Annoying Anonymous Phone Calls

I keep getting annoying telephone calls on my mobile number, the calls all start with 0843 but the rest of the number changes each time the caller rings, the latest number that rung this morning was 0843 878 1165, the number rings about four rings then stops, if I am quick enough to answer before it cuts off there is no one there. It is extremely annoying because some days it rings three or four times, sometimes it goes a week between ringing. When it rings now I add the number to my blocked callers but when the number is different each time it rings that doesn’t stop future calls using a different number, the common factor with all these numbers is they all start with 0843, nothing else is the same on subsequent calls. The problem has been going on for about six months, that’s an awful lot of different numbers all starting with 0843 so it must be a machine that is dialling out somewhere, how does one sort out a problem like this and does anyone else have the same problem? Unfortunately nowadays invariably when one orders an item from an internet supplier they need your mobile number and it’s so easy for unscrupulous traders to sell on lists of mobile numbers which is probably where scammers get their numbers from. I live in hope that whoever or whatever is the source of these 0843 calls will eventually run out of numbers related to the 0843 code but there are probably many thousands to go yet. Dave W

Random numbers, a lot more to go!

Googling that number indicates it is a business number attracting a premium rate if you reply. They are probably hoping that you will ring back and then scrape some money off the charges incurred. I don't know if there's a way of blocking all calls prefixed by that 0843 prefix. Maybe your mobile service supplier can help?

John

So far in my research I have found that you can block all numbers that are not in your directory of numbers, if it’s not on your list it can be blocked, problem with that is we frequently get phonecalls from our doctors surgery, wife has a number of medical problems, and the surgery calls are always number withheld which means they would be blocked. It would be a solution if you could block calls that are prefixed with specific codes eg 0843. Still researching if that’s possible. Dave W

Samsaranda,

FWIW, my GP surgery, 2 miles away, and some other places around here use a fixed telephone number with a prefix that indicates that the call has come from our nearest city, some 27 miles away. This number is NOT the local GP's number, but it does indicate that the call is NHS related. I do wonder if the local NHS commissioning group has set this up for the very reason that you are experiencing, ie so that you can answer the call whilst ignoring (barring?) others.

Quite how you can persuade your local people to adopt a similar system, I don't know. All I know is that our GP was anonymous, then they started using this number. It does mean that I can program my handsets such that they show "Drs Return No." when they call.

Apologies if that doesn't make much sense - I know what I'm trying to say, but can't really explain it!!!

Regards,

Peter G. Shaw

If I can't think of a good reason for a company to have my mobile number I just make one up. Similarly when I'm in a shop and they demand my postcode I give them the town hall, and my email becomes [email protected]

Peter, thanks for your input and yes it does make sense but our gp surgery unfortunately use the number withheld option and I don’t rate my chances at very good in trying to influence them otherwise.

Duncan, yes a good way to go but unfortunately a bit too late as my number is out there being exploited already so I am trying to find a way of blocking the numbers with 0843 codes and not having any success. Dave W

When that happens I usually refuse except for postal code which I make up. The one time when my refusal to supply other identifying information was met with "well I can't sell to you then", I said "OK" dumped the goods on the counter and was halfway out the door when the sales clerk decided that perhaps he could sell to me, without the information, after all.

This may be of interest: https://www.o2.co.uk/help/account-and-billing/missed-calls-from-0845-and-0843-numbers#

https://www.o2.co.uk/help/account-and-billing/missed-calls-from-0845-and-0843-numbers#

Well played, O2

MichaelG.

Our practice uses a ‘private caller’, so no number can be seen.

A long time ago, a certain michael mcgrotty (from Glasgow?) apparently applied for a loan and provided the wrong phone number, which happened to be my wife’s mobile number. She has been plagued with offers of loans ever since, but she refuses to give in and get a new number. She must have blocked the best part of a thousand numbers over the years….

Maybe my area is just unusual, but none of the hundreds of calls I've received in the last twelve months from medical professionals, including the two GP surgeries I have regular contact with, have been made from withheld numbers. Maybe some of these callers did try to reach me previously from a withheld number but found that I didn't answer [I never would], and so thought better of it.

I can't recall any occasion when a medical person has contacted me on an important matter and revealed that they had previously tried to ring me on a withheld number but I didn't pick up.

I find that if the GP surgery phones me and their reason for doing so is even remotely important and I don't pick up, they leave an answerphone message, or send an email, or, in the most important cases, write a letter. The idea that they would call me on an urgent matter from a withheld number and not follow things up if I didn't answer strikes me as implausible.

Apologies … I failed to include an active link to that O2 page, yesterday

**LINK**

https://www.o2.co.uk/help/account-and-billing/missed-calls-from-0845-and-0843-numbers#

It explains the situation, and describes the pre-emptive action taken by O2

Note: In itself, that cannot prevent the nuisance calls … but Ofcom is on the case.

MichaelG.

MichaelG:

Thanks for the link which, incidentally, reminds us of the possibility of registering our mobile numbers with the TPS (in addition to the landline, if any).

The usual "No one there" calls are made by an automated dialling system, A splendid waste of time for the recipient.

Since registering with the TPS, unwanted calls have decreased considerably.

A question of how to deal with County Court Orders usually stops the would be money lenders!.

The "Your internet connection will terminated in 24 hours. Press 1 to discuss" are ignored and so far I stlll have internet!

For talkers, the technique varies. If they ask for me, the reply is either "Who is calling?" or "I'll fetch him" before very quietly putting down the handset and walking away. In about 5 minutes, the handset can be replaced.

Only once did this fail; a pushy American women of whom I could only be rid by literally pulling the plug out of the socket

Howard

Howard -

- I had a caller something like your American woman in attitude, but with a Far Eastern accent. I forget what he was trying but it did take me three or four goes to be rid of him.

Eventually I simply laid the handset on the table, though fairly noisily, and walked away.

++++

The old "I calling from Microsoft" ruse is going round again - coming to a 'phone near me only yesterday morning.

I let the bloke proceed for a bit, though he did seem surprised when I told him I'd last used my computer 5 days ago. (Actually, I had turned it off barely 5 minutes before he called).

Finally I said, " Right, before we go any further, I'll tell you something. I work in IT security and I know you are a liar and a criminal. Goodbye!" And terminated the call before he could.

I am never troubled by nuisance telephone calls to my cell'phone because:

(a) I do NOT give that number to anybody - I use the cell'phone for outgoing calls only. I tell contacts to only ring me on my landline telephone number.

(b) I can NOT hear the ring-tone because it is pathetically quiet. So I never answer it.

When I receive suspicious calls on my landline telephone number, I politely tell callers that they must speak slowly and loudly - and they usually hang up.

When people who do talk slowly and loudly try to sell me something, I tell them that I'm in the middle of cooking something and would he or she kindly hang on.....

When I go back to the telephone after twenty or thirty minutes, the caller has usually terminated the call.

This has the benefit that while he is waiting for me, he can NOT be ringing anybody else.

MC

Edited By Dr. MC Black on 28/04/2022 00:19:26

I found by accident that barking "IDENTIFY YOURSELF" in a peremptory tone causes a very rapid caller hang-up in some cases.

Maybe they think the line is monitored by CSIS/MI-whatever/CIA or something.

(I had hoped it might have a long-term effect but the Chinese sounding lady - I use the term loosely - is still calling. I guess she just gets served a bunch of numbers ...)

Edited By Peter Greene 🇨🇦 on 28/04/2022 01:47:02

An elderly friend was often bothered by this type of call until I advised her to stop her regular donations to various charities. Some charities sell your information to third parties, it's a good source of income for them. By stopping all her bank payments to these people they could no longer sell her information as someone who had spare money to hand out. The phone calls petered out and eventually stopped. It upset her to think that a charity would do this.

I just plainly refuse to donate to any charity on the internet/over the phone either landline or mobile as most of the time they are just call centres and not charity based centres.

If I want to donate then in a bucket as I pass, I also will not donate to overseas aid as I think that their governments should be sorting out things like water and the like.

The only exception is if I get something from someone who has given me something and asked for a donation.

Phone calls from foreign sounding people I ask their name and when they come back with a English sounding name I ask them if that is their real name those that say no I tell them that they have lied to me in the first few seconds so everything they then say is also a lie, strange the phone gets put down from their end

I had no idea that Charities sell lists of their supporters.

Surely that's contravening GDPR or other Data Protection legislation.

I have an account with the Charities Aid Foundation and have a sort of "Cheque Book" for that account. It is printed ANONYMOUS where some people have their name and address.

When I receive communications from charities by post, I return the begging letter in their FREEPOST envelope asking the charity to remove my details from their records and mailing lists.

Over the course of a year, I give a lot of money to charities - but they are charities of my choice and rarely in response to requests.

And please don't get me started about those people with clipboards who are paid to accost people in the street!

MC