Nuisance caller attempts increasing again

[Andy Burns]

Nope

[Jac Brown]

That would prevent a UK operation that chooses to use an out of country call center from choosing to have those tho are called by the overseas call center from using a UK CLI so that anyone who missed the call can call back to their UK call center.

Not feasible with valid out of country call centers that are now so common.

Ditto.

There must be

Not viable ones.

[Mark]

So? I they want to have the facility for someone to call them back then they should choose a call centre with a valid CLI.

See above.

[John Rumm]

So how do you differentiate between a legit call centre and a scammer? Both would so a similar pattern of calls.

[John Rumm]

Indeed, when I first registered it caused a dramatic drop in cold calls.

[John Rumm]

If you have not registered on the TPS then any UK firm is free to call you, or indeed a random phone number if its unregistered.

Indeed - and there are fines for companies that don't and still call. Hence why they go away quickly - esppecially if you have made a point of asking the name of the business first ;-)

(How effective the fines are for the worst offenders is debatable since when they try to collect them the companies normally fold and do a phoenix job. They are getting better at baring the owners from being directors or taking a controlling interest in a business again though).

[Scott]

I'd leave that to the experts You could start with numbers in the wrong format (wrong number of digits, non-existent code), incoming overseas calls with a UK number, large number of dropped calls - there must be tell-tale signs for those that know.

[Scott]

Depends how they obtained your number. If you supplied the number and did not consent to marketing calls (that means opt-in) this would be a breach of the GDPR. If company A sold your number to company B without your consent, this would be a breach of the GDPR. Granted, if your number is in the public directory there is nothing to stop them calling you.

[Steve Walker]

Once I actually got to answer the call with a tone-dial phone, I pressed

8 and received no more calls from them. If the calls simply said "press 8 to remain on our database", I'd have received no more than the first one!

They know it is a valid number because it has rung. How many valid lines are not to humans? Even then, the simple act of picking up and saying "Hello" shows a human has answered. No need for any button presses.

Why waste time re-calling people who have already shown a desire to be removed from databases and not receive such calls anyway? They are surely less valuable to a cold caller, as they are LESS likely than most to turn into a financially rewarding sale!

SteveW

[Steve Walker]

We are talking of two different things here.

Most nuisance calls are not scams - they are cold calls to try and obtain sales. Generally those sales are of goods, services or a combination of the two. Examples of the ones we have received are double glazing companies, kitchen companies, gutter replacement companies, boiler replacements, etc. All of which require a UK presence to make good on those sales. The call centres are not making those calls for the fun of it, they are being contracted to do so by the companies wanting to sell and it is those UK companies that should be fined.

SteveW

[Steve Walker]

Yes TPS does work well for UK companies making their own calls or using UK call centres. It seems to be a loophole though that a company can use an overseas call centre to make their calls, but the company are not held liable for those calls and the call centre is out of UK jurisdiction.

SteveW

[Jac Brown]

Its more complicated than that given that the is more than one adult in most households.

[John Rumm]

And how many would you have received without pushing 8?

Yeah, but if a robo-dialler is placing the calls it can't tell unless the "person" answering also interacts with them. An answer machine would say something, as would a BT message saying this number has been replaces, please redial etc.

A "good" salesman will not take no for an answer! One day they catch the mark off guard, or when circumstances conspire to make a scam call seem plausible.

[John Rumm]

GDPR is a relatively new kid on the block. Again scammers are unlikely to care.

(note also that consent is only one of several justifications for "processing" personal data, so the fact that you have not consented, doe not make the act necessarily a GDPR fail).

[John Rumm]

Even if they were liable, they would likely claim to be the victim of a deception... "honest gov, they claimed to be a legit marketing company that would only call proper bona fide opt in targets - how were we to know?" Its hard to make anything stick.

[Jac Brown]

Not practical. The out of country call centers are much cheaper.

See above.

[Jac Brown]

It isnt possible.

You could start with numbers in the

There isnt.

[Scott]

Okay then, I was just throwing about ideas.

[Scott]

Fair enough, GDPR is not perfect. The point I was making is that it's not quite right to say that any UK firm is free to call you. There are other routes than TPS to opt out. Whether the caller complies is another matter.

[dennis]

That would block my local NHS hospital for a start. Some companies have short code dialling so only the first few numbers need to be dialled to connect to the switch board and a complete set will connect to an extension so the pattern would be very odd.