Just had a call on the land line from what looked like a mobile number. They were telling me that there was a problem with the line and that I needed to ring a special number, a free one, to talk to their technician who was sorting the line out. She told me to write the number down and got me to repeat it.
Needless to say I didn’t call the number, partly because it was clearly an international number and also because, although there is work going on on our network at the moment, my phone still works so who cares.
I presume this is someone who knows that Orange are currently installing fibre around us …
EDIT: Just been doing some checking and apparently, if work is being carried out on the network, there is some sort of database of numbers affected/involved, which is available to all the contractors.Apparently this is how scammers can find numbers where the people might find it plausible that the call is related to recent/current work.
Yes a lot of the time it’s a computer doing the dialling - that’s why often when you answer a scam call there’s nobody there - your answering has to coincide with a scammer in a call centre being available…
I’m sorry but I got my information from someone who is connected with Orange and they certainly do. The only time we, or several other people we know, have had these types of spam call purporting to be from Orange, were immediately after work has been carried out on the line.
EDIT: We get a a number of other types of spam from time to time and they are very obviously of the type you are referring to.
Maybe for Orange but the usual MO is as described above. Computer dials numbers and when one is answered it’s connected to one of the scam centre operators. That’s why there’s a short delay after you answer before the person is connected and starts following the script.
They might be irritating but surely that type of call is not a scam (ie illegal)? I would presume that a scammer is using a set of numbers they have misappropriated - that certainly is what happened to us a few years back. They had hacked a friend’s computer and found our number.
That rarely happens these days. The scam centres use computers to dial large groups of numbers simultaneously. Any that are answered are then connected to an operator - but the numbers dialed are pretty much at random, or working sequentially through every number on an exchange.
So what are you calling a “scam”? I had always assumed that the large call centres were at least legal - trying to sell insulation etc. And that they were annoying, but basically harmless. Are you saying that large call centres are set up to scam someone out of bank a/c details etc in order to commit a crime?
Watch YouTube videos from Jim Browning, Kitboga or Scammer Payback - you will be amazed, appalled or probably both.
Seriously though the “phone the engineer working on the line (on this premium number)” scam doesn’t actually need an engineer working on the line to work.
Indeed, it’s just like the scam “you have a parcel” texts, there’s a sufficient number of people who are waiting for parcels/ have telecom engineers around, that it works. That’s not to exclude the truly gullible who click on any link that appears on their screen. The scammers don’t really care either way as the messages are pretty much free to send and they only need one in a thousand to actually fall for it.
these parcel scams might well be standard, doing the rounds… but the only time they hit our household is when my OH has placed an Order with Amazon… and he doesn’t do that very often…
He places the Order… and within 4 days… we get scam delivery info etc etc…
then nothing for months and months… until he places another order…
So, not necessarily random after all…
I have a strict poilcy now since I started getting alot of scam calls. When it rings I flip it open and if it is a number and not a name I press red and shut the lid. I then, when I have a moment, look up the number on Pages Jaunes Inverse and up pops the fact that the number has been hidden by whoever sent it.
To date I have never had a complaint from anyone I would wish to speak to.
I do exactly the same and also google the number if it looks odd. Apart from that I never answer the phone, the message machine will kick in and if its important, a message will be left.
Me too. I let all calls identifying by numbers go through to voicemail. If it’s something genuine, the caller leaves a message. If it’s a cold/scam call, there’s no message left. Job done!
i don’t think I have that, I certainly have never seen any kind of alert that one is there. I always check the number and, if it is someone I want to talk to, I can ring them back. I have never needed to though because all the people I might want to talk to are in my list and therefore I can see the name.
I use a website called Doisjerepondre.fr which allows people to report scam/unsolicited calls and find that very handy. I get the same as as Stella, they seem to know when I have a parcel due and try to get me to click on links to track it or free it from being held up. You need your wits about you! The one I’m currently getting is a text message purporting to be from AINSI saying I have a speeding fine and it’s going to triple if I don’t click on the link immediately but I’ve been on the Gouv.fr site and there’s a warning specifically about this scam so I just delete it.
