Spam

[Laurajohn346]

I have just moved to three and I have been getting heavy spam to my number to the point where I want to cry what do I do?

[sc1999]

Did you port your number or have 3 given you a new number? If it's a new number from 3 then it may have been used by someone else. If it is new call customer services on 333, explain  the issue, and ask for a new number. Other than a new number I can offer no advice. I never get spam but my brother, on Vodafone, gets a couple if calls a week.

[JonathanB]

Hey @Laurajohn346,

I'm sorry to hear that you've been inundated with spam. For calls from telepests, you can register with the Telephone Preference Service (tpsonline.org.uk) this will stop you from receiving cold calls from companies that you haven't given marketing permission to. This will only help with legitimate companies of course.

For numbers that appear to be fraud, phishing, scammers, or even nuisance callers you can also report these by texting CALL then the number that dialled you to 7726. This helps us investigate and block them.

As @sc1999 mentioned, if you're not too attached to your phone number then we can also help by changing it for you.

JonathanB

[sc1999]

Telephone preference service is a waste of time as most of these would be thieves are in countries which don't give a damn about UK law. I registered years ago and in the end I unplugged my landline due to 99% of all calls being spam, I had made all of my contacts use my mobile. It can be great fun winding up these morons if you have nothing better to do. If you want some examples please let me know.

[JonathanB]

I totally get where you're coming from, as I mentioned the TPS only applies to legitimate marketing calls, it's definitely not a foolproof solution, but may help a little bit. You'll never know what number of calls you're not receiving after all.

For the criminal scammers, my understanding is that they are generally using an automated dialler that will call 07********1 then 07********2, etc... all that can be done there is to report the number by text as I mentioned above, and check if your phone has a call blocking/screening feature as you may be able to prevent further calls from the same number that way.

I can see the appeal in winding them up but personally I try to avoid giving them any indications that my number is actually in use, so I generally just let them go to voicemail.