To think someone has advertised my mobile number?

[FreakyToes]

I have had calls from 15 different unknown mobile numbers (on my mobile) over the past 2 weeks.

They have never left a voicemail and never called back.

I don't answer unknown numbers as I think, if it's genuine/important, they'll leave a message.

I am used to getting the standard PPI, 'you've been in an accident, do you want to make a claim' calls but those are always from landline numbers that I can search online.

I'm a bit concerned at the volume of calls I've had from mobile numbers in such a short space of time. I have checked the numbers in WhatsApp to see if they have a profile picture but only 2 do (both pictures are of a man with a child).

Has anyone else experienced this recently?

Just me? 🙈

Google the numbers instead of WhatsApp and see if they come up on Who Called Me. That lets you know who the caller is / pretends to be and what the call is usually about. I block them after that.

Thanks @iklboo

I've googled them all but it doesn't bring up anything at all. I even googled my own number to see if there was anything with that but there wasn't.

DH thinks it's just scam callers but seems a bit odd to have so many over a short period.

A lot of cold calling companies now are using rotating mobile numbers to get round the ban on using withheld numbers for their pain in the ass phonecalls. You’ve most likely just popped up on a marketing list somewhere. You can register mobile numbers with the TPS, not just landlines FYI - useful tip, and allows you to read them the riot act if you accidentally answer any of the calls you’ve been getting.

I had my phone number cloned and so did a friend - he had about 200 calls from people over the space of a few hours, all claiming he had rang them when he hadn't.

He had to change his number

My money is on a debt purchasing company.

I currently have 9 random, what look like mobile, numbers saved on one of my mobile phones, all set with silent ring tones so I can tell if they called but don't have to be interrupted by them ringing me.

All 9 numbers are a debt collection company called Cabot Financial who go around buying up defaulted loans/overdrafts/credit card bills etc. for 10-12 percent of the value with the intent to chase the defaulter endlessly for the full amount.

A.K.A parasitical scumbags.

They have called from more numbers than that but I have not bothered to save them all, just the ones that call most frequently.

The calls started out of the blue one day as they seem to be convinced I am a Mr Someone I Don't Know. Last I looked, I was definitely born with a fanny so not a Mr.

They don't quit when told they have the wrong person, even if you clearly sound like a person of the female persuasion when they are looking for a bloke. They don't seem to be able to conceive of the notion that phone numbers get reassigned over time.

I suspect other such companies behave similarly.

I get a lot of numbers from Tunisia which is apparently a scam to get you to call back on premium rate numbers.

@BumpyNugget
We had that on our landline when we moved here. The house had been repossessed, so they were after the previous occupants, but we had no contact details. We'd moved our phone number from the previous house so it wasn't associated with them.
After the 4th or 5th time dh told them that the person did not live here any more and telephone calls were being monitored and if they phoned again he would be speaking to a solicitor about harassment. We have heard no more from them.