Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms 2 In A Day!!

Twice today, I have had people attempting to scam me.

1. A phone call from a number with an area code local to my home.
“We believe that your bank account may have been compromised etc etc”

2 Then a message supposedly from a delivery company. (EVRI)
“We’ve been unable to deliver a parcel to you today”. (Possible, as I had been out for a short while).
The moment they said there would be a £0.79 redelivery charge, the alarm bell rang.

BEWARE!!!


Bud
4/4 - Stanley

My default on any of this is ignore/delete.

We have call guardian on the landline so that stops all the spam.

My e mail fills up with failed deliveries and failed payments, mostly for things we don't have.

I think our generation has the benefits of a reasonably non IT based lifestyle, so none of this stuff bothers us much.

Welcome to my world Bud. I get this stuff nearly every day. The phone numbers of scam calls go on my blocked list and fortunately 99.9% of scam emails in my Junk mail folder.

They are a pita Bud and if I am feeling charitable think what a bloody miserable way to earn a living, they all get blocked but they just change numbers I’m sure.
We just don’t pick the landline or mobile up unless we know the number which cuts them back enormously and it’s only if we pick it up by mistake that we end up blocking them.

Just this last month we have had a couple of doorstepping chuggers, one from the cats protection and the other from a dog charity, politely informed that we concentrated on feeding humans especially this time of year.

Interestingly all these callers stopped in Covid time and these are only the third set we have seen on the step.

AV stops the email crap for us.

Ever tried the Telephone Preference Service to block landline and mobile marketing calls https://www.tpsonline.org.uk/

We are registered with TPS. It only stops the legitimate businesses who go to the trouble of checking their purchased lists against TPS. It doesn't stop the rogues.

One of the biggest issues is that BT OpenReach still allow CLI (Calling Line Identity) spoofing. At one time, they were saying that once the 21CN went live (i.e. Fibre to the house) they would be able to prevent spoofing. Seen no sign of it so far and we have been fibre for 2 years now. A relatively few legitimate businesses have a reason to spoof CLI from their IP (Internet Protocol) connected off shore call centres. And these people (think banks and utilities in the main) would, I am sure, pay for the privilege.

No. 3 just now.

“I’m your local energy advisor”



Bud
4/4 - Stanley

At the door recently we've had cavity wall insulation, tarmac drives and Grimsby fish. They were all "in the area".

Wot no itinerant tree surgeons, roof/gutter cleaners, gold bullion/antique "dealers"... ? The one I miss is the knife grinder chap who turned up once a year, he did a brilliant job on shears and other garden implements.

I am beginning to think that the future will see the following

1. Actual job descriptions of "opportunist calling staff" will be seen recruiting for these offshots of pond scum.
2, People will think it is actually a legitimate job profile and adverts will start to appear (probably on scam web sites but thats a different issue) for the roles
3. Even worse companies will start to ask them to perform real work hawking products as well on the same calls since they are already dialing for dollars.

Weirder things have happened and I remain surprised by what we watch as time moves on.



Don't forget the standard answer to these calls "what are you wearing, I'm only wearing a mango" in a sultry/bizarre/gooey tone. I just love the pause as they work out if what they think they just heard was actually what they heard. Magic.