14
Aug
2014
By Calvin at 14:39 GMT, 9 years ago
Press Release
Advice is given to concerned members of the public not to answer calls from numbers that they don’t recognise. Recently the police have received reports of scam telephone calls to residents in Carlisle and Barrow which have been received from local area numbers.
The scam relates to accident claims and people are duped into answering because they believe that someone local is telephoning.
If you answer the phone to a local number, and are uncertain about the call or what it relates to, then end the call straight away. Just hang up.
Never give any personal details to anyone over the phone who you don’t know.
Anyone who is concerned about these scams can contact Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or visit their website.
Also information is available on Cumbria Police website
TCPW Comment: Whilst we’re learning about yet more problems with cold calls I watched a recording of Channel 4’s excellent Dispatches program last night. This episode was called ‘nuisance phone calls’ which concerned the cold calling telephone companies (call centres) employed by some of our biggest charities. Oh dear........
You can still watch the episode at this link: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/on-demand/59588-001
You can make your own mind up about the content, but isn’t it ironic that people like me and the police say don’t do any dealings with cold callers at the door or on the phone and at the same time some of our biggest charities are using just these approaches to raise their funds.
If you want to donate to a charity can I suggest you make a direct approach to the charity and cut out the middleman who’ll be taking a healthy cut of your donation.
Also get yourself a Call Blocker, so you can stop the repeated calls that these call centres make.
