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anglo29
Posted: 12 February 2021 14:39:07(UTC)
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Beware .....spate of calls claiming to be from BT.....claiming "Your phone will be disconnected unless.....call exchange trace origin is Coalville, Leics. (01530) ignore and report. We've had 3 of them today.....

Although BT moving their customer service away from India back to UK & Ireland, suspect scammers in India still have customers details and are able to mimic calls as coming from a UK exchange.
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Mr Helpful on 25/03/2021(UTC)
Joe 90
Posted: 12 February 2021 14:42:03(UTC)
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I’ve set my landline so that it goes straight to voicemail. Since then I’ve not had a single junk or scam call. Genuine callers leave a message and of course a number!
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bill xxxx on 12/02/2021(UTC), Keith Cobby on 12/02/2021(UTC)
bédé
Posted: 12 February 2021 14:51:26(UTC)
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The scam calls used to come in about lunchtime. Now it has changed to about 0800-0930. Often a different number everytime, and one with no history with "www.Who called me".
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anglo29
Posted: 12 February 2021 17:49:07(UTC)
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bédé;152210 wrote:
The scam calls used to come in about lunchtime. Now it has changed to about 0800-0930. Often a different number everytime, and one with no history with "www.Who called me".



Possibly a case of the scam calls coming from a different time zone. India is five or six hours ahead of UK time, which would fit the time difference you mention. It was revealed in a TV exposure that scores of workers were poached from BT's former call centre by criminal gangs running scam call centres in Delhi. Although BT has now largely transferred it's call centre back to the UK and Southern Ireland, the scammers will still have the details of BT subscribers. They are able to make a call from Delhi, but disguise it as a call from within the UK, even mimicking an English accent ....often laughable. Meanwhile on your smartphone a call indicates (falsely) that it's coming from Bristol, Wigan, Nottingham etc.

The TV documentary revealed the owner of the most successful scam call centre in Delhi is now a billionaire out of all the successful scams, and is regarded as a "successful businessman" by the government which apparently makes it difficult for the local police to do anything about it.
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Tim D on 13/02/2021(UTC)
Bulldog Drummond
Posted: 13 February 2021 15:18:59(UTC)
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I haven't used my landline for at least 10 years, and it is only there for the broadband connection. I don't even have a phone plugged in. Why bother when I can call anywhere in the world free on my mobile?

Where these scam calls are especially pernicious is that they love to target older people whose wits are not always as sharp as they once were, and these on the whole are the ones who still use landlines. At age 65 ten per cent of the population have dementia.
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Keith Cobby on 13/02/2021(UTC), Easyrider on 13/02/2021(UTC)
D Bergman
Posted: 13 February 2021 16:10:40(UTC)
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Bulldog Drummond;152396 wrote:

Where these scam calls are especially pernicious is that they love to target older people whose wits are not always as sharp as they once were, and these on the whole are the ones who still use landlines. At age 65 ten per cent of the population have dementia.


Agree that phone scams are a problem, but don't scare people with incorrect information (especially those of us well over 65!).
Approximately 7% of the population over the age of 65 have dementia. In the 65 - 69 age group it is 2%.
(Source: Alzheimer's Research UK)
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Sheerman on 13/02/2021(UTC), Aged techie on 08/03/2021(UTC)
Bulldog Drummond
Posted: 13 February 2021 16:34:19(UTC)
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D Bergman;152410 wrote:
Bulldog Drummond;152396 wrote:

Where these scam calls are especially pernicious is that they love to target older people whose wits are not always as sharp as they once were, and these on the whole are the ones who still use landlines. At age 65 ten per cent of the population have dementia.


Agree that phone scams are a problem, but don't scare people with incorrect information (especially those of us well over 65!).
Approximately 7% of the population over the age of 65 have dementia. In the 65 - 69 age group it is 2%.
(Source: Alzheimer's Research UK)


You are quite right - can't recall where my figure came from but it is wrong!
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D Bergman on 13/02/2021(UTC)
anglo29
Posted: 14 February 2021 20:19:15(UTC)
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Bulldog Drummond;152420 wrote:
D Bergman;152410 wrote:
Bulldog Drummond;152396 wrote:

Where these scam calls are especially pernicious is that they love to target older people whose wits are not always as sharp as they once were, and these on the whole are the ones who still use landlines. At age 65 ten per cent of the population have dementia.


Agree that phone scams are a problem, but don't scare people with incorrect information (especially those of us well over 65!).
Approximately 7% of the population over the age of 65 have dementia. In the 65 - 69 age group it is 2%.
(Source: Alzheimer's Research UK)


You are quite right - can't recall where my figure came from but it is wrong!



I should add that scam calls are not limited to my landline.....just as many have been on my smartphone, in the past, it's just the latest burst has been on my landline. As they're from BT numbers I would have thought it wouldn' t be too difficult to trace the source.
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Snoopy22
Posted: 21 February 2021 23:31:50(UTC)
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Joined: 11/12/2018(UTC)
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Had 3 calls on my virgin media landline lately, always around 9 am.
They always mention amazon prime, my language is usually colourful and they always hang up.
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anglo29
Posted: 22 February 2021 14:38:09(UTC)
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Snoopy22;154338 wrote:
Had 3 calls on my virgin media landline lately, always around 9 am.
They always mention amazon prime, my language is usually colourful and they always hang up.



Whichever service provider you have, if they have call centres based in India, you are going to get scam calls, trying to get access to your bank accounts.

A TV documentary last year revealed a truly shocking state of affairs, where scam call centres lure workers away from the legit centres operated by the likes of BT, Virgin etc., with the promise of much higher wages, providing they bring with them full details of thousands of their company's subscriber details. It was reported in the Delhi area alone there's reckoned to be around a thousand scam centres, all trying to get money out of mainly UK and American subscribers.

The programme revealed the biggest scam centre operator is now a billionaire, who allegedly uses PayPal to launder his ill gotten gains. He was described at the time as one of India's most successful businessmen.

UK company's attempts to reduce their outgoings by re-locating their call centres to third world countries, has come back to bite them. They then have the nerve to try and hive the problem back onto the customer by selling you "call blockers" etc.....they don't work, besides it is THEIR RESPONSIBILITY to fix this problem, not the customer's. If only enough people complained to their providers Head Offices, then something might just get done.

I have now complained to my MP over the failure of BT to put and end to these scam calls, even though BT are moving their call centres back to the UK and Ireland. The scam calls from India continue.....they have the details of hundreds of thousands of customers.....The scammers get ever more inventive, able to mimic calls originating from India, to appear as UK numbers from towns like Glasgow, Coalville, Nottingham, Chesterfield etc... BT should combine with the Fraud Squad to eliminate this.....yet it seems they don't, it's the old problem....not enough victims making an effort to complain, and when they do, and get "fobbed off"....keep complaining.
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2 users thanked anglo29 for this post.
Snoopy22 on 22/02/2021(UTC), Mr Helpful on 26/02/2021(UTC)
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