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On Tue, 15 Jun 2021, Neil wrote:
Anyone on the list finding an increase recently in this scam rubbish?
No, however for the past 20+ years I've had efficient ways to deal with them.
The first way is to opt out of the phone book. This is sometimes called "ex directory". If your chosen telco does not offer this, then move to one that does.
If you think it's a good thing to be in the phone book in 2021, then stop reading at this point as you're beyond help.
However if you've not opted out then it's probably too late as scammers trade/sell lists between themselves, but it may stop new scammers in the future.
Next, opt out of the public voting register. You still need to register to vote but there are 2 lists that our government will give/sell to anyone who asks for it and one has the full details and the other just your names. Opting out will remove your address at least.
On-going, use the TPS. https://www.tpsonline.org.uk/ This is a FREE service and you can use it for all your numbers, landline and mobile.
This won't be effective immediately but may take some time.However as before if the scammers already have your number then they will sell it to others and some just don't bother, or pretend to be "marketing", etc.
Also ask your telco for caller ID, however caller ID can and is spoofed now. There is nothing more than a "gentlemans handshake" style agreement about passing calling ID from one telco to another. Once upon a time there was a level of trust and you simply didn't trust some telcos who placed calls into your network - that level of trust has long gone. It's almost impossible to police anyway.
So while caller ID may be helpful, it may not.I'd also suggest unplugging your landline and moving to mobile. It costs scammers fractionally more to call a mobile number, so they tend to not bother. Telcos have deals for residential callers to give them so-many "free" call minutes to mobiles now, so if your friends/family complain tell them to move to a telco which does this. If you can unplug your landline, then look for an ISP that supports SOGEA - your current one might - this is copper without the voice part, so broadband only. Obviously if you're on FTTP you can simply drop your copper phone line.
Finally, which really ought to be firstly is EDUCATION. Educate your family to recognise scam calls immediately and deal with them. The best way is to simply hang up. Do not try to negotiate with them. I take the silent approach in that I answer the call but do not speak until they do. More often than not their automatic systems will hang up before they connect a human to the line. Sometimes if I'm bored I'll say "Hello?" then wait, but lifes too short.
And scam emails? Why on earth are you not running an email spam checker or using an email provider that does this for you? You do not have to use your ISPs email provider - there are many others but note that the better ones may not be free.
Good luck. Gordon -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG https://mailman.dcglug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq