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Stay in touch - A guide to telephones and services for older and disabled people 2004 (view report contents)

Scam calls and cold calling - what to do


There’s recently been a big increase in fraudulent ‘scam’ phone calls which try to trick people into parting with money – by telling them they have won a lottery prize, for example, and urging them to ring premium-rate numbers (which start 09…) costing over £1 a minute. If you have a vulnerable or elderly relative or friend, you may want to warn them about such calls.

‘Cold call’ salespeople who try to sell you things like home improvements over the phone are usually legal, but can be persistent and annoying. You can put a stop to most of these by contacting the Telephone Preference Service (tel 0845 070 0707 or www.tpsonline.org.uk).


Silent calls
If there’s no one there when you answer the phone, this may be caused by the auto-dialling equipment used by some marketing companies. If you find this disturbing, you can register your number with the Silent call-gard service (tel 0870 444 3969 or see Telephone Preference Service Other telemarketing calls will not be blocked if you register with this service.

Malicious nuisance calls should be reported to your phone company.

Page updated February 2008

 

 

Report Contents

Introduction

Telephones

Other equipment

Buying a phone & phone services

Useful contacts

 

Fixed line Operators

Mobile Operators

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