How do I stop harassment from telemarketing companies from abroad?

[Buttons294749]

Any idea? I politely asked the guy who called me today to please remove my number from his system and he threatened to call me continuously every day (although presumably he knows I won't give him money for his scam )

I've identified the pattern that the number tend to be (as someone has indeed called me every day) but just concerned I'll miss an important call

I've been registered with TPS for ages but the call centre is in (presumably) India so that doesn't seem to work.

Annoyingly they must have got my number from 02 as my mum took out the contract in her name when I was 17 and I have kept that number so her name would only ever have been connected to that number in that specific place.

Is it the same number every time ? Just block it.
If not when you do pick up either hang up without saying anything or put your phone down ( don't hang up ) let him waffle yo himself .

It's different numbers. It's actually been going on for years but somehow they keep calling. I do normally just hang up but still they persist....

We get this too. Overseas call centres but "spoofing" so it looks like a Uk based number.

Just hang up right away though when the person says "Is that Mrs Gordon" - the previous occupant who moved out 15 fucking years ago.

I have family and friends numbers in my contacts on my landline, so I can see who is ringing, and if its an unknown number or international, I leave it to go to the answering machine. They'll leave a message if they're a genuine caller. Same for my mobile.
There's also a screening thing some of my friends have set up. When you ring, you're answered by an automated voice which asks you to say who you are. The call receiver can then decide to take your call or not. I don't know if its a bt service but it's very useful for call screening.

www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice-for-consumers/problems/tackling-nuisance-calls-and-messages/phone-company-services-that-can-help-tackle-nuisance-calls

Thanks all

Have you got a small dc? I used to just hand him the phone and carry on with whatever I was doing. They soon get bored of toddler chat..

Ofcom can do bugger all about companies calling from India, Bangladesh or other countries outside the UK.

Unfortunately as abroad and operating criminal scams half the time they won't follow any UK laws

There's really nothing you can do but continue to block and don't answer no.s you don't recognise. If it's import they will leave a message.

I like to have fun with them sometimes as whilst they’re are chatting to me they aren’t bothering someone else!

To cheer you up OP, listen to how a comedian in the US dealt with one unsolicited sales call. If only I had the ability to think so quickly!

I had this. In the end I had to change numbers. I didn’t want to but it put a stop to it.

I find if you play along but pretend to be stupid, they eventually give up and just put the phone down on you. And then never bother again.

My parents bought call blocking phones, so that unknown callers are announced before you accept them. That stopped the calls.

I have a client who has call guardian. When you call you have to announce who you are and the user has the choice of declining the call.

Call guardian sorted it out for me.

The trick is to imitate them, try it.

I used to have this with my old landline number which was in a physical phone book which probably got shipped out to India/Pakistan/Nigeria (wild guesses here based on accents used, and googling the country codes).

Very frustrating, but if I had time I would often waste their time to stop them pestering someone else.

In my best old lady voice. "Isn't it a beautiful day, would you like to pray with me?"

"What university did you attend? ... Did your parents pay for your education? ... Is your mother full of shame now that she has raised a son/daughter to be a liar and a thief?"

Ask them to hold for a moment, and put the phone down near the radio.

Keep a whistle by the phone and blow it.

Sometimes I would just whisper softly "Oh do fuck off, you tiny little fucking fucker" and repeat over and over. I would never in a million years say this to anyone I know.

I used to get an oddly perverse pleasure from making them hang up on me.

We get lots of calls for an elderly lady who has never actually lived here, but had our number over a decade ago and had to give it up because of scam calls. I think she may have been on some sort of list of people they think they could trick.

Which makes me furious as I think my late DF was on a similar list. I can't just tell people who ask for her to fuck off, as sometimes it's the hospital or one of her relatives, but once I've made sure it's not one of them, I say I'll go and get her. Then I leave the phone by the telly.

Or sometimes I'll say something like 'sorry Mrs J doesn't live here and I'm afraid there are no other vulnerable people here for you to trick' - they can get very defensive!

@SageRosemary

"What university did you attend? ... Did your parents pay for your education? ... Is your mother full of shame now that she has raised a son/daughter to be a liar and a thief?"

Yes - I'm genuinely curious - what do they say to their parents when they ask about their job? "I phone people up and try to scam them"

I do sometimes play along with them. I ask for their name which always turns out to be very "British", so David Smith, or John White or similar, although they are speaking with a barely understandable accent so it kind of gives it away.

I then ask for their managers name. This often surprisingly turns out to be similar to theirs. The last time I asked, I was speaking to Jane Jackson and her manager was called John Jackson. I did ask if they were related but she said no.

When she says who she is calling from, I ask for the phone number and tell her I am going to google it to see that it is genuine. She hangs up.

I often get asked if I am Mrs Old Name at my old address, so if that happens I say no, my ex husband left me and our 8 children to starve and we got evicted from there, can you please stop calling.

I don't have any sympathy for them "just doing their job" as they often get abusive if you say that you know it is a scan call, or ask to be removed and they come out with some disgusting stuff (always the male ones never the females).

I don't answer the landline anymore. Everything goes through to voice mail. I might check that once a week. Marketers rarely leave messages.

@fluffedup

When you make it personal and start asking questions about their family in a very kind way, I think it humanises it for them, after all they have parents and grandparents who are the same age as those people they are trying to scam, it hits home, they will deny that they are a liar/thief but the voice changes, falters and they may stutter out the replies. And, the ones who have near perfect English have probably had a lot of family support to get to that level. I'd like to think I've made at least a couple of them think about a career change. The phone is always hung up by them after their poor effort at denial.

I have a friend who is from India and speaks Hindi. He had great fun dealing with a caller from his country. Made the chap feel quite bad about the whole thing, I believe.

Just font answer the phone to unrecognisable numbers or unexpected calls . Seriously. The more you answer the more they will ring.