Scammy phonecalls
Discussion
I have my phone set to automatically reject unknown numbers and potential scam calls. It does this remarkably well. Sometimes I look at my calls list to find I've received a lot of calls which it's automatically rejected.
Recently the scammers have stepped up their game. I'm now receiving calls from what looks to be legitimate businesses. The phone calls are getting through and my phone is telling me that xyz is calling me. Just now I've had a call from 'little waitrose' on the number 02078313550. It checks out.
How are they doing this? And how do I stop it?
Recently the scammers have stepped up their game. I'm now receiving calls from what looks to be legitimate businesses. The phone calls are getting through and my phone is telling me that xyz is calling me. Just now I've had a call from 'little waitrose' on the number 02078313550. It checks out.
How are they doing this? And how do I stop it?
I received a call purporting to be from my credit card issuer. The number the call came from the same as on the back of the card. Very slick, but I now thank callers and say I will contact them back. This proved to be exactly the right thing to do.
Chap was plausible, friendly but too insistent to carry on the call. Strung him along and he hung up. Presumably, I cannot really block that number in case I get a genuine call, whereby I would ring them back again.
Chap was plausible, friendly but too insistent to carry on the call. Strung him along and he hung up. Presumably, I cannot really block that number in case I get a genuine call, whereby I would ring them back again.
Number spoofing is common and has legitimate uses. For example in an office, each phone will usually have it's own specific number, which if you call it from outside will ring that phone only. But if the person sitting there calls out from it, the other person sees the generic published 'contact us on xxxx' number for the company. It's used to prevent customers getting hold of specific people's numbers when they should be going through a contact centre if they have a query. It is, essentially, just an option in the phone system's software.
Where it's an issue is when scammy types use phone software to present numbers which don't belong to a range they own - basically no different to people sending an email apparently from one address but really coming from another. Unless the exchanges which route the call physically check to see whether the source of the call is allowed to present that different calling ID, then it's difficult to stop.
Where it's an issue is when scammy types use phone software to present numbers which don't belong to a range they own - basically no different to people sending an email apparently from one address but really coming from another. Unless the exchanges which route the call physically check to see whether the source of the call is allowed to present that different calling ID, then it's difficult to stop.
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