Cold caller advice
b3ta has provided a question relevant to my current situation. So I have a question for the lot of you:

My mother is currently receiving quite a few junk phonecalls. These are made by a machine, and are always about debts. No, she doesn't owe money, they're the sort of spammy calls that offer 'debt relief' services, or 'debt consolidation'. The trouble is that they're from an automated machine and the number is always withheld. She's tried hanging up. It doesn't work, she gets called back another time

Here's where the problem starts: In order to see if she can get it to stop, she's tried pressing the phone buttons corresponding to the menu in the spam call, and she gets put through to a human. The same guy, every time. The voice is quite distinct.

The trouble is that if she asks him what company he works for, what his name is, or doesn't divulge a personal detail when he asks... he hangs up. Immediately. She's tried several things, firstly just asking outright. Demanding. Asking if he was "Company X" in the attempt to get him to say "No, this is Company Y". Even played along and pretended to have a massive credit card bill that she needs help with.

Nothing works. Every time he just hangs up. It's quite obvious that he's machine-calling a lot of people, and doesn't even keep track of the numbers - he only gets 'called' when one of them starts pressing buttons on the menu to speak to a human, whether to complain or whether to go for their scammy debt-relief services

Now the TPS might be useful in shutting this type of call to her down... if she could get the information about this cunt. There are probably other methods too.

So, b3tans... any advice?

(besides waiting for him to get on the line then setting off a rape alarm next to the phone. Which would be worth it for the lulz)

EDIT: She's not on BT, and for various reasons can't block withheld numbers
(calamarain just invented dehydrated water, Mon 7 Sep 2009, 21:28, 20 replies)

and the answer is...
Simple but it will cost get your mother to rent witheld number barred on her line then anyone calling from a witheld number (the automated system) will not be able to get through. Also anyone who needs to get through and has their number automatically witheld just needs to type 1470 (this shows their number) before dialling hope this helps.
(giddyup, Mon 7 Sep 2009, 21:49, closed)

Withheld
Sadly, that's not an option for various reasons. Thanks anyway.
(calamarain just invented dehydrated water, Mon 7 Sep 2009, 22:42, closed)

Don't know how much this will help, but here goes...
If your Mum has TPS, report the calls anyway, even with the lack of information she has. Others may have complained too and TPS may be able to investigate.
Report the calls to BT as nuisance calls. I don't have a lot of faith in BT but they do seem to be able to deal with nuisance calls quite well. My Mum had a similar problem and was quite unnerved by it - whether true or not, your Mum should make a point of saying she feels threatened.
Try to identify a pattern in the call times - if that is possible, then let the call go to answerphone if the phone rings around those times.
Finally I'd say that she shouldn't respond to the menu instructions, as this may be seen as a sign of interest by the company and lead to more calls.
Not sure what else to do, though I like your rape alarm idea. Don't forget though that these days she might be the one who gets into trouble.
Your Mum has every sympathy from me. Junk calls are a pestilence.
(eesnahk, Mon 7 Sep 2009, 22:19, closed)

TPS
Yeah, that's seeming like the best option. The fact that this has happened several times and he won't give any details does class it under nuisance. It's not every hour of the day or night (approx twice a week really), but it's definitely enough to be annoying.
(calamarain just invented dehydrated water, Mon 7 Sep 2009, 22:43, closed)

Assuming she is using BT...
... she needs to report them to the nuisance calls department. Or perhaps you could, on her behalf, as she is so distressed etc ;-)

They will give her a month's free service of either anonymous call barring or 'choose to refuse'. Choose to Refuse is the one to try and get, it lets you bar the last incoming number- even if it is withheld, as the withheld part of the call is only from the exchange to your phone. Once she has them barred she can call BT and tell them it's in the barred list, they can then be traced and dealt with.

Word of warning: after the month they will charge for the service, so remember to cancel. Check bt.com for the prices, they're under 'calling features'.

If she's not with BT you'd need to check with the phone provider what service they offer.

If the caller is overseas there's little you can do about it I'm sorry.

Hope something was useful!
(randomstupidname would really like this signature field to be bigge, Mon 7 Sep 2009, 23:28, closed)

Assistance
She's not on BT, but the current provider (NTL? Virgin?) may have something similar - we'll ring them up and ask :)
(calamarain just invented dehydrated water, Mon 7 Sep 2009, 23:39, closed)

Give em a rig
And see what they say.

Can you rig some form of recording device If so, then go menu and speak to the guy, get as much a poss then take it to the phone company and police. yes you have number ithheld but the phone company will have records. You may even be able to do a data protection act access and get the number. But by the sounds of thinsg you will probably need to invlove the police.

I have been drink so my advice may not be that sound. BUT judge by the person's tactics they will only respond to heavy fine and jail time.

StyX
(StyX is staring at you, yes YOU!!!, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 0:23, closed)

Sounds about right.
That crap can be traced with a court order, so she/you should be able to get him done with a little digging.
(Scritty Bakerman., Tue 8 Sep 2009, 0:55, closed)

"I have been drink"
Mind if I steal this expression? It's great!
(The Incredible Sulk Finally remembered his password on, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 1:38, closed)

Who's she with, if you don't mind me asking?
(Pope Jamiroquai III, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 1:11, closed)

i am with BT
and we had a phone number that was in a phone book and kept getting a few calls a week asking for currys.

we phoned up BT and they were more than willing to change our phone number with just a quick chat.

you could try changing your phone number and seeing if the calls stop?
( schizophrenic_sheep, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 2:35, closed)

Advice
Well first off all:

DONT PRESS RANDOM NUMBERS!

This can be dangerous, especially if they have their system set up to forward to another line, especially a premium rate line.
TPS is shite, with them for years, foreign companies couldn't give a toss about it and they're bound by no laws. Also they found a loophole in the TPS system. Basically they use a system called random digit dialling. They pick an area code, and randomly generate the numbers, and get away with it.
I've rang BT myself, they will offer you one months free trial of one of their privacy packages, can't remember which one though i'm afraid, was more than a fiver per month though, so i declined.
Otherwise the best suggestion i can give you, is when they ring, pick up the phone and don't stop saying yes.
"Do you want to consolidate your loans?"
"YES!"
"Are you the home owner?"
"YES!"
"How much are you in debt?"
"YES!"
It's hilarious listening to them getting frustrated.
( Laice , was Rogitating on, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 2:54, closed)

If a company forwards your call to another number...
They pay for that leg of the call, be it premium rate or whatever (unless you've dialled the operator or a 118 number). There are lots of chain emails warning people that they'll have to sell their children into slavery and sell a kidney if they press the wrong button on the phone, but there's no truth to them whatsoever.
(Vice Admiral Sir Charles Cockbrush KCB MBE DSO, who is finding it increasingly difficult to log into b3ta.com wants to duck your aunt and kick your puppy, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 9:15, closed)

Get on to Ofcom.
That's one of the things they're good at...
(gordonjcp, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 7:47, closed)

It sounds like one of the debt collection agencies and they are quite often trying to trace a neighbour who has debt. I have caller display and generally don't answer withheld or 08000/0845 numbers, if it's really that important they can leave a message. Occasionally I'll look up the number on whocallsme.com to find out what I'm not missing (3 debt collectors for other people and Sky most often).

BT are next to useless if you've got a persistent crank caller (could even tell them who it was) they won't act and only offer the one month of call barring stating that cranks will get bored (this one doesn't and has fits of calling repeatedly still 2 years later (I turn the ringer off so she can ring all night for all I care).
(cmouse is pondering about life in other jobs, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 8:27, closed)

Does the phone call give the name of the company or the name of their service??
If you can get a name or a service, should be easy to track them down.
Do a search for the company name on google. If google gives the domain name (i.e. the URL) for the company, then do a search for the domain name (for example use nswhois.domainregistry.com). This is a good place to find all the contact details for the company.

Then take it a step further and search for the company name on the companies registration office. Some agencies will be a 'child' company of a holding company. You should be able to track down the directors of the holding company this way.

You can use that information to chase them up, plus you could also treat them to a bit of their own medicine and use their number and contact details to play them at their game. I'll leave that up to your imagination. :D
(sarcasmo needs more sleep, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 13:11, closed)

Nameless
No, they don't - that's part of the problem. Every time she tries to get the name of the company, or any information at all, the guy hangs up.
(calamarain just invented dehydrated water, Tue 8 Sep 2009, 17:07, closed)

baxtards..
I don't suppose you could use an answering machine, with a blank outgoing message, and tell your mother to leave the answerphone to handle the call when an unlisted number appears.
If it's someone that needs to get through to your mother, she'll hear the voicemail (if you can get an answerphone with a speaker) and she can determine whether to ignore the call or pick up the handset and take the call.
This way you can gather evidence, for a nuisance complaint, when the phone pest does call and you can use it as grounds for a nuisance complaint to the police.

** [edit] as minimalist was saying.. I probably replied to the wrong part of the thread **
(sarcasmo needs more sleep, Wed 9 Sep 2009, 16:33, closed)

You could always...
...buy her a cheap answering machine of the sort that will allow her to 'screen' calls (by listening to what the caller has to say before picking up). Machines, and dick-heads like the one you're talking about, usually hang-up immediately they realise they're talking to another machine.
(minimalist ..., Tue 8 Sep 2009, 15:50, closed)

A quick aside regarding the TPS...
...is that the TPS does not cover recorded message announcement calls. These are not covered by the same regulations (annoyingly) and instead must be referred to the ASA. Who will a). Do jack shit, and b). Can't do anything anyway as these services generally dial in from an international number.
(NoveltyCondomHead Clanks Wams., Tue 8 Sep 2009, 16:00, closed)