Unsolicited phone and mobile calls

[#1]

Hi community,

I have a very frustrating situation that is now occurring on my mobile and now my landline home phone, and that is I get unsolicited calls at various times of the day, including early evening from a call which I can only presume is a recorded. The annoying thing is that the call is in Chinese or a similar language and therefore I have no idea what their talking about. This has been occurring quite some time now, I've had plusnet suspend my voicemail as messages were left, I've blocked numbers and even reported the number to regulators, but to no avail as the senders number keeps changing, has the community any ideas other than cancelling the plusnet service and finding another provider, the annoying thing is my wife's mobile provider is O2 and she never receives calls like these.

[#2]

Welcome to the community, @Eggpoacher100 . Unfortunately, there is little Plusnet or anyone can do about these calls - they usually originate outside the UK - even if the number calling you appears to suggest otherwise.

The best advice I can give is to ignore any calls where you do not recognise the calling number - eventually you will drop off their 'live numbers' list and you should then see a marked reduction in the volume of spam.

The reason you are receiving these calls is that they are 'autodialled' in number blocks and once your number has been identified as live it is passed around the various networks of 'spam-bots'. It is your number that has been identified, not the fact that is a Plusnet number.

[#3]

As far as the calls to the landline are concerned, it could be worth activating Plusnet Call Protect (you don't say if you already have it).

https://www.plus.net/broadband/extras/call-features/

[#4]

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@jab1 wrote:

It is your number that has been identified, not the fact that is a Plusnet number.

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@jab1 Maybe the above should read "It is by coincidence that the number dialled belongs to you, ..."

Just so that @Eggpoacher100 knows it's not personal and purely random.

[#5]

@Mook You are probably correct - my brain hadn't been properly lubricated when I posted 😉

[#6]

@Eggpoacher100 

The important thing to note is that it's the numbers that are key not the phone supplier. Consequently the calls will follow the numbers regardless of who supplies the service.

It's very interesting that both phones are receiving calls in 'chinese'. As you do not understand the caller I assume that this is an assumption and could be any Asian language. This simply isn't a normal spam call pattern.

It must be more than a coincidence that you are receiving these calls on both devices., it certainly isn't normal for spammers to use the wrong language/country code, so the chances of them randomly picking both your home and mobile number is infinitely small. Can you think of anyone in the far east to whom you have given both numbers?

I would solve the spam home calls simply by getting a BT phone fitted with TruCall, such as the BT 4600. I have an earlier version and had no spam calls for years now.

[#7]

Good thought, @Baldrick1  - must admit I didn't think of that when I made my initial post, but as I said, brain wasn't fully lubricated.

Would be good if @Eggpoacher100  replied, might give us some further insight.

[#8]

There's been a number of people (including me) who have received Chinese calls on their PlusNet mobile. They seem to continue for a few days and then go away for a while, only to return again after a month or so!. Touch wood , I haven't had any for a while.

I've not heard of any to landlines though? . There was a theory that the mobile ones were down to 'recycled' numbers but I seem to recall some people with existing ported numbers had also got the calls. Landline numbers are also recycled these days, although I'm not sure if that's the OP's case

[#9]

Slightly off-topic, but re: spam to mobiles - I have had the same number for as long as I have had a mobile (30 years) and can count the spam calls on the fingers of one hand, which I find strange, to put it mildly.

My landline count is also down to a low single-digit volume per month, and although I can't prove it, I believe that is due to not responding, giving the spammers the idea the phone is unmonitored/unused, and therefore not worth the effort.

[#10]

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@jab1 wrote:

My landline count is also down to a low single-digit volume per month, and although I can't prove it, I believe that is due to not responding, giving the spammers the idea the phone is unmonitored/unused, and therefore not worth the effort.

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That's been my experience too. Not answering unrecognised numbers is the only action I've taken, and it seems to work, given time.

The problem I see with Trucall is that every 'bad' call is answered by the phone, so your number will continue to be seen as a 'live' one, and a potential target.

[#11]

Slightly off-topic, but re: spam to mobiles - I have had the same number for as long as I have had a mobile (30 years) and can count the spam calls on the fingers of one hand, which I find strange, to put it mildly.

Not really, my experience is similar. I have had a Giffgaff Sim and number for at least 10 years and a Plusnet one ( with a new, possibly recycled ) number for about 2 years. Both are in the same dual sim phone and the only one that gets the Chinese spam calls is the PlusNet one.

[#12]

@MisterW Yep, strange that it seems people with PN SIMs seem to be plagued - my back-up mobile (on a 5-6 y.o. Virgin PAYG) doesn't get them either.

[#13]

@jab1  yes, I'm convinced that its largely, but not completely, down to recycled numbers. If the recycled number previously had a 'hit' then the calls are going to continue to whoever gets reallocated the number. Random calling will account for the lower occurence, but still occasional, calling of non recycled numbers.

[#14]

I must stop saying 'I don't get spam calls'😁. I got one at 1520, but they let themselves down badly - the area code they used is not in use, and I spotted that as the previous waste of time call was from the same 'location', and I had checked it out after that call.

[#15]

Looks like this is going to be another 'talk amongst yourselves' thread - the OP's last visit was at 1100, and they're now offline, having not bothered to reply.