Clear advice another scam

[Margatemum]

HI

I posted yesterday on the topic of the accident investigation bureau and today the scammers have taken a new line, I recieved a call from an Indian sounding lady who asked for Deborah, I said she must have the wrong number she said she needed to talk to the owner of the phone, thats when the alarm bells started to ring. When pressed for information as with the other scam she became elusive and would only give her name as Lucy and say she was phoning every household in the UK on behalf of the Government,and that she worked for a company called CLEAR ADVICE, she said she could not give me a phone number to call her back and when I said I would not talk to her without a number to verify who she was I was put on hold while she talked to her supervisor, she then gave me a number 01252413437 but said as it was a call centre I would not be able to call it back she then pressed me for details of my financial situation eg what credit cards I had, did I own the house or was it mortgaged, did I use a catalogue etc. She then went on to say she could help me consolidate my debts for a small fee and could she take a credit or debit card details. This is the point when I told her I would call her back I then dialed 1471 the number was different 01212700631 I have again informed the police and traiding standards Pleased be warned that this is another scam at getting personal bank details

A lot of these calls originate from outside the UK and therefore fall outside the remit of Ofcom etc. There are some at the moment where a recorded message offering to help you consolidate your debts etc is either played or recorded on answerphone. This kind of speculative calling with recordings is illegal in the UK. If you have a UK number for a company doing this, you should (if you can be bothered) report it to Ofcom.

interesting re the number you were given

I will definatly report to Ofcom thanks for the tip BelleDameSansMerci.

As for the number I was given I must admit I did not call it back but the local police said it was probably not a genuine number and when I googled "Clear Advice" it was a website that was no longer available

The site I've linked to gives the name, address and telephone number of the company behind the calls.....give the boss a ring at home, see ho they feel about unsolicited calls

hi all,
I have the same problem for a while now, they keep ringing me on both my home and my mobile. unfortunately i didn't realize it in time that it was a scam, so now they have my address too. but they are now operating from a new number: 01414043786...
what do I supposed to do now? any advice?

I had a call just this afternoon from an Indian-sounding man who said that he was calling on behalf of the Government from Clear Advice. His pronunciation was so poor that I made him repeat his lines a number of times as I suspected the call to be somewhat suspect, he stumbled on them and I challenged him - it was certainly very odd. In the end he hung up on me! I was called from this number: 0141 4043786 beginoftheskypehighlighting 0141 4043786 endoftheskypehighlighting So if you are called from this number please do not answer. Is there anyway of telling David Cameron that there are some rather dodgy characters ringing on his behalf?

I just had a call from an Indian sounding man called Frank from Clear Advice calling from the number 0141 404 3786 asking how many credit cards I have. I called Ofcom who advised I register with the TPS (Telephone Preference Service) tpsonline.org.uk. It's free to register. It takes 28 days after you've registered and then if you are on this database you shouldn't legally receive any unsolicited marketing calls. I was advised OfCom have received other complaints about this number and the more complaints they receive the more they can look into it and build up a case against them.

I received a phonecall from I believe the same Indian guy as a lot of you have spoken to. The number was 0141 404 3786. He said he was calling from a company called Clear Advice on behalf of the Government and wanted to offer me Debt Consolidation. As soon as he started asking me lots of very long and annoying (also not very structured or clear questions)I got suspicious that something wasn't quite right. Anyway, I stupidly answered all his questions about my credit cards, overdrafts, loans etc. etc. and he took my name and address at which point I was getting a little annoyed. Then, he put me on hold for about 2 minutes and said he was transferring me to a company called 'Churchwood Finance'. The guy I spoke to here sounded northern and was asking me all exactly the same questions as the Indian man but then said to me 'now, i will be asking you a few questions that might not seem relevant to the application but bear with me.' At this point, alarm bells really were ringing and my husband went to look up 'Clear advice' on the net only to find this website and another one saying that it was all a scam! Thankfully, i didn't give any of my bank details away, only just the names of my banks. Please, please be aware that this is most definately someone trying to take your money. I then received a call from Churchwood Finance just now asking me why I had hung up on them yesterday! I told them to get lost and stop calling me... The number they called from was 0161 476 7250. I've now signed up to TPS so hopefully this won't happen again.

I don't think this is a scam as such but suspect that Clear Advice are getting paid a commission from fee-charging Debt Management Companies (like Churchwood) for referring people to them. They keep pestering me from the number 02030042032 and when pressed for explanations and requests from me to remove my number from their files they hang up - and then call again another day. I have blocked their number from my phone now.

I have been getting these calls for months when I first answer they ask for mr Graham my partners first name when I say no one lives here called mr Graham they then call him by his surname when I say he is not at home they then ask if I am his wife when i say I am not they tell me that we have a credit card under the name of Mr & Mrs & my partners surname we are not even married & certainly do not have a joint credit card when I tell them this they press me to give them my details name d.o.b outstanding debts when I tell them I have no outstanding debts they get really funny on the phone & say that I do! they phone every day at least 5 times a day I have just has one now & I went ballistic over the phone the Indian man on the other end was very rude & when I told him to stop calling or I would report this to the police he responded with "well why would you want to do that? & thats a decision you can not really make until you consolidate your debts" at that point I hung up and typed in clear advice into google & came across this page which I am glad I did! I am 7 months pregnat & certainly do not need this stress

I still can't believe that anyone takes these calls.

Why don't you all sign up to the TPS www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/

This will stop all those unwanted calls after 28 days. You have to resign annually but its worth it and free.

Also a good does of common sense.

If an Asian gent accosted you as you walked down the high street and asked about your finances, would you stop and answer? I thought not.

Same with emails from a bank you don't bank with and from ministers in Somalia who have £10 million dollars they need to deposit in a UK bank account.

It's like crossing the road.

Stop - Look _ listen

tps only works for uk calls though, doesn't it - they can't stop calls from overseas - where a lot of these are coming from.

There is another tool at your disposal however. It's called your hand.

You use it to put the phone down.

Today at 1700 gmt i recieved a call while out and the caller gave no number to return this call then at 17 38 while driving i recieved a call from 08712319704 so i returned the call and this was an indian man who said he was clear advice so if anyone wants to pass this number onto police or trading standard then please feel free.

had a call from CLEAR ADVICE , i was so annoyed by how they manage to get by details and when questioned the caller, his supervisor and manager ( if they were that )they would not disclose it as it was data protected! I was so furious and perfusily complained that I will be reporting this to the police in UK and India (i am also of indian origin).
I managed to get there address after 3 attempts to forward it to Ofcom and relevant bodies of how these orgainsations operate.
the address is : CLEAR ADVICE , 2247/99, BUDHWAR PATH, BUDHAR LANE 3, AROMA PLAZA , PUNE. INDIA. I tried to get the owners name but couldn't get as all the calls are recorded and the staff are frightened of losing there job.
I shall be writing to CLEAR ADVICE and to OFCOM about how call centres in my opinion should be totally shut down or more strigent regulations and control in how the function. The Government should do some thing about this other than turning a blind eye becuase they employ so many people.What about our rights as consumers?

Had a call from a mobile number 07589015000 at 1700hrs today. Yes sounds Indian (or Asian), same sort of questions as above, clearing my debts but with no risks. When I asked for number to call back he hung up! Have come across Churchwood finance too when I wanted to consolidate debts after contacting a debt solution number through Credit Expert! This is where it all stems from! They were supposed to help me but all its done is passed my details onto several companies who keep harrassing me! Nothing is really for free in life.

Well, just had my 1st phonecall off them (01612415856) but I don't answer calls until I know who it is. Don't think I be'll bothering with this one! Drives me mad when I always try to remember to tick the boxes that say no third parties, I'm registered with TPS and my number is ex-directory! How do they still manage it?!? AHhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

I can't understand why so many of you are going so far with cold calls...

Surely if someone rings you asking for business you hang up.?!

Surely if you wanted to consolidate your debts you would call a company to do so yourself..?

Hi all, Got a few questions on this if anyone can help? I have recieved calls twice in the last 3 hours from Clear Advice on an 01612415856 number, but a few weeks ago I was getting calls from the same company on 08712319704 and also 02030042032. It seems dodgy that they are using different numbers for a start, but with them calling up to 5 times a day surely this is harrassment and legal action can be taken by us?? I have tried telling them to take my number off their records but this is not actioned and i have cut their calls off but this seems to make them phone more, its starting to be just as annoying constantly cutting off calls as it is answering them. As 'djward' said they are ex-directory and registered with TPS and the calls are still coming through so they cant be recognised legal numbers, right? Are they definately calling from overseas as the numbers appear to be from the UK? I just want it to stop and dont know who to complain to.

Just missed a call today and decided to look on the internet as no message was left. Clear Advice also seem to be using the number 01772 284308.

i was called for three days in a row by an indian sounding man called "anthony" who said he was ringing from CLEAR ADVICE which he said was run by the goverment,he asked me did i have debt i said no to which he said i can clearly see you have,he asked did i have credit cards catalogues or hire purchase to which i said yes i have a laptop that i pay for each month, he then asked how much i had left to pay on it i said i wasnt sure he started laughing at me saying you bought something and you dont know how much you got left to pay, this got me angry how dare he laugh at me so i said no i dont i dont keep the agreement up my bum,then he started to ask me about my income and how much i was left with at the end of the month again i said i didnt know its different each month he kept on saying well roughly just give me a rough idea i said i didnt know and i had to go because i was goin to the doctors he snapped at me and said well i think this is more important so i told him no im epileptic and i need my medication he said he would ring back later he did but i wasnt in.The next morning he rang again i didnt answer 3 hours later he rang again i asked him what exactly it was that his company do to which he said we help people with debt i told him i wasnt interested i told him 7 times before he decided to call me childish and put the phone down on me the number came up on my phone it was 0161 241 6819 ive now blocked this number, so hopefully i wont get any more calls from different numbers

I recently reprogrammed myself to answer the phone not with "hello" or my number, but "Hello, who is calling, please?"

Why should I reveal who I am, or whether I am in or out, let alone whether another person lives here or is in or out, to an unknown caller?

Sometimes, when in a particularly bolshy mood, I ask callers for "security details", such as THEIR date of birth, before I will reveal anything.

What ever happened to traditional telephone etiquette, that when you call someone you FIRST identify yourself? "Hi, it's Mabel. Is Maude there, please?"

These people from Clear advice have called me as well using the above numbers. They called me today but their number did not show, I was asked for details of my income, debts and asked for my address. I told them that I was not able to discuss anything as I do not have my documents infront of me.

Note that their numbers do not show now on my screen it showed "International" when I tried 1471 the number was not available.

Take care