To ask why governments never stop scam calls

[ifIwerenotanandroid]

They've often promised to deal with the problem over the years but, once elected, nothing ever seems to happen. Today I've had five scam calls, starting at 8:30am (it's now 1:50pm).

I have Choose to Refuse but it doesn't always work as some numbers seem to be transparent, i.e. they show up on the phone but if I do 14258 it will give me the last real caller. So blocking the last caller

AND THERE'S ANOTHER ONE!

... has on occasion meant I've accidentally blocked a friend. So now I don't know what happens if I try to block one of these 'transparent' numbers using the actual number.

It's infuriating. I can't believe BT can't come up with either a technological solution (recognising dodgy numbers) or a reporting mechanism which would result in these numbers being permanently barred. Or the government could introduce tougher penalties for the companies doing this. They can't be too hard to track down.

I agree. I no longer answer the landline. I’m also bombarded with texts, some of which are really difficult to identify as scams. More needs to be done about the attempted thefts that are so common as to be ‘just part of life’.

I have a phone where the caller has to say who they are before I accept the call. Not had a dodgy phone call for years.

No advice, but do you even need a landline phone?

We don't even plug the landline in anymore.

I just block callers on my iPhone.

I used to listen to the cold callers, to politely rebuff them. However, as soon as I tell them I haven't had an accident , they to put the phone down on me.

So now as I soon as I hear 'Carphone Warehouse' or 'accident', I hang up and block 'em.

How would they do it though? As soon as one number is of no use then they just move on to the next.

You could always have the thing that refuses unknown numbers or a answerphone system that you have to say who you are before it puts the call through.

Also, it seems to be a big thing in the US to take a call from a scammer whilst recording themselves and keep the scammer on the phone for ages and then upload the video of the call to YouTube.

You can load up phone numbers yourself into your mobile or certain types of landlines to be recognised

The other calls would be seen as unknown caller

Nobody knows which calls each person wishes to receive

However, scam calls are very annoying

What do you want them to actually do that will stop the problem?

I can't see how you could block numbers that look like (or are) genuine lines. Even if you could have a register of all UK numbers, how would you stop fake or genuine international numbers getting through?

It's not as simple as saying "fine the people responsible" - especially when these people may be autodialling from overseas.

Any attempt to block reported "spam" numbers would be open to abuse, it would be easy for people to group together and get legitimate callers banned (a bit like on Xbox, teenagers like to all report one of their "friends" to get them banned for a while).

And imagine the criticism the government would get if they actually did what the OP wants, to block numbers. People would be up in arms about their rights, why should the government be able to choose which numbers were blocked?

@skirk64

What do you want them to actually do that will stop the problem?

I can't see how you could block numbers that look like (or are) genuine lines. Even if you could have a register of all UK numbers, how would you stop fake or genuine international numbers getting through?

It's not as simple as saying "fine the people responsible" - especially when these people may be autodialling from overseas.

Any attempt to block reported "spam" numbers would be open to abuse, it would be easy for people to group together and get legitimate callers banned (a bit like on Xbox, teenagers like to all report one of their "friends" to get them banned for a while).

And imagine the criticism the government would get if they actually did what the OP wants, to block numbers. People would be up in arms about their rights, why should the government be able to choose which numbers were blocked?

I'm saying that numbers which are obviously fake & gaming the system in some way (e.g. those 'transparent' ones, or the ones I see in the phone log which don't match any proper telephone number format) should be blocked, &/or the perpetrators traced.

I agree that customer reporting would have to be subject to strict checks to ensure that numbers are actually scam-calling people, before any action is taken; but this should be easily verifiable from phone logs (e.g. vast numbers of calls constantly made from the same number).

Ironically, decades ago I worked on producing the computerised telephone exchanges we now all use. I can't believe it's impossible to identify calling patterns or fake numbers.

I listen to an excellent financial programme called Money Box on R4, Sats at around noon, Sun eves 9pm. What was really disturbing was a guest speaker on from either a telecoms or finance company was saying on the programme that Caller ID isnt reliable and not to trust it. There was also a very sad tale where a lady parted with money, paying what she thought was her bank, but turned out to be scammers. This was because the Caller ID on her phone displayed the bank phone no. (from the back of her card) and the bank logo. Scary stuff. That is why I will never entertain Mobile Phone Banking. Though with all the technology available now, I don't know why the telecoms companies can't tackle it. Also, it is difficult for the police because if someone scams you from another country, they have no jurisdiction in said country.

Agree. I'm so fucking sick of them. Vile scamming bastards. I'd like to be able to electrocute them down the line.

I've had to disable my landline because of this.

That is why I will never entertain Mobile Phone Banking.

Mobile phone banking is much safer than answering calls on our landline, purportedly from your bank.

It's worrying that people don't know this. Mobile banking has two step verification now, you have to enter a code texted to you to access your account.

Honestly it’s becayse they are so advanced they change their numbers all the time and they use legit numbers, they are so many of them, they track them down and then another appears. They could throw billions at it and still not stop it. And to be fair, the money is best spent on things like the nhs, not many folks are going to think great if they heard Boris saying I’m going to put everyone’s taxes up so we can have a fair crack at catching scammers”.

@Bluntness100

Honestly it’s becayse they are so advanced they change their numbers all the time and they use legit numbers, they are so many of them, they track them down and then another appears. They could throw billions at it and still not stop it. And to be fair, the money is best spent on things like the nhs, not many folks are going to think great if they heard Boris saying I’m going to put everyone’s taxes up so we can have a fair crack at catching scammers”.

They could shift the burden to BT - isn't it a private company?

Also, as per my original question, why did they (IIRC) used to promise it at manifesto time & forget it once elected?

(I know the answer may be, "Because they're politicians," but hey-ho.)

@Gothichouse40

I listen to an excellent financial programme called Money Box on R4, Sats at around noon, Sun eves 9pm. What was really disturbing was a guest speaker on from either a telecoms or finance company was saying on the programme that Caller ID isnt reliable and not to trust it. There was also a very sad tale where a lady parted with money, paying what she thought was her bank, but turned out to be scammers. This was because the Caller ID on her phone displayed the bank phone no. (from the back of her card) and the bank logo. Scary stuff. That is why I will never entertain Mobile Phone Banking. Though with all the technology available now, I don't know why the telecoms companies can't tackle it. Also, it is difficult for the police because if someone scams you from another country, they have no jurisdiction in said country.

Yes I heard part of this

Scammers are going further and further to do it

We have BT internet and BT email. I get scam emails every couple of weeks telling me my bill is ready and to click here. They look exactly the same as the genuine ones. Surely BT should be able to catch the fakes in their spam catcher? Yeah you'd think so wouldn't you, but their spam catcher is too busy stopping emails from people I regularly correspond with to do anything useful like that.

I agree, my poor dad is fed up with these calls, I wish I could stop them for him but even the TPS can't stop them. He has Talk Talk and I think they offer services like no calls from a withheld number but I didn't want to switch that on incase he misses a call for a dr/hospital appointment. I'm just so relieved that he listens when I tell him it's all a scam, just hang up and to never give details over the phone.

For those people who use the system where the caller has to identify themselves first....

Good luck

I and a lot of people I know just hang up - can’t be bothered with people so nervous and distrusting

Also, if they don’t answer you don’t know if they are screening you out or not

I had a spell of getting those automated ones which you have to "click 1 to connect" etc, then you get put through to a scammer call centre in India. I tried to keep them on the phone as long as possible as a personal game but they've stopped now. Assume I've gone on their "piss artist" list as opposed to "viable victim" list.

I have always been ex-directory. I am not on the public council tax register. Also religiously delete browser history on the internet.

I wonder if that makes a difference? I get very few, probably single figures in a year.

a spate of scam texts on my mobile but only one a month on my landline. I have an ebay-sourced call blocker on it which catches almost all of the scammers, the phone does not even ring.

landlines are reliable and good call quality, talking to someone on a smartbrick is a painful experience.

@newnortherner111

I have always been ex-directory. I am not on the public council tax register. Also religiously delete browser history on the internet.

I wonder if that makes a difference? I get very few, probably single figures in a year.

We're ex-directory & have signed up (twice, though I thought we were supposed to stay on the list) with the TPS. I tick all the boxes about not sharing information. We still get scam calls.

I know the advice is not to answer because if you answer they know the number is valid - but even if I don't answer, each call disturbs my day. It may wake me up; it may make me stop what I'm doing & put things down safely/ cleanly (not always easy if it's arts & crafts or cooking), turn down the TV/radio/music in case it's a real call, & then go & check the phone. When that happens 4 times while I'm trying to make something, & they're all scam calls, it gets REALLY annoying.