British lifestyle survey

[candyflossy]

Today I received a phone call from "British lifestyle" doing a short survey. The caller confirmed my name, address and postcode. She went on to ask a few questions with a yes, no or possibly answer from me. I thought she was from the government or council so I answered all her questions. I called 1471 to check the number but the number was withheld. I'm now worry it could be a scam. Has anyone received these phone calls before?

'Number withheld' sometimes comes up when the call has been made from a PABX - which is what most large companies have - so that is not necessarily a danger sign.

Did you give any details which could be used to steal your identity with, such as the names and birthdays of children, any clues which could be used to guess your passwords, eg place of birth, pets names, that sort of thing?

Have you tried googling the company name?

I didn't give out any personal info. The questions were do you have a conservatory, are you interest in lowering your bills, have a got sky, etc, with just a yes, no or possibly answer from me. I have googled it and it seems like it's from a call centre in India. I now quite worried - I should had put the phone down.

Actually, it probably is a genuine market research company, not fraudsters, but it will be heavily linked to telesales. Don't be surprised if you get calls in the future asking you if you'd like to lower your bills, get sky, buy a conservatory...
There's something called the Telephone Preference Service (I think), which can theoretically make it illegal to cold-call your phone number.
There was an excellent thread not long ago with some very imaginative ideas about what to do with sales calls. Blowing whistles down the line to deafen them was the least of it!
Remember, you are allowed to put the phone down on strangers.
If you're on the Electoral Register, that's how they can get hold of your name/address etc. Or they may have got it from some company you've had a mail order account with, or even from filling in a free prize draw form. You can ask for your name to be removed from the 'edited' version of the electoral roll, which means sales companies can no longer see it, but you still get your polling card and right to vote etc.

Thanks for your reply. Next time I'll just put the phone down.

I think my number is registered with the TPS.