the callers isn't right as they probably believe they are working for a legit company)... but asking nicely to be taken off their database isn't likely to work. Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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