nuisance phone calls - reverse number lookup?

[Wombat]

We are being harassed by repeated calls from 0352864597, but I don't have ways to effectively find out who and where it is.  Googling it doesn't get me anywhere useful.  We already subscribe to TPS, and this lot have called at least 7 times today, and do not leave any message on our answering machine.  They are a bloody nuisance, and literally screaming down the phone at them does not stop them.  I've complained to TPS and ICO, but I got the distinct impression they are as effective as farting into a force 10 gale.  I do have friends at Trading Standards, but has anyone got any sensible ideas to get it into their heads to fuck off and leave us alone?

[Peter]

http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/0352864597

Try that, Wombat - appropriately, it seems to be from Australia!  It's a scam.

whocallsme is a pretty useful site.

Peter

[Kim]

PBX with CID-based routing to the dial-a-rickroll extension.  It's the only way to be sure.

[Mrs Pingu]

Can you ask for the number to be blocked?

[rafletcher]

Can you ask for the number to be blocked?

In a word, no. And if it's "offshore" then no TPS is going to stop it :-(.   They move on eventually. I had some nuisance calls (a UK based autodialler) and my phone provided said to complain to OFCOM. Middle class white male gets the odd nuisnace call, that'll be a priority then, hmmm.

[Wombat]

PBX with CID-based routing to the dial-a-rickroll extension.  It's the only way to be sure.

I do wish I could speak Kim-ese....  It sounds like fun that is possibly illegal (the best sort, surely?) but I have little idea what you have just said, apart from PBX means private branch exchange.

As rafletcher says, not exactly a major scandal thats going to attract much help from the "authorities" but a bloody nuisance especially when you are on tenterhooks for important calls from customers or frail aged parents.   Nearly shouted at the next caller last night, but it was a lovely 90 yr old gentleman wanting to enter a competition I organise.

[MattH]

Without going to the hassle and expense of technical solutions (like installing an Asterisk PBX system like Kim uses, or one of the call screening devices that plug in between your phone socket and phone) there's probably not much you can do until they move on.
You can have a little fun with them, waste some of their time and hopefully annoy them enough to take you off their list. Get them to try to diagnose your PC problem over the phone whilst you are using your bike computer.
Caller: "Can you turn your computer on for me?"
W: "It's always on"
Caller: "What version of windows are you running?"
W: "How would I know that?"
Caller: "Press the start button and look for the control panel"
W: "OK, I've pressed start and the numbers are now counting up..."

[Kim]

PBX with CID-based routing to the dial-a-rickroll extension.  It's the only way to be sure.

I do wish I could speak Kim-ese....  It sounds like fun that is possibly illegal (the best sort, surely?) but I have little idea what you have just said, apart from PBX means private branch exchange.

That exactly.  Branch exchange (actually just some software on a computer with a card that connects to the phone line) that checks the caller ID of incoming calls, and if it's on a list (or not on a list, or whatever) picks up and plays a certain Rick Astley song down the line until they go away.  I reserve that treatment for repeat offenders.  Usually they just get voicemail.

Perfectly legal (except perhaps as an unauthorised performance of copyright material).


I did it mainly in order to learn the software, and with a view to automagically routing incoming calls from Stupid Hearing People through Typetalk.  But since the majority of our received calls are from spammers (and because it's trivial to do things like send calls from all but a certain few numbers to voicemail when you're in bed), it comes in rather handy...

[Wowbagger]

Between 00.30 and 7.01 today I had 53 nuisance calls from 01224 980215. After the first half-hour I unplugged the phone. Because we have VOIP and if the calls are unanswered after 20 seconds, they are is transferred to my mobile, I had to turn that off as well.

It crossed my mind that it would be a very good idea for my VOIP service provider (Virtual Landline) to allow the facility for customers to be able to block nuisance numbers like this one. They will block numbers on request, but that's not much good at 1am when their offices are closed. I suggested to them that they introduce this facility.

When I answered, there was a recorded announcement "Welcome to Zoom! Press 1 to join the meeting." On the third time of answering, I did press 1 and was met with silence. It crossed my mind that since Trump has my email address, he might have been inviting me to a Zoom meeting and I was hoping to give the fucker a piece of my mind. At least, that was how my mind was working at 1am.

[Kim]

Your irregular reminder that playing the SIT Intercept tone down the line can sometimes cause the telespam computer to automagically remove your number from their database:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IC_SIT.ogg

(Automating this left as an exercise for the reader, but after the first few repeated calls just holding an audio-playing device up to the receiver may be worth the effort.)

[Diver300]

Between 00.30 and 7.01 today I had 53 nuisance calls from 01224 980215. After the first half-hour I unplugged the phone. Because we have VOIP and if the calls are unanswered after 20 seconds, they are is transferred to my mobile, I had to turn that off as well.

It crossed my mind that it would be a very good idea for my VOIP service provider (Virtual Landline) to allow the facility for customers to be able to block nuisance numbers like this one. They will block numbers on request, but that's not much good at 1am when their offices are closed. I suggested to them that they introduce this facility.

When I answered, there was a recorded announcement "Welcome to Zoom! Press 1 to join the meeting." On the third time of answering, I did press 1 and was met with silence. It crossed my mind that since Trump has my email address, he might have been inviting me to a Zoom meeting and I was hoping to give the fucker a piece of my mind. At least, that was how my mind was working at 1am.

You are not the only one:-https://who-calls.me.uk/phone/01224980215

I suspect incompetence rather than malice.

When we used some predecessor to Teams, it could dial any number that was requested, and it had the advantage that the system then knew who was connected, so everyone could see who was speaking, plus there was less messing around with PIN codes etc.

I guess that someone has told the system that they are going to have a meeting from 00:30 to 01:00, but got a digit wrong and put it from 00:30 to 07:00 instead. A similar mistake will have put your number in place of that of the correct correspondent. By the time you let Zoom connect, every one else had cleared off.

I don't quite understand why Zoom would try that many times, or try after you had connected and hung up, but you should never underestimate the ability of software designed by committee to do stupid things.

[drossall]

We're getting driven mad by nuisance calls, especially now that we're working from home and constantly being interrupted.

I assume that the phone industry makes money from these people. But communication is migrating away from phone systems. I have a sort of sense that the industry, in failing to offer easier measures to block them, is over the longer term driving its own customers to alternative media. Am I over-thinking it?

[Kim]

I think it's just that alternative media are better than phones.  The only real advantage of telephones is that luddites (particularly luddite organisations that we have to do business with) usually have and know how to use them.

Why have crappy low-bandwidth voice when you can have high bandwidth voice plus video?

Why rudely interrupt people with voice when you can send them a text-based communication?

Maybe you want to send documents, or photos, or video...


The future is data.  Voice is just a useful but increasingly irrelevant application-layer thing.  There's an app on my phone that makes voice calls.  I hardly ever use it...

[Canardly]

I agree with Drossall in that landline is now used for emergencies only and is permanently on answerphone. We also receive lots of nuisance calls which the answer machine primarily filters out.  I would dispense with it altogether if I was the only user. Virgin are moving to web phones but I suspect they will still charge extra for number blocking etc.

[rafletcher]

We're getting driven mad by nuisance calls, especially now that we're working from home and constantly being interrupted.

I assume that the phone industry makes money from these people. But communication is migrating away from phone systems. I have a sort of sense that the industry, in failing to offer easier measures to block them, is over the longer term driving its own customers to alternative media. Am I over-thinking it?

It’s very easy and not that expensive to block them. Buy a single handset BT phone with their proprietary “Call Guardian” built in. If the number isn’t white listed on the phone it’s gets diverted to an automated call answering. If it’s gen then callers will eventually come though. If not you hear nothing.

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/9151266?istCompanyId=a74d8886-5df9-4baa-b776-166b3bf9111c&istFeedId=30f62ea9-9626-4cac-97c8-9ff3921f8558&istItemId=ixwlpwqxx&istBid=t&&cmpid=GS001&_$ja=tsid:59157%7Cacid:416-707-6621%7Ccid:9567730945%7Cagid:98490210936%7Ctid:pla-952941285262%7Ccrid:423217901662%7Cnw:g%7Crnd:3518793417658676528%7Cdvc:c%7Cadp:%7Cmt:%7Cloc:9046059&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=9567730945&utm_term=9151266&utm_content=shopping&utm_custom1=98490210936&utm_custom2=416-707-6621&gclid=CjwKCAjw2Jb7BRBHEiwAXTR4jZ-O86i7dXHt894raUpe_GN7udrndABFk-2vZm9E_-SJQqNFMj6ucxoCGPgQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Polar Bear]

Our landlines gets very little use.  We filter spam using the answerphone.  Those who call it whom we know are versed in the process and it works well.  Spammers tend to recognise the "call minder" message and end the call before the message is finished.

Eventually I see the cordless phones going and a single plug in handset being retained for "emergencies" only.  Broadband via fibre is likely to remain for a few years yet so an active line is here anyway.

[MikeFromLFE]

The BT handset is probably the quickest / easier optopn. I believe that the backend for these handsets is from Trucall - I've had a Truecall unit     www.truecall.co.uk › product-p
trueCall Call Blocker for about a decade - bought when they were about a third of the current price.
We no longer get any nuisance calls - for the first few years we had it we used the unit to screen a few calls a week, but as our number got scrubbed from various databases they seemed to stop
Possibly some of the best money I ever spent.

[rafletcher]

The BT handset is probably the quickest / easier optopn. I believe that the backend for these handsets is from Trucall - I've had a Truecall unit     www.truecall.co.uk › product-p
trueCall Call Blocker for about a decade - bought when they were about a third of the current price.
We no longer get any nuisance calls - for the first few years we had it we used the unit to screen a few calls a week, but as our number got scrubbed from various databases they seemed to stop
Possibly some of the best money I ever spent.

Yep, it’s Truecall under the bonnet. And we’ve had them for nearly 20 years (this is our second set), and like you we wouldn’t be without it for a landline (which we have for broadband and my wife).

[Cudzoziemiec]

Voice calls are good. Sometimes it's good to hear a friend or relative's voice, as much as the content of the conversation. Voice is also useful in that it's an instant form of communication and you can be sure the message has been received and reasonably sure it's been understood, though of course you can't be sure it will be acted on.

In fact, for all Kim's scepticism, she's had two voice calls with me! Both were quite useful; one earlier this year was "Drive down this road, knock on this door and I'll make you a cup of tea," one several years ago was "Help! You're meant to be leading this ride and you've lost me. Where are you now?"

A landline, however, seems like a particularly restricted form of voice call device which doesn't do anything else and only operates in a fixed location. I suppose if you have one anyway bundled in with cable TV or something you might as well take it, but I can't remember when I last used one. Whether landlines are any more or less liable to nuisance calls than mobiles I don't know but rather doubt.