Another scam call?

[Bouleversee]

I've just had another suspicious call, clearly from a call centre, from someone called Pat (quite posh English accent for a change), claiming to be from GCS which he said is a govt. organisation, wanting to ask questions to see whether I was eligible for help with energy costs. Unless on health grounds, I am pretty sure I wouldn't be but I let him ask a couple of questions about the age of my boiler and monthly bill (which I said varied each month) and then my age and then the call was cut off and he didn't ring again. I dialled 1471 and rang the number our of curiosity but it doesn't take calls. Apart from discovering I was old (and therefore likely to be a sucker) and he could pass that on to someone who tries to scam the elderly, I can't think anything I told him would be much use to a scammer. Does anyone know whether GCS is indeed contacting people in this way and in this context? I suspect not. He had my name and address, however. Perhaps I shouldn't have given him my age.

Bouleversee

[Redmires]

Type the number into who-called and read the comments.

https://who-called.co.uk/

More than likely it is very much a scam caller.

[Boots]

I had a call from someone claiming to be from a government agency helping people with their heating costs and they KNEW our loft insulation was substandard and dangerous.

I told them they were a scammer and they should F off.

[Breelander]

I've just had another suspicious call, clearly from a call centre, from someone called Pat (quite posh English accent for a change), claiming to be from GCS which he said is a govt. organisation, wanting to ask questions to see whether I was eligible for help with energy costs.

GCS is a genuine government organisation, but that doesn't prove anything. Any scammer could claim to be in the GCS, just as so many claim to be 'Microsoft'.

[scrumpyjack]

I have numerous calls from such people. I just say we don't qualify for anything and put the phone down.

[UncleEbenezer]

I've just had another suspicious call, clearly from a call centre, from someone called Pat (quite posh English accent for a change), claiming to be from GCS which he said is a govt. organisation, wanting to ask questions to see whether I was eligible for help with energy costs.

GCS is a genuine government organisation,

Dear Mrs Bouleversee,

We know you're in a demographic that tends to vote. We'd like to offer you a carrot that'll look after you.

[Bouleversee]

Type the number into who-called and read the comments.

https://who-called.co.uk/

More than likely it is very much a scam caller.

Thanks for that useful address. I used it and found that others have had similar calls and it was clearly a scam call. What I don't understand is why he rang off at that point. Perhaps he concluded that an elderly lady who paid a variable amount each month for energy must be on a pre-payment meter and hence too poor to be worth pursuing or perhaps his conscience started pricking or perhaps revealing my age gave him sufficient leverage to pursue me through other channels, awful thought.

I expect it would be a waste of time to report this to Action Fraud as they never seem to pursue anything.

[Bouleversee]

I had a call from someone claiming to be from a government agency helping people with their heating costs and they KNEW our loft insulation was substandard and dangerous.

I told them they were a scammer and they should F off.

I had a similar call claiming that my fibreglass loft insulation was no good and should be replaced with that ghastly spray-on foam stuff which I had read causes damage to roof timbers and can cause house sales to be aborted. I told what I thought about that in no uncertain terms! The fibreglass is in excellent condition and is working very well.

[kempiejon]

Just me perhaps but in my opinion all unsolicited calls are at best a waste of time, could be malicious and should be promptly terminated. We should not waste time nor offer any sort of information to a stranger for safety sakes. Seems a bit extreme? In my naïve youth I was a telephone agent for an unscrupulous firm. Get over the idea of being polite and assume they are out to get you or someone else as you hang up.

[richfool]

We regularly get calls, always with an Indian accent, though purporting to be from a London number and from O2, and offering us an opportunity to get a 40% discount.

I usually let them go on for a bit, before telling them to get a proper job and stop trying to scam people, and then, if they haven't hung up by then, adding that I am no longer with O2.

With the most recent one, I asked him what his religion was. He told me he was a Muslim, so I then asked him, if his religion prevented him from scamming and stealing money from people! He seemed to brush that off and took it in his stride and went on to tell me that it came down to whether I wanted to save 40% or not, (at which point the texted code seeming to come from O2 came through to my phone). He then went on to say that he had my account on screen right in front of him. So I said: "What in front of you now? Oh that's good, then you can tell me when I am getting the refund I'm due, as I left O2 and moved to another provider 3 months ago and am still awaiting a refund. You would know that of course if you are with O2!". At which point he at last hung up. (I still have the same tel number, but it is with a different network).

[Redmires]

Type the number into who-called and read the comments.

https://who-called.co.uk/

More than likely it is very much a scam caller.

Thanks for that useful address. I used it and found that others have had similar calls and it was clearly a scam call. What I don't understand is why he rang off at that point. Perhaps he concluded that an elderly lady who paid a variable amount each month for energy must be on a pre-payment meter and hence too poor to be worth pursuing or perhaps his conscience started pricking or perhaps revealing my age gave him sufficient leverage to pursue me through other channels, awful thought.

I expect it would be a waste of time to report this to Action Fraud as they never seem to pursue anything.

Another recommendation would be to get a BT call blocker phone. We bought one for my mother-in-law a couple of years ago and since then she has had 0 (zero) cold calls. Result. The only cloud on the horizon is that BT are switching off the land lines in a couple of years time. Although you will still be able to use DECT phones via the hub (or adapter) I'm not sure if the call blocker function will work on the IP phone system.

[scrumpyjack]

Alternatively just say - Oh that's the doorbell, just a moment. Then leave them stewing. Helps reduce the time they can spend scamming others

[swill453]

Another recommendation would be to get a BT call blocker phone. We bought one for my mother-in-law a couple of years ago and since then she has had 0 (zero) cold calls. Result. The only cloud on the horizon is that BT are switching off the land lines in a couple of years time. Although you will still be able to use DECT phones via the hub (or adapter) I'm not sure if the call blocker function will work on the IP phone system.

I don't see why it wouldn't work. As far as the phone is concerned, it's just an incoming call for which it chooses not to ring.

Scott.

[Bouleversee]

Thanks for that useful address. I used it and found that others have had similar calls and it was clearly a scam call. What I don't understand is why he rang off at that point. Perhaps he concluded that an elderly lady who paid a variable amount each month for energy must be on a pre-payment meter and hence too poor to be worth pursuing or perhaps his conscience started pricking or perhaps revealing my age gave him sufficient leverage to pursue me through other channels, awful thought.

I expect it would be a waste of time to report this to Action Fraud as they never seem to pursue anything.

Another recommendation would be to get a BT call blocker phone. We bought one for my mother-in-law a couple of years ago and since then she has had 0 (zero) cold calls. Result. The only cloud on the horizon is that BT are switching off the land lines in a couple of years time. Although you will still be able to use DECT phones via the hub (or adapter) I'm not sure if the call blocker function will work on the IP phone system.

I didn't realise landlines are going to be switched off. I don't have a smartphone and don't really want them. I much prefer talking to people on a landline. Most calls from mobiles are unintelligible as the signal is so poor. However, no guarantee that I'll still be around by then so will worry about that nearer the time. Might be obliged to get a smartphone before then as it seems we are expected to run our lives via apps, QR codes etc. and the assumption is that everyone already has a smartphone to enable them to do so. Am not looking forward to having to learn how to use one.

[pochisoldi]

We regularly get calls, always with an Indian accent, though purporting to be from a London number and from O2, and offering us an opportunity to get a 40% discount.

I've had those - really funny, as I do have an o2 SIM, but as it is a former "PUFFL" aka Pay Up Front For Life, the monthly charge is a whole £0.

I never bothered cancelling it, and a couple of years ago, they retired the "200 minutes to landlines + O2" PUFFL tariff and replaced it with one that's got 500Mb, unlimited calls and texts. It's currently in my dual SIM "batphone" and gets wheeled out on any trips to Europe. (Best £200 I ever spent).

[swill453]

I didn't realise landlines are going to be switched off. I don't have a smartphone and don't really want them. I much prefer talking to people on a landline. Most calls from mobiles are unintelligible as the signal is so poor. However, no guarantee that I'll still be around by then so will worry about that nearer the time. Might be obliged to get a smartphone before then as it seems we are expected to run our lives via apps, QR codes etc. and the assumption is that everyone already has a smartphone to enable them to do so. Am not looking forward to having to learn how to use one.

Landlines aren't going to be switched off. They're just going to be routed over a broadband-type connection rather than the old copper wires.

You'll still be able to use the same phone plugged into the same type of socket.

Scott.

[Bouleversee]

Thanks, Swill. That's a relief

[tjh290633]

I had a call from someone claiming to be from a government agency helping people with their heating costs and they KNEW our loft insulation was substandard and dangerous.

I told them they were a scammer and they should F off.

I had a similar call claiming that my fibreglass loft insulation was no good and should be replaced with that ghastly spray-on foam stuff which I had read causes damage to roof timbers and can cause house sales to be aborted. I told what I thought about that in no uncertain terms! The fibreglass is in excellent condition and is working very well.

I have had at least 3 calls from them, and it has been reported in our local press that it is a scam.

Tell them to go away (or words to that effect).

TJH

[kiloran]

I didn't realise landlines are going to be switched off. I don't have a smartphone and don't really want them. I much prefer talking to people on a landline. Most calls from mobiles are unintelligible as the signal is so poor. However, no guarantee that I'll still be around by then so will worry about that nearer the time. Might be obliged to get a smartphone before then as it seems we are expected to run our lives via apps, QR codes etc. and the assumption is that everyone already has a smartphone to enable them to do so. Am not looking forward to having to learn how to use one.

Lots of discussion here: viewtopic.php?p=435350#p435350

--kiloran

[Stompa]

Another recommendation would be to get a BT call blocker phone. We bought one for my mother-in-law a couple of years ago and since then she has had 0 (zero) cold calls. Result. The only cloud on the horizon is that BT are switching off the land lines in a couple of years time. Although you will still be able to use DECT phones via the hub (or adapter) I'm not sure if the call blocker function will work on the IP phone system.

I don't see why it wouldn't work. As far as the phone is concerned, it's just an incoming call for which it chooses not to ring.

You'd think so, yet trueCall (which is used in the BT phones) themselves say:

https://www.truecall.co.uk/category-s/128.htm

"We don't recommend that you use trueCall with VoIP adaptors", though without any explanation as to why not.

I'm due to be switched to Digital Voice any day now, so I guess I'll soon find out.