GUIDE - LET'S TALK ABOUT NUISANCE CALLS

LET'S TALK ABOUT NUISANCE CALLS

Article by Tony Wallis.

Nuisance calls are unwanted phone calls. They are often annoying, even distressing, and in many cases, damaging. It’s important to know how to recognize and deal with them.

The phone rings. You get up, pausing your favorite TV show or suspending whatever you’re doing, to answer. Caller ID shows you it’s a mobile number or even a local number. “Hello,” you say.

You may be lucky and it is a genuine caller, but usually no-one answers or there is an automatic message telling you “bank security” is calling. Often there’s a brief gap before a person speaks.

They usually start with a made-up name and may ask to speak to you. 

Then they read a script. They tell you they are from a bank, or from a telecom provider, or even Microsoft. They might tell you about improving your property, such as loft insulation. As if we all have more the one loft to insulate.

What they don’t tell you is much about yourself. That is what they’re fishing for so they can use that information to their advantage. Welcome to the world of nuisance calls.

There are four main types of nuisance calls. Automated silent calls represent the first type. The ones where you pick up the phone and no-one answers, then they hang up. Automated systems cause this by dialing a lot of numbers and then allocating an answered one to an agent. Most times, there aren’t enough agents to take the call.

Recorded message calls are the ones where answering the call starts a recording being played. You cannot talk to a recording and to them you are anonymous. They are unaware of who they are talking to. A recorded message call that is not expected is clearly a nuisance one.

The third type is sales calls. They sometimes make an excuse for the cold calling like you should have got a sales brochure (but you haven’t) or you spoke to them a while ago (which you can’t remember.) They will have a script. While they aren’t criminals, they are after offering a service you might need for payment, of course.

The disadvantage of accepting the offer is that you haven’t shopped around, so it’s probably not the best one. Companies that have to fish for customers like this are usually short of sales. It could be their service isn’t all that good. The better option is to study the market and you choose the company you want, not let them choose you.

Finally, we come to the worse kind of nuisance calls. Scam calls by criminals after your money for no service at all. Their target is to get information from you, with the purpose of taking money from your bank account, including hijacking your computer to do this if possible.

The numbers the nuisance callers use are usually ones you don’t recognize, but they can use a technique to use fake numbers that fool you that a call is local or from a specific mobile number.

They have very little information about you and so are trying to find more. They will ask for that information and often ask about your bank account details. Don’t give them any information.

Nuisance callers also use pressure tactics such as saying “I’m only asking for a bit of information, it’s okay” or “I don’t understand why you’re ignoring this warning call”. Any unprofessional pressure is a sure sign the call is a scam.

When you get a nuisance call, hang up immediately. Do not be ashamed of doing this because they will hang up on you as soon as they realize you’re not playing their game. Better still, let calls from those you do not know go straight to voicemail.

Never, of course, let the stranger know your bank details. If you are still talking and get to where they ask for bank details, hang up then for sure.

An entertaining aside here. You could have a little enjoyment by saying something like “Oh, you want to get access to my computer to take my money. Why didn’t you say?” And then hang up. Another bit of fun is to say “I didn’t understand that, can you read that script again?” One caller didn’t get the joke when I said “oh, you’re from Microsoft so my Mac is leaking information, is it?” Or even tell them you don’t have a computer but you have a phone that takes scam calls such as theirs.

My best humorous piece is the Count Arthur Strong sketch, which I use as “well hello, (name they gave). How are you? I haven’t seen you in ages. I’m pleased you’ve got a job again, trying to con people like me out of money.” Then hang up.

Back to being serious, there are actions you can take. As stated above, hang up as soon as you suspect it’s a nuisance call. No apologies required. Even if you’re not sure, never give personal details such as your bank account details.

Find out how to block calls so you can block numbers from nuisance callers. Your telephone may have this or your phone company can advise how to block calls. To stop annoying business calls, register for free with the telephone preference service at tpsonline.org.uk.

There are ways of reporting calls that are breaking the rules. Report data protection issues to the Information Commissioner’s Office at www.ico.org.uk. Report silent calls to Ofcom at www.ofcom.org.uk, and scam calls to www.actionfraud.police.uk.

Telephones are great for talking to friends and getting information, but be aware when talking to curious strangers

This article is one I published on Medium, hence the American spelling. Copyright (c) Anthony Wallis 2025