I think I'm stuffed

[Anonymouse]

I got what I suspect was a scam call, something about insurance - but not from the company I am registered with. Further, the caller was a West Indian woman, which (not a racist opinion) makes me suspicious. Normally I'd block the call...but it showed as 'private number'.

There are apps to block these, apparently. Trouble is, at least one private number is legit - whether DWP or NHS I can't recall, damn my memory. So I don't want to block those.

What can I do?

- apart from changing my number, a major hassle!

[thenry]

https://www.tpsonline.org.uk/

[Taf]

Originally Posted by thenry

https://www.tpsonline.org.uk/

TPS is a UK service and cannot prevent all calls from outside the UK, particularly those from companies with no UK presence or those from fraudsters.

[thenry]

Ooh

May be contact tiny Tim then

[Mr K]

Androids phone in built spam blocker does a good job for me on blocking spam.
Add the numbers that are genuine to your contacts then they wont be blocked.

[damien c]

Originally Posted by Anonymouse

I got what I suspect was a scam call, something about insurance - but not from the company I am registered with. Further, the caller was a West Indian woman, which (not a racist opinion) makes me suspicious. Normally I'd block the call...but it showed as 'private number'.

There are apps to block these, apparently. Trouble is, at least one private number is legit - whether DWP or NHS I can't recall, damn my memory. So I don't want to block those.

What can I do?

- apart from changing my number, a major hassle!

Sadly there is nothing you can do if they don't send their number.

The other issue is, the scammers are also when they call you, presenting their number as a genuine mobile number or landline number of the person they previously called, so even if you block it, you may be blocking someone genuine further down the line.

All you can do is keep yourself safe, knowing that banks etc are not going to call you randomly and ask you to give them certain information, mobile phone companies are not going to give you an iPhone 17 Pro Max with unlimited data, minutes and texts for £38 per month on a 12 month contract with no upfront fee etc etc etc.

[Anonymouse]

Thanks, peeps.

On reflection, I remain convinced I did the right thing. If legit:

The caller would've ID'd the calling company.
They would've said the call was being recorded for training & monitoring purposes.
If it's legit, they'll have my address, so they can write. Likely they'll have my email address too - and I've received no such email. Or they'd have sent a text saying they'd missed me. No such text has arrived.

(Sigh) I'll just have to put up with it. Though there might be legit reasons for withholding a number, I don't think companies should be allowed to do so. Not getting a number means you can't block it. If I answer in future and they don't have the right answers - assuming it's the same caller - I'll hang up.

Originally Posted by Mr K

Add the numbers that are genuine to your contacts then they wont be blocked.

Yes, I already do.

Caller ID is hopelessly compromised and has been for years. With the right kit and know how it is trivially easy to spoof a number. There is work afoot to tighten things up - it is possible for your network operator to spot and block overseas calls incoming with a spoofed UK number, for example, but doing this efficiently and without blocking legitimate calls is, apparently, challenging. Ofcom says it’s on the case but it is moving at a glacial pace.