Nuisance and Fraudulent Calls
Receiving unwanted calls?
Here at Invoco we take a very dim view on nuisance, spam and fraudulent calls. Ofcom has taken good steps over recent years to reduce this as much as possible but frankly there’s still some way to go on this. If you’re receiving these types of calls, the action to take varies depending the type of call you receive…
| NATURE OF CALL | AGENCY FOR REPORTING | EXAMPLE |
|---|---|---|
| Threatening or Harassing Call | The Police | The caller causes alarm, distress and fear of violence (If you feel the calls are threatening or harassing in nature you should report it to your local police force immediately by calling the non-emergency number: 101). |
| Fraudulent Call/ Number Spoofing | Action Fraud | The caller pretends to be calling from your bank or credit card provider (If you have been the victim of a fraudulent call you should report it to Action Fraud who will issue you with a police crime reference number and investigate further). Remember to make a note of as much information as you can, such as time of call, the caller's number, etc. |
| Sales Call (Inital action) | Telephone Preference Service | The caller is trying to sell something to you. (If the call or Fax is unwanted marketing, you can opt out of them using the Telephone Preference Service (TPS). |
| Sales Call (If initial action hasn't worked) | Information Commissioners Office | If you’ve already registered with the TPS and are still receiving calls you can complain to them and they will escalate the breach to the Information Commissioners Office who have the power to fine the perpetrator.) |
| Silent or Abandoned Call | Ofcom | The phone rings and is either silent or disconnects (Abandoned or silent calls should be reported to Ofcom) |
Number Spoofing
What is number spoofing? Number spoofing is where the fraudster manipulates their Caller ID so it’s the same as whatever organisation they’re pretending to be… usually a bank or a credit card company. Unfortunately it’s relatively easy for bad actors to do this and is quite difficult to block automatically. This is a very effective fraud technique as the number that is presented on your phone is a genuine number.
If you receive a call from what appears to be a genuine number but you’re suspicious for whatever reason, hang up and call the organisation back on their official number. And remember if a bank or credit card organisation call you directly they will never ask you for your password. Â
Someone is spoofing my number
You can usually tell if your number has been spoofed because you start to receive calls from people saying that they’re received a call from your number or business which you know you didn’t make. It could be that the fraudsters are pretending to be calling from your business specifically but most likely they’ve chosen a bunch of random telephone numbers from the internet and are using those numbers to hide their actual number and you’re unlucky enough for it to be yours. As with fraudulent calls, report this to Action Fraud as soon as possible giving them as much information as you can.Â
Blocking calls
If you’re consistently receiving unwanted calls then you can use our Call Blocking feature which will allow you block individual numbers, calls from withheld numbers, international numbers., etc., and will hopefully help the situation.
