UK Cold caller clampdown coming soon

[alanbjames]

Have you been pestered by cold callers lately? If you live in the UK then chances are the answer is yes, but never fear, as the government has announced a new change to traditional legislation that will make it far easier to take the companies responsible to task.

http://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-m...n-coming-soon/



This sounds like a good plan but nothing is mentioned about calls from overseas.

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by alanbjames

Have you been pestered by cold callers lately? If you live in the UK then chances are the answer is yes, but never fear, as the government has announced a new change to traditional legislation that will make it far easier to take the companies responsible to task.

http://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-m...n-coming-soon/



This sounds like a good plan but nothing is mentioned about calls from overseas.

Part of this is to force companies to use caller id, however what's the point when the buggers are using fake numbers. I have had calls from companies with numbers like 01234567 and 010203040506, i even had a call from a company starting with a local uk number even thou they were in mumbie. They do this to get around the anonymous caller rejection systems.

They need to be able to deal with overseas call centres as well as the uk call centres

[heero_yuy]

Ban cold calling and make it a criminal offence to make, cause to be made, or in anyway abet the making of a cold telephone call. It's really the only answer.

What's being proposed is still far too weak and ill-coordinated.

I see spoofed numbers coming up all the time on my caller ID, they get to talk to the answer machine.

[rhyds]

I was lucky in that when I had my first phone line/number connected two years ago I chose not to have my number in the directory.

Why not? Well, when you think about it, when was the last time anyone legitimate looked up a personal phone number via directory enquires?

Cold calls are basically non-existent.

[tweetiepooh]

Maybe the fines need to be levered against the UK companies the call centres are acting for? If the personal pension protection insurance claim service get fined heavily for every call made on their behalf they will get more careful about instructing the call centres.

[007stuart]

I want action on "Unavailable, Withheld and International" calls. Virgin can do it with calls that show "Withheld" on my phone however they want over 2 quid to block them.

[Matthew]

If I don't recongise the number I simply do not answer it. I know use Vonage as my landline number and get a nice 0333 number that hasn't been used and no junk. No one has hardly got the number I don't make a point of giving any number out apart from 01234567890!

About time there was a clamp down but what happens with these international ones?

[Matth]

It's mere tinkering, closing the "damage & distress" loophole.
So many of these vermin are untraceable.

[heero_yuy]

Originally Posted by heero_yuy

Ban cold calling and make it a criminal offence to make, cause to be made, or in anyway abet the making of a cold telephone call. It's really the only answer.

This would catch most, the moment they mention the organisation or company that they are calling on behalf of then the prosecutions can start.

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by Matthew

If I don't recongise the number I simply do not answer it. I know use Vonage as my landline number and get a nice 0333 number that hasn't been used and no junk. No one has hardly got the number I don't make a point of giving any number out apart from 01234567890!

About time there was a clamp down but what happens with these international ones?

Some companies just dial a number range, so 0333 0000001 to 0333 9999999

That way they don't need to know a number they just ring them all and it only costs when someone answers. Also if they tag a fake uk caller id number to there switch you would think it was someone calling you from within the uk.