Confusing The Elderly

[wired]

Not sure where this should go but... at my very elderly father's yesterday, I answered the phone and someone with a far eastern accent said that they could see that there was a problem with his computer, I told him not to tell lies and hung up, the same person rang again 10 mins later, my response was the same. Late that afternoon I answered his phone again, this time it was a man with an Asian accent, he said his name was David and he worked for BT and they (BT) were aware of the number of nuisance calls we were getting and BT was going to stop them so he (father) would only get calls from friends and family.
As no one had reported nuisance calls I can only assume that it was a scam, I refused to verify name and address and told him to write. Neither callers numbers were available on 1471

[bhg481]

Unfortunately these calls seem to bypass the Telephone Preference Service as they come in from abroad. We have fun with them, asking which of our computers has the problem etc and generally wasting their time. I can see that your dad won't be up to this sort of thing and I think all he can do is hang up on them or let his phone talk to itself for a while.

[Everhelpful]

Typical Scam,you did the right thing.

[pixie373]

I've had to stop elderly clients giving out bank details to strangers over the phone. Also, i don't know about your father, but there must be many people who have power of attorneys, because they are not able to make these decisions themselves. I don't know what happens then. The sooner they outlaw these cold calls, the better.

[wired]

Sadly Pixie they cannot be outlawed, I do have LPA for my father and have told him (many times) not to give out details over the phone and as bhg said most of the calls are from abroad, he gets lots of them despite being registered with TPS. I haven't heard of this scam before, was it orchestrated with someone calling in the morning and them "BT" sympathising later in the day? Just thought I'd let people know, thanks for your replies.

[Buenchico]

The simple solution is to get a BT6500 phone and program it to block anonymous and/or international calls:
http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayTopic.do?topicId=33110

[2sp_]

I have those phones ^, they are great.

You can block all International and withheld calls. You can also block individual UK landline and mobile numbers as you wish. When I say blocked, they still call you but it won't ring or go to your answer phone.

The only thing is that if you have a different phone also plugged in it will still ring even if you have blocked numbers.

Oh, and you have to be careful if you get calls from hospitals or doctors, they are sometimes withheld so can also be blocked.

[wired]

Thanks, as quite a few family members live abroard blocking International calls would be a problem and he has regular calls from his hospital and GP. I have most things covered from his point of view but if others gets similar calls I'm sure hearing that BT will stop them if given some personal details there will be quite a few trusting individuals who will be very happy to oblige.

[pixie373]

The only other option- if he can manage it- is to get rid of the landline and put a mobile next to him. We have clients of 90 plus that have them. No junk calls, then. I've never returned to a landline for the same reason.

[woofgang]

I screen my calls and only pick up when i hear a voice i recognise (answerphone) Could your dad do that?

[trt]

## get rid of the landline and put a mobile next to him. We have clients of 90 plus that have them. No junk calls, ##

I sometimes get junk calls on my mobile pixie!

[woofgang]

me too. (junk calls on mobile)

[DaisyNonna]

I never answer Number Withheld or Out of Area calls. Saves on blood pressure.

[wired]

Thanks for all of the suggestions, my Dad is 90, uses 2 hearing aids has the sound turned up to maximum on the phone but still has difficulty hearing and although he has had cataracts removed recently and has new spectacles he still can't see that well, oh and he had a stroke this year. I gave him a mobile a few years ago but never got on very well with it and now has limited use in his right hand ( yes, he's right-handed). But he still wants to live on his own and be as independant as possible.