I used to get a lecture from my daughter about karma, apparently these people are just trying to earn some money to get by. Oddly I don't get told off these days, wonder if it's because she has her own phone?
Funniest I ever heard was many years ago on LBC, I used to listen to Clive Bull's phone in and a chap called from India and tried to sell him a mobile phone on air! I have the podcast and it still makes me laugh when I listen to it
"The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it." Sir Terry Pratchett
@JennyJ@Hostfan1 I like your tactical revenge, I get a lot of the calls about a motor accident claim I was involved in apparently, but I had no idea I was!
If you're in a hurry , say " give me date , time and location and I'll talk to you" or you can string them along too. A friend of mine asked how much he might get "£10,000" was the figure given , to which he replied " 10 measly grand for an accident which cost me a b*llock and half my w*lly? is that all? I mean really?? REALLY??" they hung up.
An old friend of mine had a loudly ticking clock next to the phone and if suspecting a scam would just say "Hang on, someone's at the door", place the handset on the clock and come back 30 minutes or so later to replace the handset on the phone. The only downside I can see is increased profit for the telco's but at least some of that will go towards pensions.
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
We quite often have faults on our landline (the local pheasant shoot have a habit of shooting the cables). A number of times, having reported a fault, we then get a lot of people phoning claiming to be from BT and asking us if we can turn our computer on so they can check something or other. It's a common scam - theory is (which BT deny, but I suspect is true) that the BT call centre staff to whom you report the fault pass on the number and names to other people who then try to scam you, knowing you'll be more likely to believe it is an engineer calling you. So beware.
As for the 'you've had an accident recently' brigade, 'no' seems to be one they struggle with. "We understand you have recently had an accident" no. "Perhaps someone else in your house?" no. "It may have been a few months ago..." no. "Can I speak to your husband?" no. "I just want to check I have the right postcode - is it XXXXXX?" no. "That's not your postcode?" No. At which point they usually ask 'Are you sure?' and I have to say 'yes' but it's like a rather perverse game of 'animal vegetable mineral'.
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I hate them with a passion especially as they seem to be targetting my mum (92 and not the best mentally ). We've had This is the Inland Revenue you owe us tax? pay this amount now by credit card or we'll take you to court! Then we had calls about your computer and don't seem to understand that mum does not have one. Thenjoy ladt couple of weeks it's been several calls purporting to be from te Telephone Preference Service trying to get you to pay to block nuisance calls. The TPS is free. All the scam calls have been flagged up with Action Fraud.
I've had the usual "I'm from BT tech dept"this afternoon. He purported to be from London. When I asked him what the weather was like he had no idea. He couldn't tell me the account number either. Presumably because I don't have a BT account and he was in India.
I asked one Indian gentleman, 'What makes you think I'm paying £7 a week for my tv,' and he told me I was very rude and had no right to speak to him like that. Then he hung up. I never even got the chance to tell him where to go....
Posts
Funniest I ever heard was many years ago on LBC, I used to listen to Clive Bull's phone in and a chap called from India and tried to sell him a mobile phone on air! I have the podcast and it still makes me laugh when I listen to it
A friend of mine asked how much he might get "£10,000" was the figure given , to which he replied " 10 measly grand for an accident which cost me a b*llock and half my w*lly? is that all? I mean really?? REALLY??" they hung up.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
As for the 'you've had an accident recently' brigade, 'no' seems to be one they struggle with. "We understand you have recently had an accident" no. "Perhaps someone else in your house?" no. "It may have been a few months ago..." no. "Can I speak to your husband?" no. "I just want to check I have the right postcode - is it XXXXXX?" no. "That's not your postcode?" No. At which point they usually ask 'Are you sure?' and I have to say 'yes' but it's like a rather perverse game of 'animal vegetable mineral'.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”