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8:27 am
Thu 7-Apr-11
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maggenpie
| | Cornwall, UK | |
|  Expert | posts 638 | |
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My usual tactic is to just put the phone aside and let them talk to themselves until they realise there's no one listening. Its their phone bill.
Over the years we've done allsorts, mainly to amuse ourselves rather than get angry. My daughter has a hahn's macaw who will happily say 'hello, alright?' down the phone. Then there's the parakeet who can screech at alarming decibels. 
The thing that makes me so very, very mad though is that these scams WORK! They are making loads of money at it else they wouldn't be doing it. Every day people are being conned out of their money, and the only thing we can do against them is to tell all our friends and family not to be taken in by them. 
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Never assume anything – except an occasional air of intelligence.
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8:54 am
Thu 7-Apr-11
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Rae Mond
| | Waalre, NL | |
|  Councillor | posts 1062 | 
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You're right Ruth, unfortunately lots of people are not as savvy as you and your son, and they do get taken in.
In Wales there's a thing called the e-crime Wales partnership, which is at the forefront of investigating this kind of thing, no idea what England have, but they have factsheets and tip on how to not get scammed, and are the people to report such things to in Wales. They may be able to tell you who to report things to in England or Scotland also.
You can register with the TPS to stop most of the annoying marketing calls, but obviously if the people who call you are criminals they are probably not members of the direct marketing association and won't give a damn about PECR. The ICO (my former employers) also have guidance on how to prevent identity theft, how to check things like your credit score, and what to do if things are incorrect.
Also, if anyone has any specific concerns about something Data Protection or PECR related then feel free to PM me. I don't get paid for it anymore, but my answering questions about this sort of thing was what I did for a living, and I'd be more than happy to help 
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5:17 pm
Thu 7-Apr-11
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maggenpie
| | Cornwall, UK | |
| Expert | posts 638 | |
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Thats kind of you Rae.
Would you believe they rang up again today? Different name again, but he assured me he spoke to 'my husband' yesterday, and then these strange things were happening and he was cut off so he couldn't finish sorting out my computer.
Tenacious little  didn't get any money out of us, and he's not letting go until he does (he thinks). He phoned at mid day, I said ring at 5.30 because I couldn't possibly touch 'his' computer, oh no, I couldn't do that, I don't know anything about it. Thats ok madam I'll tell you what to do, its very simple, he says. In the end he agreed to ring back at 5.30 (when I hoped C would be able to come over) but he rang at 4.30. I said ring at 5.30, he's not home yet. Half an hour later he rang again and I let it ring until he gave up.
Next plan is to say the computer has to go away to be mended and ask for a phone number. How long will he keep trying I wonder? C went to the police station and they gave him details of where to contact. I hope they do something about it.
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Never assume anything – except an occasional air of intelligence.
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1:26 pm
Sun 17-Apr-11
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Danny
| | Newmarket, England | |
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Somebody in our village suffered the same scam, Ruth. Luckily they did not allow anything to proceed, as far as we know.
The sad thing is that it is so obvious. How would "Windows" know your phone number? But I can imagine how a great number of people would be too scared and not computer savvy enough to realise it is a scam.
Nice one Ruthie! That take gave me immense satisfaction! 
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6:18 pm
Sun 17-Apr-11
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JoannaS
| | Latvia | |
|  Supreme Being | posts 4329 | |
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I don't seem to have much bother really, all I say is "Vai jums runat anglu valoda" and this is followed by a stunned silence and the phone usually goes dead 
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6:22 pm
Sun 17-Apr-11
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Danny
| | Newmarket, England | |
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JoannaS said:
I don't seem to have much bother really, all I say is "Vai jums runat anglu valoda" and this is followed by a stunned silence and the phone usually goes dead
Sounds like a killer chat up line, Joanna 
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6:25 pm
Sun 17-Apr-11
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shelley
| | Toulouse, France | |
| Councillor | posts 1109 |
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I tried the same line in french once, only to be told no problem our english speaker will call back later; turned out to be the jehovah's!
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6:29 pm
Sun 17-Apr-11
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JoannaS
| | Latvia | |
| Supreme Being | posts 4329 | |
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The odd time that someone actually is proficient in English it has actually been useful like the insurance people when our renewal is up or the Electric company who now helpfully inform me when my electric is off – as if I didn't know that , but at least is lets me know they know.
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10:27 pm
Sun 17-Apr-11
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maggenpie
| | Cornwall, UK | |
| Expert | posts 638 | |
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JoannaS said:
I don't seem to have much bother really, all I say is "Vai jums runat anglu valoda" and this is followed by a stunned silence and the phone usually goes dead
Brilliant! I hadn't thought of that. Great idea, it'll give me a good opportunity to practice my Cornish!
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Never assume anything – except an occasional air of intelligence.
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