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[GatheR RoveR]

It is possible to call with an others telephone number, like the one of your bank.

Be aware of this 

https://www.techjunkie.com/fake-number-call-someone-spoof/

And do not call back strange numbers it can cost you lots..

[Old Hywel]

I went into great detail over the injuries sustained in my ‘recent accident’. The young Indian lady was most sympathetic as I explained how I had lost one leg. ‘How do you walk?’ she asked, and when I replied ‘in circles’, we called it a day.

[Alan Drover]

I had a lovely call from a nice American lady yesterday, telling me that I had a warrant out for my arrest due to tax evasion, and I needed to press 1 to speak to an advisor.
Oh how I laughed, and I am still waiting to be arrested...😁

My wife, who used to work for the Inland Revenue, had a similar call recently. No armed police have arrived.

[Wittsend]

If any phone call is really important they will call again.

Quite true ... or they will write a letter.

Our "dodgy" phone calls have dropped down to zero by unplugging the phone from the BT landline 
BT could stop this, but they make money from the calls 

 

[samuria]

get a call minder type phone, i  never have any unwanted calls now 

[Smokey 11a]

A hospital/NHS in my experience do not use mobile numbers. They use landlines, though they may withhold their number if they are ringing on an internal extension. In which case they would show the switchboard number.

Wrong, I have had dealings with the NHS due to poor health over the last few years many of the calls have come from mobiles esp the ones from my consultants.

[Worf]

I usually ask them for the first and third digit of their password, which causes them some confusion.

Alternatively ask them "How do you keep a £$%^& in suspense?" ( If they say "I dont know" , just tell them to ring back tomorrow and you will tell them)

Unfortunately recently most of these calls are automated, so no chance of winding them up.

[Alan Drover]

Our landline and my mobile are on the TPS.  However this doesn't stop sequential dialling.  Many unwanted calls are voice activated so saying nothing deactivates the machine.
Our landline has call minder and anyone not on the phone's list or an allowed number has to navigate the system. Hospital calls are put on the allowed list.

[Alan Drover]

I've just received another unknown call which I didn't answer and have blocked. All numbers so far start with 0771

[Genem]

Start by doing away with your land-line. Almost every call we had was a scam of some sort. So far, at least, the scammers are less active on mobile numbers. We did not bother setting up a land-line when we moved 4 years ago, not missing it one bit.

[Wittsend]

I've just received another unknown call which I didn't answer and have blocked. All numbers so far start with 0771

Tell us - do you have a land line

We have a landline just to plug the internet box into.

We now just use our mobiles.
Much easier to block if we/you ever have to.
Select the number and press the (bye-bye forever) button.

We had one of those "blocker" devices - made no difference 
(anyone want a cheap useless device ? £5 plus post)
We were/are on the TPS list, but couldn't see that that made any difference.

Whilst it may be illegal to cold call from the UK - the problem is the call come from the rest of the world 

And nearly all of these are front-ended by AI machine callers.
It's not much use starting a "conversation" with a machine, as posted it just proves your number is live.

One tell-tale as posted is silence after you pick the phone up.
Say nothing as it starts the tape loop.

If there's a real person trying to contact you they will say something.


 

[Wittsend]

My "medical" people are great.
They will phone me for an appointment, once agreed they text me within seconds confirming the details. 24 hrs before the appointment I get a reminder text.
Worked brilliantly for the jabs 
At our practice you can email for an appointment.
Phoning to speak to someone puts you on hold forever 



 

[LN11AAB498A]

I'm completely ruthless over nuisance calls or worse. When I pick the phone up if there is silence for a second I put the phone down. If it starts a recorded message I put the phone down. If the caller has an American or Indian accent or says "Message from ... " I put the phone down.

If any phone call is really important they will call again.

I believe there maybe a hole in your approach. The simple act of accepting the call will register your number, with the caller, that its a live number.
 
I use my BT landline for incoming calls only, mainly because I don't want everyone to have my mobile number. The vast majority of my calls with family, friends & others are on my mobile. I will not accept any call who's number is not in my phone book because I know if it is genuine they can always send me a text.

Incidentally, BT have a great phone which has some smart technology called "Call Guardian".  Only numbers in my Phone Book are allowed to go directly to me. All others have to give their details, which are then relayed to me to choose if I want to take the call. That alone make most hang up. I then have the option to either accept the call, send it to answer machine, always send it to answer machine, block/always block the call. I set it to block all international calls. I can not speak too highly of this "Which? Best Buy" phone, its been a transformation because I now get extremely few calls on the LL.
 

[samuria]

yep... the call guardian is the one i have , great does what it needs to

[genocache]

My only car is my 1960 109. I get calls telling me that my car warranty is almost up and I need to renew,  press 1 to talk to a representative......

Thankfully most of my scam calls are on my land line and not my cell phone. Caller ID is wonderful!