Scam phone calls
Jul 18th 2016, 2:31 am
#1
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 9,397
Scam phone calls
I have been getting an increased number of what can only be scam phone calls recently. One keeps on - I have apparently had a car accident (without my knowledge) and have to contact someone. (Last call today and when I asked who it was he hung up. Indian.)
Another recent one was from the "Australian tax office" asking my attorney (!) to call about my tax evasion.
Has this become more common this last year?
Another recent one was from the "Australian tax office" asking my attorney (!) to call about my tax evasion.
Has this become more common this last year?
Jul 18th 2016, 3:39 am
#2
snɐןɔ ʎʇıuɐs
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 6,558
Re: Scam phone calls
If you throw the number into google you can usually find reference to if it's a spam/fake number. Not sure that anyone has integrated that with the dialler yet, but I'm sure it's being worked on.
Jul 18th 2016, 5:44 am
#3
has lost The Game
Joined: Apr 2005
Location: Chippendale, Sydney
Posts: 8,735
Jul 18th 2016, 6:06 am
#4
snɐןɔ ʎʇıuɐs
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 6,558
Re: Scam phone calls
Jul 18th 2016, 7:48 am
#5
Concierge
Joined: Jan 2013
Location: Western Australia
Posts: 21,138
Re: Scam phone calls
I have been getting an increased number of what can only be scam phone calls recently. One keeps on - I have apparently had a car accident (without my knowledge) and have to contact someone. (Last call today and when I asked who it was he hung up. Indian.)
Another recent one was from the "Australian tax office" asking my attorney (!) to call about my tax evasion.
Has this become more common this last year?
Another recent one was from the "Australian tax office" asking my attorney (!) to call about my tax evasion.
Has this become more common this last year?
I don't know if you've seen this Wol, but I can vouch for it. We were getting 2 or 3 of these calls every day, once we'd registered with Do Not Call the number dropped to 1 or 2 per week.
It's free and is an Oz government service.
Jul 18th 2016, 8:00 am
#6
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jul 2008
Location: My happy place
Posts: 3,043
Re: Scam phone calls
Years ago in Oz, I found the best defence against this, was to go onto the Aus Direct Marketing's own website. They had a fantastic option for stopping this. Quite ironic really!
Not sure if it still exists but it was better than the Gov's attempts back then. In the Uk for landline, we bought Mum a True Call box. brilliant
Not sure if it still exists but it was better than the Gov's attempts back then. In the Uk for landline, we bought Mum a True Call box. brilliant
Jul 18th 2016, 10:12 am
#7
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 9,397
Re: Scam phone calls
https://www.donotcall.gov.au/
I don't know if you've seen this Wol, but I can vouch for it. We were getting 2 or 3 of these calls every day, once we'd registered with Do Not Call the number dropped to 1 or 2 per week.
It's free and is an Oz government service.
I don't know if you've seen this Wol, but I can vouch for it. We were getting 2 or 3 of these calls every day, once we'd registered with Do Not Call the number dropped to 1 or 2 per week.
It's free and is an Oz government service.
I started by going to the website and filling in all the interminable fields - except of course the name of the caller's company and its phone no, since I could never get them!
The calls never stopped, and kept getting more frequent - two today (one solar panels - a favourite - and one asking about my "car accident"). I just stopped spending hours filling in the forms.
If these companies routinely ignore the donotcall listings it appears there's nothing one can do about it.
Jul 18th 2016, 10:17 am
#8
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 9,397
Re: Scam phone calls
Years ago in Oz, I found the best defence against this, was to go onto the Aus Direct Marketing's own website. They had a fantastic option for stopping this. Quite ironic really!
Not sure if it still exists but it was better than the Gov's attempts back then. In the Uk for landline, we bought Mum a True Call box. brilliant
Not sure if it still exists but it was better than the Gov's attempts back then. In the Uk for landline, we bought Mum a True Call box. brilliant
) and it offers marketing on your behalf!
Jul 18th 2016, 10:27 am
#9
Crazy Cat Lady
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 65,493
Re: Scam phone calls
It's only in the last year that I get calls from the 'Australian Tax Office' wanting to give me refunds. Oh and a couple from the 'Federal Police' wanting to know why I've not claimed my 'ATO' refunds. 
Also why are the 'Windows' scammers still trying to fix computers? There aren't people still falling for this one are there?
Also why are the 'Windows' scammers still trying to fix computers? There aren't people still falling for this one are there?
Jul 18th 2016, 11:07 am
#10
Home and Happy
Joined: Dec 2002
Location: Keep true friends and puppets close, trust no-one else...
Posts: 93,809
Re: Scam phone calls
It's only in the last year that I get calls from the 'Australian Tax Office' wanting to give me refunds. Oh and a couple from the 'Federal Police' wanting to know why I've not claimed my 'ATO' refunds. Also why are the 'Windows' scammers still trying to fix computers? There aren't people still falling for this one are there?
Also why are the 'Windows' scammers still trying to fix computers? There aren't people still falling for this one are there?
Jul 18th 2016, 12:30 pm
#11
Concierge
Joined: Jan 2013
Location: Western Australia
Posts: 21,138
Re: Scam phone calls
I've been on that since it started - but I've found it useless.
I started by going to the website and filling in all the interminable fields - except of course the name of the caller's company and its phone no, since I could never get them!
The calls never stopped, and kept getting more frequent - two today (one solar panels - a favourite - and one asking about my "car accident"). I just stopped spending hours filling in the forms.
If these companies routinely ignore the donotcall listings it appears there's nothing one can do about it.
I started by going to the website and filling in all the interminable fields - except of course the name of the caller's company and its phone no, since I could never get them!
The calls never stopped, and kept getting more frequent - two today (one solar panels - a favourite - and one asking about my "car accident"). I just stopped spending hours filling in the forms.
If these companies routinely ignore the donotcall listings it appears there's nothing one can do about it.
Jul 19th 2016, 8:28 pm
#12
Last resort... format c:/
Joined: Mar 2012
Location: Singapore to Surfers Paradise to... Tenerife... to Gran Canaria!
Posts: 1,626
Re: Scam phone calls
In Singapore there was a gov't website where the simple act of registering would get rid of most telephony pests.
Of course this wouldn't stop any "long-distance parasites" from targeting you, but at least you knew that any phone call made after that was phoney...
Of course this wouldn't stop any "long-distance parasites" from targeting you, but at least you knew that any phone call made after that was phoney...
Jul 19th 2016, 11:52 pm
#13
Crazy Cat Lady
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 65,493
Re: Scam phone calls
There is here, it's mentioned above.
Jul 25th 2016, 11:10 pm
#14
snɐןɔ ʎʇıuɐs
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 6,558
Re: Scam phone calls
And what do you know, the new Google Dialler for android etc. has this spam phone call protection built in.
Google's Phone app now shows a warning about spam callers and makes it easy to block and report them [APK Download]
Google's Phone app now shows a warning about spam callers and makes it easy to block and report them [APK Download]
Jul 26th 2016, 6:23 am
#15
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 1,230
Re: Scam phone calls
I just never answer the phone unless I know the number calling 