Call for 'nuisance call' clampdown

[Bald Bouncer]

Many people have received unsolicited text messages encouraging PPI claims



A consumer group is calling for a clampdown on nuisance calls and text messages, claiming 70% of people have received one in the last three months.

Which? said that more could be done under existing laws to stop people being "bombarded" with messages.

The group said that the contact was dominated by sales calls about financial services products.

One regulator said it was sending out penalty notices to firms responsible for thousands of texts.

'Intrusive'

Which? said that more than half of "nuisance" calls were about services such as personal injury or payment protection insurance (PPI) claims.

The consumer group has called for a taskforce to be set up and to report on the issue within 12 weeks.

It also called on the regulators - such as the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the Ministry of Justice, and the Office of Fair Trading - to issue fines or withdraw licences of those firms which broke the rules. Such rules include contacting people who have opted out of marketing calls.

It also wants insurers and other companies to make it clear to consumers how they intend to use their data.

"Unwanted calls or texts are not just a nuisance, they can be intrusive and distressing," said Richard Lloyd, executive director of Which?.

"We want the regulators to work together to properly police and punish those responsible for unwanted calls and texts, using the existing law. If they are unwilling or unable to enforce the rules, the government should step in."

The ICO, which now has powers to issue penalties of up to £500,000, said: "We are continuing to clampdown on rogue marketing companies who pester the public with unsolicited marketing calls and texts and are currently chasing up leads and investigating complaints to identify those responsible."

An Ofcom spokeswoman said: "Ofcom has powers to take enforcement action against companies who breach rules on silent and abandoned calls and we take this issue extremely seriously."

BBC News

[evilsatan]

I get texts and calls about PPI (which I never took out and they falsely claim they have records that I did take it out), accident lawyers, boiler room share scams, utilities, solar power, you name it I get it. So frustrating! I assume many of the recorded messages operate from abroad so would be hard to penalise.

I know for a fact that some of these cold call centres in the UK give each caller a list of say 5 telephone numbers and then tell them to just swap the digits around.

[Bald Bouncer]

I get texts and calls about PPI (which I never took out and they falsely claim they have records that I did take it out), accident lawyers, boiler room share scams, utilities, solar power, you name it I get it. So frustrating! I assume many of the recorded messages operate from abroad so would be hard to penalise.

I know for a fact that some of these cold call centres in the UK give each caller a list of say 5 telephone numbers and then tell them to just swap the digits around.

I think the real answer is telecom companies make money from these calls/texts so who gives a flying fuck if it pisses people off shareholders in the telecoms companies are happy, if you look back at things like the computer dial in 'viruses' they sat back and did nothing while collecting part of the scam in revenue, phone companies resisted blocking imie numbers across networks until forced because it sold more phones.

I register with TPS and have to presume it stops a few but they are so toothless and have a pointless Make A Complaint section as every time I have made a complaint they have either said nothing we can do or try complaining to someone else.

[Undertaker]

get enough of these on my mobile,

Started using some blacklist apps, they do help

[Roach-Rampino]

Yes I seem to get more and more of these nowadays. Some c*nt on 0161 362 4062 calls regularly but I know to blank the call.

For any online forms or applications that insist on a mobile contact number, I just put my correct number with the last few digits wrong. I feel for the poor fucker who gets all those marketing calls.

There should be a far easier way to bar a specific number from calling your mobile?

[evilsatan]

The TPS doesn't seem to help me, I assume it only stops the firms who are doing it by the book. I am even considering redirecting all withheld calls on my office line to a message saying call back from a line with your ID showing but that could block some legitimate calls.

[Zoots]

Me too (blacklist app). Had one company calling me twice a day every single day. Created a sarcy voicemail message and had the app divert them every time without ringing until they eventually gave up.
I don't mind the mobile, and I get a kick from blocking them and knowing it's wasting their money.
It's the house phone that bothers me. If our phone rings through the day it's likely to be the school and that makes me as sick as any late phone call makes anyone. To hear some smarmy cunt talking at 100mph at you or a recorded message, makes me want to throttle someone.

[Over Carl]

I've heard there are some Sangoma cards that can get the caller id even for withheld calls, but only ever met that fella once so can't say if it's true.

[MsDG]

If you have android, you just simply add the number to your reject list and it will never bother you again. Its a standard feature.

[Roach-Rampino]

If you have android, you just simply add the number to your reject list and it will never bother you again. Its a standard feature.

Yes I remembered that I had something like that on my HTC...not so on me iPhone though.

[Roach-Rampino]

Can someone recommend a good blacklist app on iPhone please?

[Welsh Pete]

I swear by iblacklist. It's a cydia app and that requires a JB and also costs a few $ but worth every penny in my opinion

[burner1]

I think there is probably a lot of brown envelopes changing hands with some individuals that work in companies we have legit accounts with passed onto to dodgy ones.

There is apparently some people calling you pretending to actually be calling on behalf of a legit company you have an account with to try and get more info out of you, no doubt for fraud purposes etc.

[BigBird]

Yes I seem to get more and more of these nowadays. Some c*nt on 0161 362 4062 calls regularly but I know to blank the call.

For any online forms or applications that insist on a mobile contact number, I just put my correct number with the last few digits wrong. I feel for the poor fucker who gets all those marketing calls.

There should be a far easier way to bar a specific number from calling your mobile?

That number comes up on whocallsme.com as TheClaimGuys. http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/01613624062 And an email address for them is Stevie-Ann.Miller@theclaimsguys.co.uk.

From what people are saying they are very persistent.

Been wondering for a while if there is a way of bombarding these companies with thousands of anonymous emails without getting reported to my ISP. (">

[Bald Bouncer]

Been wondering for a while if there is a way of bombarding these companies with thousands of anonymous emails without getting reported to my ISP. (">

http://www.warriorforum.com/copywrit...ing-lists.html spam traps will probably mean very few get through but might make you feel better.

I always stop them and say please listen very carefully and when they stop I say 'I hope you and all your family die screaming in a ball of flames' then hang up, of course only works on non recorded calls and about 1 in 3 times results in them constantly ringing back and hurling abuse in broken English (highly amusing for me), to my knowledge the same people have never rung back again after that.

I am and have been registered with TPS it does stop some although complaining about the ones that ignore it seems utterly pointless as they basically say nothing we can do or pass you onto someone else who can't do anything. I have reported a number before then googled it and found 100's of results linking to 1000's of complaints going back over 8 years which is a good example of how toothless they are.

[funkyg]

I swear by iblacklist. It's a cydia app and that requires a JB and also costs a few $ but worth every penny in my opinion

I second iBlacklist. You can have it setup so only people in your address book can get through, or specific callers can be blacklisted. Any that are blocked can sent to voicemail, cut off, or sent a text. Great little app that SHOULD be in the App Store, but is jailbreak only.

[Mr.James]

It's the house phone that bothers me. If our phone rings through the day it's likely to be the school and that makes me as sick as any late phone call makes anyone. To hear some smarmy cunt talking at 100mph at you or a recorded message, makes me want to throttle someone.

I bought one of these recently and can't recommend it enough:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00A...m_ss2?pi=SY125

Basically I only get calls on the landline from around a dozen numbers. So I've set the phone to block all 'unknown', 'withheld' and 'blocked' numbers.

I've added the numbers that I do want calls from to the address book and given them a specific ring tone. That way if an 0161 number calls it has a different ring.

It also has a Do Not Disturb feature that will only allow calls on the VIP list to come through. That way when I switch on the DND feature only parents calls get through.



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[baggy13]

Is there any good blacklist for non jb iPhones

[stimpy]

Is there any good blacklist for non jb iPhones

You won't find any. They need to use features that would not be allowed in the App Store. Your best hope is for Apple to add it in a future iOS update.

[Zippeyrude]

The whole business is shady but the regulators are making some inroads. This essentially comes down to data brokers and list trading, with marketing companies using these lists to market to.

Very often a single instance of you giving permission to a company to use your details will mean that your information is in the wild. Just look at what happens after you use confused.com of after you make an insurance claim.....

This may be of interest, it shows you how the spammers operate - a few PCs, stack of mobiles and sim cards... and how they got busted...

http://www.ico.gov.uk/enforcement/~/...ty_notice.ashx