Can anything be done about scam callers? (UK)

October 10, 2023 1:24 AM

I get constant scam phone calls, some of them are fairly sophisticated (last one I had was an automated message claiming to be from the energy company I’m with which somehow knew my full name - only realised when I got put through to someone and they wanted to take details from me that it was dodgy and confirmed when I hung up and googled that it was a scam, recently had a similar thing claiming to be from the bank that I’m with). Is there any way to block these numbers or protect myself better, beyond treating all incoming calls from companies with suspicion and not giving any information over the phone/googling the numbers to check them against those ‘who called me’ websites? It’s worrying that they’d have my name associated with my phone number, so this might be worth the hassle of changing my number, but not sure if there are other steps I could be taking as well.
posted by chives to Grab Bag (14 answers total)

Response by poster: Sorry I should clarify that I obviously block each number after I end the call, I’m wondering if there’s a way to reduce the amount I get other than/in addition to changing my number.
posted by chives at 1:27 AM on October 10, 2023

In principle there’s the Telephone Preference Service, but I wouldn’t expect many scam callers to respect your registration there.

TBH I rarely answer the phone to numbers that I don’t recognise.
posted by rd45 at 1:47 AM on October 10, 2023 [2 favorites]

Send the number to 7726. This was set up by the National Cyber Security Centre to track spam callers. They get a lot of numbers/spammers closed down.

Here's some instructions from Ofcom (the UK telecoms regulator) for forwarding text or phone calls for iPhones and Android.
posted by underclocked at 2:08 AM on October 10, 2023 [2 favorites]

Best answer: A side-line way these scam orgs make money is by selling data to each other, they operate just as sophisticated behavioural analytics as the big online marketplaces and their rate of "conversion" is driven by being able to very finely assess the small likelihood of a given scam succeeding across a very high volume of potential targets.

Concretely this means it's pretty likely that just by answering your number will end up rated as a better "lead", and each step of staying on the line to listen for n seconds, waiting for connection to a human, engaging with that human politely at first etc. etc. will make your number be pushed to the top of the target queue more and more often.

Changing your number would help initially, but if your name ends up in a database again it's trivial to link that to the old number and all the records driving the current situation.

My advice would thus be to change your number and switch to never answering unknown numbers / unsolicited calls. Keep voicemail messages set to the generic ones provided by phone companies ("The person you've contacted, is unavailable..."), and figure anything important will either result in a voice message or you being contacted through some other channel.
posted by protorp at 3:40 AM on October 10, 2023 [7 favorites]

I too have recently reached the end of my tether with spam calls. There are a few apps that work ( Call blocker was quite good?) But I basically now have my phone set to do not disturb all the time and only allow calls from my contact list. Everyone who is not a contact gets sent direct to voicemail
posted by Faff at 4:44 AM on October 10, 2023 [3 favorites]

The website Who Called Me? can be used to look up any dodgy number (I have linked to their page about one such that called me today) - allowing you to report it and see how other people are experiencing it. Martin Lewis provides a pretty good page on how to deal with the situation if you believe you have been scammed.
posted by rongorongo at 4:46 AM on October 10, 2023 [1 favorite]

If this is for an Android mobile, then install a new dialer. The Google Phone app uses a crowd-sourced database to tell you if it thinks the call is from a spammer, and you can report spammers to improve it.

However, googling numbers doesn't help against competent scammers, since you can fake caller ID. Never give any information to callers claiming to be your bank or similar, regardless of their caller ID. Instead, call them back via a number from a trusted source.
posted by siskin at 5:05 AM on October 10, 2023

Another UK resident here. Much like others who have replied, I do not answer the phone unless I'm expecting a call. I make sure everyone who knows me knows it's nearly impossible to reach me by phone but I will respond to email very quickly. Judging by the number of "missed" calls on my mobile and landline I'm not sure it's cutting down on the spam calls but as least I don't interact with them.
posted by Rhedyn at 5:07 AM on October 10, 2023

Change your phone number.

These scams are possibly related to some data leak(s) which you were caught up in. Dodgy groups buying up lists of usernames coupled with their email addresses and phone number, plus any online companies which are attached to those details. The result is that your info is out in the wild, and blocking the occasional number is not going to work.

Change your phone number. Go back through as many accounts you have online and setup new passwords and your new phone number, then enable double factor authentication on as many online accounts as you can. The most important account to double secure is your main email account. Use a very different password for this account from all your others.
posted by 0bvious at 5:57 AM on October 10, 2023

Since switching to a Pixel phone which has the Google Phone app, I don't seem to get as many — if any? — of these calls.

You can set it to identify spam callers and filter them so your phone doesn't ring.
posted by Klipspringer at 7:39 AM on October 10, 2023 [1 favorite]

I only consider answering my phone if I know the caller. Google voice takes great messages and screens spam callers.
posted by theora55 at 7:46 AM on October 10, 2023

Best answer: I have my iPhone set to only ring numbers in my contact list. If I’m expecting a call from eg, the doctor, I list that number but realistically they will be using an extension. It comes up as “missed call” but since they leave a message, I check that. Same with text messages, they are filtered into known and unknown (ie airlines, pharmacy, bank) but I can still get and read them.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 8:00 AM on October 10, 2023 [3 favorites]

The horse has already left the barn, so to speak, so this advice is late. When you answer a call from a number you don't recognize, you confirm that they called a number that works, so your number is fair game. For many people, a ringing phone is not an obligation. A call from a number you don't recognize is not an obligation.
posted by emelenjr at 9:43 AM on October 10, 2023 [1 favorite]

I think it's pretty safe to assume that by now, most people are similarly screening their calls or at least recognize that call screening is a widespread behavior. If a caller is not in my contact list, I do not answer. Not just friends and family, but businesses also seem to almost universally understand that this is sort of the new norm, and most will leave a short voicemail. I also do not announce my name or any other personal information in my voicemail greeting, it's just "Hey, I'm not available right now, or I don't recognize your number and I'm screening my calls. Please leave a short message, thanks."
posted by xedrik at 3:22 PM on October 10, 2023 [1 favorite]