Disturbing phone call.

[craigwend]

I can't block the number as it doesn't show on my recent calls...

afternoon I received a call from a mobile number unknown to me...

So number showed initially but not on the record definitely a scam / spam (scamp?)

 

[C R]

I should have a bit of fun with him before you tell him to FO. Maybe with a few fake cards and apologize profusely when they don't go through.

I once kept a scam caller on the line for about 20 minutes, pretending to be confused about what they were asking and keeping going in circles. It was during the pandemic, so my wife and children were at home, splitting their sides laughing listening. Eventually I couldn't keep it any more and just burst laughing and gave them a piece of my mind.

For a few days they kept phoning several times a day, just to annoy me, so I would pick up and play very loud heavy metal down the phone. Eventually they gave up. At least the time they spent trying to annoy me was time they couldn't spend scamming someone.

 

[presta]

Say, "Just a minute please" and put the phone down but don't disconnect the call. Eventually he will hang-up. It will prevent him pestering somebody else while he's waiting.

I used to do that quite a lot, but they just give your name to another half a dozen cold callers then. These days I never answer the phone, then once they've got used to the idea, they stop calling.

 

[colly]

I have done away with my landline. I used it a lot for business but since I retired I found I was using it less and less and the calls that did come in were either old customers, recommends from old customers or scam calls. It was only connected in recent years to get the internet. Swapping over to a fibre connection I cancelled to line and saved 25 quid a month.
My mobile often warns me if it's a scam call or a potential threat which is handy. I still do get them but it's rare and I treat any call from a stranger with suspicion until I know otherwise.
Mind you I do get quite a few voice messages left in what sounds like Chinese.😕

 

[Drago]

Pretend you're with the mafia, and threaten to do sometching unpleasant if he doesn't pay you some protection. Not sure it would work with either a French or Welsh accent though.

I got one of those emails, you know the "we hid a virus on your phone and now have a video of you having a J. Arthur Rank to to porn" sorts. I knew it was rubbish bedause being a bit of an analogue kind of chap I use top shelf mags and not my phone. Anyway, I replied that I was going to track him down and give him the hiding of a lifetime and I've not had any more spam since then.

 

[Jody]

.......this man said he had a High Court judgement against me for non payment of Google fees

Please send me the official letter, recorded, with the judgment so I can see it, then we'll talk.

Goodbye

 

[craigwend]

I used to do that quite a lot, but they just give your name to another half a dozen cold callers then. These days I never answer the phone, then once they've got used to the idea, they stop calling.

This - once you answer they know your number is a real number and then can sell on

Just let it ring for 30 seconds - if it goes to answer machine it costs the caller - & bots that do these calls cut off before 30 seconds and so do most scammers.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I wouldn't pretend to pay in any way - such as pretending to use dud card numbers
Not sure it applies in the UK - but in some areas, in some ways, the slightest indication that you want to pay - even 1 penny - can reactivate any debt that has dropped over a time limit

Juts tell them there is no debt unless you see it in writing - but don't give them your address or any other information
Just say that when you have it in writing you will take it to 'your solicitor' for consideration against the now defunct company's assets - which don;t exit

 

[Profpointy]

Early this afternoon I received a call from a mobile number unknown to me. With a strong Scottish accent, this man said he had a High Court judgement against me for non payment of Google fees when I had my driving school. I never advertised with Google and I closed my school 8 years ago. I had a line on Facebook but that's all. He finished the call advising me to have my bank card ready.
My wife says it is a scam and so do our children. It has to be as I know I don't owe anybody anything, especially from 8 years ago.

Most phones can block calls. That's what I'd do

 

[tom73]

It's a scam , hang up and forget it.
Google or any other big company don't waste time on phoning people up. They write formal legal letters from very big and expensive legal firms.

 

[Drago]

I'm quite new to this mobile phone malarkey - having only bought one because half the bleeding functions on my new car assume you own one - and on day one of ownership I set the call settings so that calls from numbers that are not in the phone book are automatically blocked. It's an Android, but I presume the other sort also has a similar function.

 

[Profpointy]

Not specific to this incident, but I read of a rather good response to "this is microsoft, you have a virus on your computer". the "victim"
played along for a bit, then said there are filthy pictures coming up on the screen. The scammer thought he had a bite, and said "oh yes that proves it's the virus", and after keeping it going for a bit longer the "victim" then finally comes up with the punchline "Oh my god, it's pictures of your mother having sex with a horse"

 

[richardfm]

I was bored one day and played along with an "I'm from Microsoft you have a virus" call. I'm quite tech savvy and was aware of what they wanted me to do so could string him along. After 20 minutes or so the caller told me to f**k off and stop wasting his time.

 

[DRM]

View: https://youtu.be/jZOywn1qArI

A response a bit like this?

 

[Oldhippy]

I never ever have volume on phone and don't answer numbers not in my contacts. Most of the time I'm on airplane mode. I don't get calls that way.