I have a SPAM contact in my phone, and add any such numbers to that. It is set to auto block calls from these numbers and works a treat.

Spoofing real numbers is a big problem here too.

So what the government have done is to ensure all calls from outside the national network are prefixed with a +. The scammers quickly caught on prefixing the false numbers with 65 to make the number still seem genuine but actually any local call will not show the country dialing code unless it's VoIP (e.g. deliveroo driver) or out of country call centre (bank but I think they know they are asking for trouble by doing this now)

As nearly all the spoof numbers are using mobile numbers and caller display shows a +65 prefix, I know then that these will be bogus calls normally saying they are from the police and I need to pay a fine for a parcel intercepted at customs where I did not declare the true value of the item.

If you read up on this, it's surprisingly easy for someone to show your number as the caller ID when they call someone else and there's some funny videos on YouTube of people getting the wrong end of the stick and calling these numbers back for the innocent party to say they have no knowledge and then an argument to break out as the caller thinks the innocent party is a scammer.

I'm sure that scamming via mobile phones and Email is now extremely sophisticated and I have heard about the current stuff going around.

Going back a couple of decades there were lots of cold calling from random companies trying to sell all manner of crap. Double glazing and Kitchens were regulars. Phone rang then the caller would announce that I had been selected for a huge discount on whatever they were selling.

At that time the caller would only be able to make one call at a time and could not terminate the call unless I did. Upon realising that someone was cold calling I would say hello and then leave the phone alone without terminating the call. Listening to some sales rep who would be on a commission only basis went from being fairly polite to being displaying a whole host of negative emotions within a few minutes was a joy.

It got to the point where you could come up with all manner of stuff whilst connected just for your own entertainment. Screaming, toilets flushing, desperate pleas for a free new kitchen whilst there was some form of a major violent episode going on in the background. The possibilities were endless.

Getting the Sales Rep to do a home visit and go through our Double Glazing options was also good fun when you were bored. Following the usual sales patter I would ask if we could have a quote for a bespoke option.

A certain company provided the glazing estimate to be around £25,000. The rep was hugely disappointed when we indicated that our budget was nearer £2,500. The representative stormed off, stating that we could only buy a couple of door handles for that price.

Happy days ?

I had my number used by a scammer company (number spoofing where they project a random phone number instead of their actual one). Got a call from an extremely irate lady who told me to stop calling her and telling her there was a fraud connected to her NI number (which of course was news to me). It's a company phone so my boss contacted the supplier and they said it happens a lot, a scammer will just go through lists of numbers to spoof. It could continue for 3 to 4 days and then will just stop.

Mine started last weekend. I've had three so far this morning and yesterday two of those I ignored then sent texts with 'Who is this' comments. Also ignored.

Perhaps it is a scam scheme but using your number, ar random, so someone answering thinks it is a normal number.

I got this message this morning,I'm really worried about this one it seems legit.

Steve1956 wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 26, 2021 10:13 am

I got this message this morning,I'm really worried about this one it seems legit.

FB_IMG_1627290682591.jpg

Did you find out what you’ll placed under the rest of?

wilks_bfc wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 26, 2021 10:17 am

Did you find out what you’ll placed under the rest of?

Only thing that came to mind Wilks was Sanjeep tw@ting me over the head with a snooker rest.

I had my number spoofed before, same kind of thing where I had loads of people calling me saying they had a missed call from me.

Three were absolutely useless, refused to acknowledge that number spoofing was a thing and tried to suggest it was my friends playing a joke on me. It lasted a few weeks and then stopped.

Started eight days ago for me.

Only had one on Saturday, none yesterday. It's ringing now and that's the second today. Thursday and Friday were a nightmare.

ClaretTony wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 26, 2021 11:28 am

Started eight days ago for me.

Only had one on Saturday, none yesterday. It's ringing now and that's the second today. Thursday and Friday were a nightmare.

Maybe record yourself an answer phone message explaining to people you have been spoofed, so when they ring through and it goes to the answer machine they will know what's going on and stop bothering you.