Nuisance Calls after Data Breach

[soperp]

Hi,

My wife's details (address/home phone number) were recently inadvertently released in a data breach of an organisation she volunteers with. Along with others in the same situation, we are now receiving 15-20 unwanted calls a day from people purporting to be from various companies, trying various scams to get our credit card details.  Blocking via Call Protect is of limited use, as they are using different incoming numbers each time. However, after trying to deal with the first few calls and getting abuse, we are just blocking any unrecognised number.

Note that my wife has been in touch with Ofcom and the police as one of the early calls was incredibly abusive (and recorded).

Our blacklist is growing rapidly! Given that only a handful of people genuinely call our landline, a White List would be better for us, but I don't think this is possible. I've not been able to contact the BT Nuisance Call hotline. Are there any other options aside from changing our number? And how would I go about doing that (also will cost?)

Thanks in advance

Pete

[Keith_Beddoe]

@soperp 

You will not stop them by adding them to a blacklist, as the numbers change all the time.

The only option is to use a phone which uses a "whitelist" of personal numbers, and makes all of the rest announce themselves first, which scam callers  never do, as the calls are automated.

The BT4600 is one such phone.

[gg30340]

You may have to purchase a phone that has a feature that only allows callers that are in your contacts through.

If that is what you opt for, I would suggest that the organisation that leaked the data should pay for the phone.

See link.

How to Stop Nuisance Calls on Landline and Mobile | BT Shop

[soperp]

Thanks for this. If there are several phones on the network, would it only be the BT4600 that would block calls - ie all the others would still ring?

[licquorice]

You can buy multiple handset versions of the  BT4600.

[Keith_Beddoe]

If you have other types of extension phones, then they will still give a short ring.

Its best to get the BT4600 with multiple handsets, then none will ring unless you have the  number stored, or they announce themselves, where you are given the option of taking the call once you hear what they have to say.

[rbz5416]

As @Keith_Beddoe said, you get a short blip on other phones which can be annoying. I could never understand why my 8500 base unit used to blip for screened calls until I realised it was the analogue "emergency" phone that I'd forgotten about!

If you don't want extra phones you can get a standalone blocking device. The Call Guardian that BT use in their phones is based on the True Call device which is around £100. After the first year there's a £20 annual subscription as well. I would be looking to the organisation responsible for the breach to cover the cost.

[Keith_Beddoe]

@soperp 

Just to add, you will still see a "missed call" showing on the phone even though it did not ring.

If you lookup the number on Google, you will most  likely find it on many spam number sites. Its usually a waste of time.

[soperp]

So I came off a webchat with BT Customer Service about an hour ago who have enabled Call Blocking on my account. I am told this will block any number not recognised by the phone. With a degree of technical knowledge (25+ years in telecoms and Information Security Project Management), I am somewhat dubious about the connection between what is programmed in my phone and what is blocked at account level, but we will see..... Haven't had a spam call since then

[Les-Gibson]

If you're on Digital Voice, another option would be to divert all incoming calls to a BT mobile (free of charge on DV) then put the mobile into Do Not Disturb/Allow Contacts (or starred contacts) mode; in effect creating a whitelist