Daily Landline Phishing Spam Messages

[Roy12345]

Every day I get an automated spam call to my Landline, warning of suspicious charges to my card and suggesting I 'Press 1 to talk to the Bank'.

Each time I block the number, seemingly a mobile 07xxx one, using 1572.

But the next day the call repeats. Assuming the BT block works, I can only assume they spoof a different mobile number.

So it appears that nothing can be done to stop them once they have a Landline number. Most people I know have ditched their Landline; I retained mine as an 'always on' emergency option.

Is the true price of a Landline now these unstoppable daily junk calls?

[licquorice]

They don't 'have' your landline number, they call millions of numbers all from spoofed numbers, you just happen to be one of them. It is not just landlines that are affected, they call mobiles also. 

The simplest solution is to use a whitelisting phone to only allow genuine calls. Blacklisting is never going to work

[Kimberlin]

@Roy12345  Sadly, landlines have been spam traps for years. Many of us now no longer bother with them as we use WiFi calling through our mobiles because there’s no need for a mobile signal on compatible handsets. Retaining a landline as an always on emergency option for most people is really no longer necessary. Very few people I know actually have a landline anymore.

[Roy12345]

A Whitelist as you describe limits the usefulness of a Landline to a very limited set of known trusted numbers. We can't realistically keep that list comprehensive and up-to-date, as we may give a Landline to say a delivery company for a one-off purpose. Almost impossible to operate a whitelist without accidentally blocking trustworthy people.

[Roy12345]

Well that was my point really. The spammers have effectively killed BT's already declining Landline service. Why do we never get mobile spam calls, but Landline ones daily, if this is a random number generator?

I'm not in the habit of leaving my mobile on 24/7, but I guess this becomes essential if the Landline is now a SpamLine we should disconnect and the Home owner needs a fast emergency line.

[Kimberlin]

@Roy12345  The thing is, domestic landlines are no longer the essential service they once were. WiFi calling using a mobile phone effectively negates the use of a landline for many people because if even if you live in the middle of nowhere but are fortunate enough to have a good internet connection, you don’t need a mobile signal to make calls.

As for spam, on a personal level, because I only ever use a mobile, I choose to have my phone on silence unknown callers 24/7 which means that if someone isn’t in my contacts list, the call goes straight through to voicemail. If the call is genuine, they’ll leave a message. Spammers don’t leave messages. If a genuine caller doesn’t leave a message, I don’t care, I don’t call back. Both my mobile SIMS are registered with the Telephone Preference Service, great, but spammers ignore the TPS because a lot of them are based abroad.

At the end of the day, you can only do what’s right for you, but some of us literally live a spam free existence because we’ve given up caring whether that missed number was important.

[Roy12345]

I agree with much of the sentiment here, but also with myself. The Landline spammers have won.

However, I must reiterate my earlier question. My partner & I have had the same mobile numbers for decades, yet we never get these calls. If the spammers are just dialing random numbers, why not on our mobiles daily too?

[gg30340]

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@Roy12345wrote:

 My partner & I have had the same mobile numbers for decades, yet we never get these calls. If the spammers are just dialing random numbers, why not on our mobiles daily too?

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The spammers do not make the calls. A computer program does that so it depends on how the program has been written.

If you have not yet received a spam call on your mobile you are lucky. Give it time and you will.

[licquorice]

@Kimberlin I've no idea why you think scam calls are restricted to landlines, as stated in my original reply, mobiles are also affected. I get as many on my mobile as landline.

[Kimberlin]

@licquorice  I don’t know why you feel it’s necessary to keep responding to my posts, you basically as much admitted in another thread that you find my posts boring and that I fudge out the same old mantra. Make up your mind or just put me on ignore because I’m not a fan of anything you post either. Enough said I think. I’m done with you 👍