abusive phone calls

[greenrock]

My dad died last week and since his death I have been staying with my mum. we have received a couple of calls from someone asking for my dad but because they are obviously just nuisance calls I have just been saying that he is not here and goodbye. Today they called me and I had the same conversation, they then called back having a go at me saying I was rude to not tell them when my dad would be back etc. and so I said ok tell me your phone number and who you work for and I'll talk to you. Of course no response. The guy on the phone continues to tell me how aggressive and rude I am so I lost it with him saying you know my name and number but I don't know yours so you are fucking coward. Then the bastard says 'and I know where you live too so think about that too'.

Is this some kind of scam to bereaved people? I'm so worried that my mum will continue to get these calls after I leave.

Did you do 1471? SO sorry you are having this.

If the number is withheld you can contact your phone provider and ask them to block all incoming calls from withheld numbers. Otherwise do 1471 and contact the police (non emergency number).

I'm sorry about your Dad.

get a phone that has caller display. They are quite cheap and you can get them in places like Argos.

It will display the phone no of whoever calls you. Or it might say "number unavailable" which means it is a call from overseas (usually a fraudster from India) or "number withheld" which means it is a UK call, but (usually) from an organisation that doesn't want you to know its numbere in case you try to call back; or else some individual who doesn't want to be identified.

Many such phones can now be programmed with an address book, so if the number calling you is known, it wil display the name you have stored.

I no longer answer "number unavailable" calls as they are always fraudsters lying about who they are. I let them go straight to answerphone. I recommend you do the same. If it is friends or family calling from overseas they will usually tell you who they are, and you can usually hear this on the answerphone speaker and pick up the call if you want it.

BTW I strongly recommend you register your phone no.s with the Telephone Preference Service which means reputable UK companies will no longer cold-call you. There is no charge for registering. If someone tries to get you to pay they are a fraudster.

www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/

My mum got these when dad died and she used to just hang up. One day I was there when she did this and then the phone rang again so I answered it, usual shit "can I speak to MrX?" Me "can I ask what It's about " "oh it's about our conversation last week "(dad been dead about a month at this point.) So I said "oh I didn't know they had phones in heaven can you give me the number? " cue a very long silence and then "sorry to have bothered you " and she hung up. Dads been gone 14 years and mum still get calls, now she just says "he's dead get lost ".