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Scams and fraud

Scam Calls Everyday For About 2 Months

(15 Posts)
blueblossom Sat 03-Oct-26 15:16:17

What’s happening with your mum is really upsetting. But for me, it stops at threats. We’ve got enough trouble as it is with these so-called financial or insurance calls. By the way, you can also report such calls to your provider. If there really were threats involved, simply blocking the number wouldn’t be enough for me. Ofcom also advises contacting your telephone provider, and in the case of threats, the police.

Changing the number completely would be a bit of a last resort for me, though. Perhaps the calls will eventually ease off after two months. By then, you’d have had to register a new number everywhere because of this. And who knows whether the same nonsense wouldn’t just start all over again with a new number. I’d probably just carry on not answering and blocking the numbers for now. I’d still report such numbers, though. Six calls like that every day would get on my nerves pretty quickly, though.

Esmay Sat 03-Oct-26 15:05:41

On average I get about six scam calls a day .
I block them .
Bullying calls like this can really wear you down .
Threats from an Indian man nearly caused my Mother to be hospitalised.
When I answered one I realised just how amused he and his colleagues were as hysterical laughter ensued .
I think that I'd change my number.
Never answer them .
Good luck .

blueblossom Sat 03-Oct-26 14:54:10

Because of calls from the doctor's surgery, I wouldn't completely mute unknown numbers. The annoying thing is that a genuine call could come through in between.
Blocking each new number individually also becomes an endless task at some point. After all, the number displayed doesn’t even have to be real, and a different one might be there already two calls later. I’d report suspicious calls like that to the mobile provider via 7726. For a long time, I only knew about 7726 from dodgy texts; I didn't have scam calls on my radar at all.

The fact that such calls still come through despite the Telephone Preference Service wouldn't make me nervous at first. The TPS is primarily concerned with unwanted sales calls from regular companies. Scammers won't care whether a number is registered with it.

For the landline, I would also check with the provider to see if call filtering is possible. That way, you wouldn't have to block new numbers yourself every day.

Oldnproud Fri 25-Sept-26 21:07:33

Ive just spotted my typo (I'm blaming autocorrect) in my previous post. Please ignore it 😒

Casdon Fri 25-Sept-26 21:04:48

I think they will try anyway they can. Most younger people don’t have house phones now, they only have mobiles, so I guess they target home phones still for that reason.

Oldnproud Fri 25-Sept-26 19:04:17

No,it's not new.
But actually the calls i had this morning were to my house phone, not my mobile. In fact I think that's been the case with most such calls that we get nowadays. Ten years ago I would have said it was the opposite, with my mobile being the scanners preferred method, but not any more.

Casdon Fri 25-Sept-26 18:57:02

Oldnproud

The fact that we all get regular calls (I had 2 myself this morning!) that the more vulnerable or trusting amongst us are the most likely to fall victim to just makes me all the more certain that we are going backwards as a global society, not forwards.

It’s not new though, scam phone calls used to come through to house phones. It’s because we are attached to our mobiles so much that we get them all now.

Oldnproud Fri 25-Sept-26 18:38:49

The fact that we all get regular calls (I had 2 myself this morning!) that the more vulnerable or trusting amongst us are the most likely to fall victim to just makes me all the more certain that we are going backwards as a global society, not forwards.

Moonwatcher1904 Fri 25-Sept-26 18:23:00

It's scary Fallingstar. You see on tv how many people fall for these scams and lose a lot of money. I think all I can do is just keep blocking any numbers as they come. I've already had another call since I first posted.

Fallingstar Fri 25-Sept-26 17:30:28

My DD set up my DHs phone with the facility to not let any unrecognised number ring though I can see them on his caller record. He has cognitive impairment due to a stroke and though he can’t make outgoing calls he would have received these scam calls and almost certainly would have been in difficulty. He also just got a text supposedly from Nationwide bank saying that a large amount of money is about to be sent to a man with a strange name who lives in Mali. He doesn’t have an account with Nationwide.
I don’t get as many calls as him and wonder if is because they somehow know he is old and often not in his right mind.

Moonwatcher1904 Fri 25-Sept-26 17:23:16

I know I shouldn't have answered but quite often I get a call from one of the nurses at our surgery and don't know their numbers. I only answered the first ones. Then blocked when I realised.

butterandjam Fri 25-Sept-26 16:53:25

Don't respond, don't open a message, don't speak . Just delete.

When you responded , you gave them information that is valuable to a spammer. They can sell this:

That your number and device are active and being monitored ; that you understand and speak English , that you are female. and gullible enough to engage in conversation with unknown cold callers.

petra Fri 25-Sept-26 16:37:45

The more you answer, the more they’ll ring.
Out of interest, why do you answer a number that you don’t recognise.

Casdon Fri 25-Sept-26 16:33:34

I just don’t answer my phone if I don’t recognise the number. Every number that I know is legitimate is in my address book so they come up by name. If it’s somebody else ringing about something important they always leave a voicemail message. I then check the number later, and if it’s a scam call I block the number.

Moonwatcher1904 Fri 25-Sept-26 16:25:38

About 2 months ago I started getting calls on my mobile saying I am owed over £1000 for car finance. I told them I didn't drive and didn't have a car. (I do drive but wasn't telling them that). Every day since then I have been getting up to 9 calls a day. I have 17 numbers in my block list and have had 5 calls today but my phone has blocked them. It's relentless every day.
I have now had a couple of calls on my landline about cavity wall insulation but apart from the first one have not answered the rest. Anyone else always leaves a message.
I have registered with the Telephone Preference Service but this doesn't seem to have made any difference.
Is there anything else I can do?
Thanks for any help or advice.