Automated phone call claiming to be from TalkTalk.

[chartman]

As you are a software engineer of some 40+ years, I'm surprised you can't see the problem here...... The scammers use spoof numbers to make calls. What that means is that they insert a legitimate UK ( or elsewhere in the world) phone number into their calling software. This will then show up on your caller ID as if it were some UK number that you don't recognise. And I sympathise with you.... I was in a similar situation and found the solution callsafe. If the caller genuinely needs to talk to you, they will announce the fact by saying their name when prompted by callersafe. Callersafe then calls you and plays back to you what the caller has said- i.e. @ Dr Smith, I need to talk to you" You then press 1 to accept the call and their real number gets put into your 'accept always list ' ( white list). If the caller is a scammer they will usually hang up without leaving a message. If they are heard liners, they will make up a message..... In this case you have the option of pressing 2 to accept this call just this once. If they are a scammer, you can add the number to the black last at the end of the call.
I'm sure this would work for you.... No, I'm nothing to do with TT.

[nick123]

I am very sorry I have upset you Stuart that was not my intention and as you say buying new phones will complicate the issue of receiving calls, in fact, it does not because the caller has to say who they are and when you pick up the phone it is your choice then to except the caller or not except the call so you are covered both ways but like I have stated I did not have the intention of personally attacking you it was a suggestion that's all plain and simple so please accept my apologies 

[RayWelshman]

Hi all, I don't want the incoveience of using Callsafe either, it may be of some use to people who don't receive many calls, my wife uses the phone more than me, most of her friends withhold their numbers so it come up as private.

[broadstairs]

Nick sorry for the sharpness in my reply, I understand where you are coming from but this is not a new issue, I have been having these calls ever since there was a big hack of TalkTalk some years ago now and nothing has ever been done to really fix this. Also the subsequent update wound me up a little hence my tone.

Stuart

[broadstairs]

Chartman I am well aware of the spoofing issue which is why the reporting of such numbers is useless. I'd expect any call coming in from an international exchange will have some identification on it which could be mapped to a location and compared to the caller-id field to see if it is valid for the originating country (obviously a UK area code would not be) and then the call could be blocked. If the call was a UK one with a spoofed id then again there should be away to find the origination location and again blocked if mismatched.

I simply do not accept that this is not fixable, yes it might be tricky or even difficult but no way impossible in my view. Afterall calls can be traced back to the originator if requested by law enforcement so I'd expect the same could be done if there is a will in the Telco community.

Stuart

[fr8ys]

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@RayWelshman wrote:

Hi all, I don't want the incoveience of using Callsafe either, it may be of some use to people who don't receive many calls, my wife uses the phone more than me, most of her friends withhold their numbers so it come up as private.

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Withheld numbers are not a problem with callsafe, as once they are your approved list the caller gets through each time without having to announce them. 

Calls made by you during the last monyh or so are automatically added and any that are not can be added manually, or wait for them to phone you and press 1 to accept. It's a one time operation per caller.

Any inconvenience is, for me, outweighed by the fact I have not received a single scam call in the last year.

You can always turn it off if you don't like it, but my recommendation would be, give it a try, but the choice obviously, is yours.

[EnglishGirl]

Hi. I receive one of these calls about once a month. I’m now receiving automated calls.

I lived in the USA (Texas) for 18 years and NEVER once received a telephone scam! The only ‘strangers’ who could call my home were registered charities or the very, very occasional wrong number...once in 18 years!

Do you know why? My phone number isn’t listed. Does the U.K. (EU) simply not have any security because of some law? Living in America I assumed that safety & privacy technology had advanced everywhere...

[sial01]

I've had 2 (possibly 3) of these calls today, all from different numbers.  The first was 01749 617892, the second 02058 836584 and the last, that I didn't bother to answer was 01906 519119.  Getting really cross now as we've started to get a few scam calls recently, one pertaining to be from BT my internet provider (they are not) and the next day one supposedly from Talk Talk (who I asked if they were calling about the problem with my internet as I knew that's what they were going to say), told both of them they were liars and hung up but it's wasting my time and I can't not answer the phone in case it's a genuine call 😡😡

[MikeDT]

Hi @sial01 

As mentioned earlier in this thread the solution is to activate the new Callsafe option on your landline. Full details here: https😕/help2.talktalk.co.uk/about-callsafe#11806

This should put all but the most determined scammers off because they have to record who they are and why they are calling you.

I've had this active for months now and only one scam call got through: I dealt with them rather sharply!

[Skiddles]

Hi Tidewatcher22, I have been dealing with a talktalk email problem on behalf of my daughter since the upgrade. Talktalk promised a ringback to her phone within 72 hours which never came but she did receive the scam call!

Today I chased it and was promised a ringback ( to my landline this time), and received the scam call within 4 hours.

Is tis a coincidence??

[muzzer55]

Hi 

its a scam i have had it many times just put the phone down and forget it

there trying to get money from us/you.

[Dakota2869]

I am absolutely fed up to the back teeth of receiving scam calls all coming from Burton in Trent with an area code starting 01283, no point blocking, i already blocked many times, it just changes, the area code is always the same but the last number changes,

is there no way i can block the area code and is there no way Talk Talk in conjunction with the police can locate these scammers, its automated and its always the same, for a year now, your internet will be cut off.

The fact is this, i am not in the telephone book, i do not share my telephone number, i know all about the Indian call centres and information being stolen, seems to me my information can be passed about and is not secure, i do not wish to change my phone number, please can Talk Talk just find a way to allow me to block area codes, i never receive calls from 01283 unless its these scammers.

i am sick of it.

[martdy1]

Same here . 6 yesterday and now 2 already this morning .All 01280. Ridiculous.

[chartman]

I'm sick to death of all the people who moan about this... ( tongue in cheek). ATM there's no technology available ( for common use) that will help, including blocking an area code in total.

*@#][!![]'#[@#]!* just activate call safe.YES ! initially it is a bit of a nuisance BUT as all your  'common' callers get added to your white list the system works as if you didn't have it- calls get straight through. 

I get no scammers now and doctors/hospitals are fully aware of this type of system and get through to me. Now they are on my 'approved' list and get straight through....

There's two issues here- the 'lost/stolen' TT account numbers and the 'spoof' numbers that the IT wizz kids use to fool recipients into answering their phone. Hopefully the BT (et al) wizz kids will be able to detect spoof numbers and dump the call... Here's hoping.

PS I'm a pensioner....

[martdy1]

Call safe is no use when its a business number
Another 3 ....

[RayWelshman]

Hi all, I have not posted on here for a while, I regularly get these fake phone calls, I now see it as a "game" if I am bored I play along for a while, yesterday I had one, I told  him he was running some kind of scam, he said that he had to make money somehow, I suggested he went out and looked for a proper job, I said surely people don't really believe what you say, he said they find some fools that do. I put the phone down, he then rang me back and said, "you put the phone down" I said I know, I thought you would like to go and bother someone else, to which he agreed and ended the call there.

Regards to all from Ray. 

[chartman]

OK I'd concede that point . I feel for you.

[scete]

I tried 'Callsafe', How do you get it to work with an answering machine?

[chartman]

That would only work with numbers that are already in your 'white list'. 

[ferguson]

@scete  You can't, TalkTalk recommend that you use their own Voicemail service instead.

https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/Articles/About-CallSafe/ta-p/2204784