Chinese language robocalls scammer calls to PN mobile

[#1]

I had one of these calls yesterday morning and I had another this morning from a different number this time.  If it carries on and becomes more frequent, I will leave Plusnet and move to another provider.  I've only been with Plusnet 8 or 9 months and it hasn't happened to me before with another service provider.

[#2]

4 sims with plusnet and never had any of these spam calls, until on 3rd July I rang and requested pac codes for all 4 sims. And it was if someone had switched on a button. All four of us then received these calls more often than not nearly everyday. Sometimes one phone would ring immediately after another. Decided in the end to stay on a 12 month contract but these calls are starting to p everyone off

[#3]

Same for me.

The only number that I got these calls on was a number ported from plusnet and they only started after I requested a port.

[#4]

As an update to my last post, I had another of these calls this morning at the same time and actually had my phone switched off.  When I turned my phone on, there was the message and it was very clear this time that these calls are definitely Chinese robo calls.  I have an iPhone and this is the first time I have received calls like this on this phone.  Clearly I am going to be getting these calls each morning and possibly at other times.  What I can't understand is why I've never had any other calls like this on my iPhone before but I'm getting these.  As I've said before, I am on a 30 day contract with Plusnet and guess what when I do leave, I won't be asking for a Pac code.

[#5]

I would be surprised if the PAC code had anything at all to do with these, I have been getting them for over a year with only a short break and I don't have a PAC code.

[#6]

I've just started getting these too, after 12 months on PN SIM only without (much) bother. I rang PN this morning to check if I was on a rolling 30 day contract (I am) so i could make a decision about whether to leave or not, and got the most obnoxious person, who seriously needs to take some chill pills. I got a big sermon about how they know there's a problem but all networks will have their spammers. When I explained that this and other forum members had reported no (or little) problems with other networks, and could he just answer my question please, he got right sniffy and then proceeded to take me through six layers of security - being a Very Silly Person (my original description was blocked lol), I guess.

Anhyoo, the upshot is that PN knows there's a problem and have absolutely no response to it. What a way to lose customers.

[#7]

There is no way it makes sense that these are anything other than random calls.  If they were trying to target the calls in any way, or had spent good money buying contact details, they would have a) done it with a view to being given some idea of who was likely to speak Japanese, and b) would not be wasting their money continually calling someone who is clearly not Japanese (some of us have pressed 1 and spoken to a Japanese human.  They didn't need to pay an ISP to  get a list of numbers that in any case is still apparently too random to be of any use to someone hoping to find a japanese speaker on the other end.  

[#8]

Chinese or Japanese ?..    

I posted our experience above hoping that someone from the Plusnet team would contact me for more info?. Still stick with what I posted as requesting the pac codes . We`ve been with plusnet mobile for a couple of years without any spam calls during that time. I`m not joking when I say that the calls happened almost immediately after requesting the pac codes. That very day when everyone was home we were discussing the calls. 

Happily there seems to be a lull at the moment and none of us has had a call for about a week and I hope it remains, fingers crossed. 

Four sims ?   too much of a coincidence I think 

[#9]

Hello @Maloney 

I am deeply sorry for the spam calls you have been receiving, whilst we understand this can cause alot of nuisance, unfortunately, this is not something we will be able to completely eliminate.

It is worth checking on the previous thread posts what members of our team have advised on this forum to other users.

It is difficult to identify how scammers can obtain your contact information as there is a vast amount of method your contact details can be obtained, for example, you may have purchased from a website and provided your contact information, this information was forwarded onto a 3rd party and so forth.

We are aware of an overseas cold caller and is happening to random numbers overall networks. We, unfortunately, have no way to block these on mobile and can only advise you to ensure you have register with Telephone Preference Service. It is worth checking your mobile handset to see if it has a block function built which may help. There are also free apps you can download onto your mobile that can help reduce unwanted calls.

Hope this information has helped.

If you need any further asssistance please do let us know.

Many thanks.

[#10]

Thanks for the reply Dumbledore  

Have read this thread from start to finish a few times before I posted . Other people have commented the advise is useless .

TPS does not cover overseas calls . You can block all  the numbers till the cows come home but they do not use the same number.

quote

"It is difficult to identify how scammers can obtain your contact information as there is a vast amount of method your contact details can be obtained, for example, you may have purchased from a website and provided your contact information, this information was forwarded onto a 3rd party and so forth"

All FOUR of us this evening have been sat thinking, and scratching our heads over which website that may have a listing of all FOUR of our mobile numbers?

Then it came to us,    A website that all FOUR of our mobile numbers are held.

A website that has  several times been responsible for  "personal data security breaches"? Any suggestions https://www.plus.net/ ? 

[#11]

Very true. Our young grandson (who was a newcomer to mobile phones) received the Chinese robocalls the first day that he owned a mobile phone and the day that he joined PlusNet! He had no contacts on his phone and had visited no websites. No other company, apart from PlusNet, had that number, Plusnet agreed to issuing a brand new, i.e. a previously uncirculated number and he has had no calls since.

[#12]

The evidence seems very compelling.  Does anyone have any theories about how this is implemented?  Did Plusnet specifically agree to sell a list of their phone numbers to a company who bought the list knowing that 99.99% of them were not going to understand a word of Chinese?   Or did Plusnet unwittingly buy a bulk purchase of existing numbers that had already been used by a comms company that served mainly chinese speakers and the list was actually sold all that time ago?   I can't believe that a list of mainly UK english-speaking customers was specifically sold, or bought, for the purpose of chinese speakers trying to speak to english speakers and sell them something . 

[#13]

My own gut feeling is that the phone numbers we have been given were in use before.  I read the post this morning by the man who said that his grandson had got his first mobile phone and registered with Plusnet.  He had not registered with any website and had no contacts on his phone yet he started receiving these calls as soon as he started to use his phone.  This makes a nonsense of the excuse that Plusnet has tried to make about websites selling our details.  My friends all use a range of SIM card providers and none of them have this problem.  If these calls were going out randomly, all providers would be equally affected and that is not the case.

I have an iPhone and have been able to block all calls except from those on my contact list.  This is my phone for personal use so it is okay for me to do this as I have another phone and use that number when I'm registering my details on websites and this again blows another explanation from Plusnet out of the water as my personal mobile phone is not registered on websites.  My other phone is registered with Virgin and I've had no problems with that phone.

[#14]

Fingers crossed as I no longer get these calls!   However, I feel iti is perhaps worth a mention that they did not only come to my mobile, but also to my landline which is not with Plusnet, but with the Post Office.

Further research over months, these calls were very common in Australia and the USA primarily aimed at Chinese communities telling the recipients to call a certain number because they had been left money, an obvious scam which I think was eventually stopped.   Perhaps the UK was next on the list, I have no idea other than the fact that they were being received here largely by people who were not Chinese,so it is a mystery.

I think the last one I received was a month ago.

incidentally I am not Chinese!

[#15]

Everything points to it being a Plusnet issue. We have three sims. Two are numbers ported in and one is a child's first phone registered nowhere so only family and plusnet know number. Child has been getting these calls. Plusnet are not interested. Would charge for new number but if their numbers are compromised it woukd be useless. Switching child's pho e to new provider with new number. Once done will port ours to new providor too.