Dizzy Posted August 6, 2011 Report Share Posted August 6, 2011 We've had two phone calls today from a foreign person calling from 01498 765345 Company name sounded like 'Homeserve' couldn't understand the the bit after 'home' but that's what it sounded like. Homserve are actually the people who we have our water pipes insured with through United Utitities so it wouldn't be them... but it could be someone pretending to be them I suppose. Each time they have wanted to know what TV we have, other half simply said they should not be calling as it is a TPS line and the person didn't seem to care... so he just hung up. They then rang again... but I answered....same question. I said TPS she said 'I'm not selling you anything' and carried on. What TV do you have WHY Have you got Toshiba TV WHY... I need to know WHY.... Is it Toshiba NO... but WHY do you want to know. What brand is it WHY If it's not a Toshiba what is it WHY DO YOU WANT TO KNOW... is this a survey or something !!! No, Can I please have brand name No YOU CAN'T AND I DON'T KNOW WHY YOU ARE ASKING ME THIS, WHO YOU ARE OR WHY ON EARTH YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT TV I HAVE and you still should not be ringing as it is still a TPS line Is it Toshiba what my phone line or my TV (that seemed to confuse her ) and on and on it went for over 5 minutes.. only cos I was having fun. Anyway.....she finally hung up and their number was on my phone so I googled it. It doesn't come up anywhere, nor does it appear on any of the 'who called me' websites. So then I rang Virgin and they searched for it too and couldn't find the number either. Very odd !! Who are these people and why do they keep ringing asking for us by name and wanting to know about our tv... well actually me by my other half's surname. So if anyone else gets a call from the above number about their TV or anything else can you let me know and also ask them what their company name is which sounds like 'Homeserve'. It's not important really I suppose but at least it's taken my mind of Algys photo's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverlady54 Posted August 6, 2011 Report Share Posted August 6, 2011 Found this, Dizzy: 'STD Code of Anupgarh(E) situated in India is 01498. Get STD code of Anupgarh(E) city/town here. If you are dialing to Anupgarh(E) which is located outside your city/town than you would need to add STD code before basic telephone number.' Sounds like a similar scam to the computer one also on lines from India. Don't answer them, they probably want TVs which they can hack into via the internet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
algy Posted August 6, 2011 Report Share Posted August 6, 2011 Dizz, My son in law is the best I have ever heard when answering these nuisance calls he fights fire with fire by asking questions about there personal life e.g. what date is your birthday, are you married, has your husband/wife any bad habits and so on, they soon get fed up and cross you off their list. He' is the only person I know to ask Jehovah's Witnesses in for a debate and they are the first ones to give up and go, my daughter plays heck with him, great lad though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted August 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 6, 2011 Thanks for that SL and the lady was certainly Indian sounding and definately had a very basic knowledge of the English Language and an obsession with Toshiba's. I'm worried now though... should I have kept her on the line for so long as what could they have been doing at the same time? Saying that my phone line is completely seperate from the virgin cabled tv and interenet service so they wouldn't have got much. But then I did tell her my TV was NOT a Toshiba so is that what they only needed to know? Maybe toshes are secure and the rest aren't. Yeah I'm just being paranoid but why would someone want to hack into a TV though, I don't get that. As for not answering the calls, no choice really as I don't have caller display. I'll certainly be checking my phone bill though incase they somehow reversed the charges although it does only show calls over a certain amount. At least I phoned Virgin today and have record of doing so on here. Oooh I forgot to mention about my call to Virgin... The very nice lady who answered the phone asked straight away for the number and asked if I had any idea who they were to which I promptly replied 'I have no idea it was just an annoying foreign person as usual but this one had an obsession about my TV and clearly no idea about...(THEN MY BRAIN KICKED IN AS SHE WAS INDIAN SOUNDING TOO )... pause... when I say annoying I mean the line wasn't very clear so I couldn't hear her very well at first and errrrr....' I think I got away with it but she did seem to have a bit of a giggle in her voice as she must have sensed my sudden panic so put me on hold for a short while (probably until she had stopped laughing ) She was very helpful though once she returned but I felt awful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted August 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 6, 2011 Algy... can I borrow your son in law next week please. The Jehovah's have called at mine 'religiously' every week for about two month now since I happened to be walking out one day as they were knocking on my neighbours door who was out at the time. You know how it is, they say 'Hi isn't it a lovely day', you say 'Hi' back which leads to a general conversation and before you know it they are then your 'friends' and call every week. I've never let them in as we’ve always discussed on the doorstep. Not very polite of me I suppose but I don’t know them really. I’ve always tried to be polite and listened during the 20+ minutes but they just keep coming back. Even when I say I am busy their few minutes leads to 20+. They are very pleasant though and I’m not knocking them for having their beliefs, but what they say doesn’t make sense to me as I’m not like them really and never likely to be even if they call every week forever, I've thanked them for their time, I've told them I'm not really into things like that and have never really wondered ‘why’ things happen to the same degree as they do, I've questioned them, their beliefs, and even the parts that seem to contradict what they are saying but they don't seem to like that as it throws them off their track, so I apologise. I'm rather ashamed to say that I've even hidden when my son saw them heading in our direction as he was looking out of the window. I flew in the kitchen and told him to answer (as they had seen him) and to say I wasn't in. They didn't mind though and they just talked at him for half an hour instead. Give him his due he was polite too and listened intently and answered their questions but swore blind that if I ever did that to him again he would send me to the evil place himself. I could hear the whole converation as I'd crawled across the floor from the kitchen through the dining room to the computer to get my mobile so I could ring him so he in turn could make an excuse that he had to 'go'. The doors between the two rooms are only glass at the top so I managed to remain covert. His blummin’ phone was upstairs as I could hear it ringing but he couldn't. So then I crawled to the door near the hall to see if I could attract his attention whilst at the same time ringing the home phone which is really loud. I presumed that they or he would say 'the phones ringing... have to go' but no they still kept talking to him and he, like me, was too polite to say anything. By this time not only was I still huddled in a ball behind the door but I had tears streaming down my face and was biting my own hand so as to stifle my giggles at what I had done to my son..... Odly enough they always mention about talking to him when ‘I was out’ as if they are wanting me to confess. They say that if I am ever busy or out again they’d like to continue where they left off with him if he’s in. I wonder if they knew somehow or just want to talk to someone who doesn’t ask as many questions as I do as I do sometime seem to throw them and question them too much. Like I say they are both really nice people and they must get a lot out of their beliefs or they wouldn’t do what they do but how can I stop them calling without just being blunt and to the point and sounding rude. How’s that for hijacking my own topic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asperity Posted August 6, 2011 Report Share Posted August 6, 2011 Tell them that you're actually a devout Roman Catholic. They will run a mile! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted August 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 6, 2011 Really... why's that then? Religion is not one of my stronger points and while I am not an atheist I am not really anything which classes me as being 'specific' as such so I might have to read up on how to sound like a new born Roman Catholic for next week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter T Posted August 6, 2011 Report Share Posted August 6, 2011 Dizzy, you wimp. Two words whether answering the eastern phone calls or the JW's at the door. NO THANKS. and close the door or put the phone down. DON'T allow more than two words. Simples. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Sid Posted August 7, 2011 Report Share Posted August 7, 2011 Haven't had one of those phone calls but did once have a call from one of those consumer survey places and made the mistake of taking part in the survey. So now despite having tps activated I now get calls asking me if I have claimed back the money from payment protection. My usual way of dealing with them is tell them that I have actually made a claim and that the payment protection paid off my car when I came out of work. Did have two calls about the computer ISP showing up as red on their system. The first time I spent five minutes trying to convince the guy that I was a computer tech and knew how to deal with it. The second time I just told them that I had informed my ISP of the problem and that they were running a trace on their system and also asking me to record and log calls made about it. Strangely enough the phone went dead after I said that. My stock answer to Jehovahs witness/Mormons/other is to be polite and when they ask if I believe in god to ask them with as straight a face as possible "which one?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverlady54 Posted August 7, 2011 Report Share Posted August 7, 2011 Thanks for that SL and the lady was certainly Indian sounding and definately had a very basic knowledge of the English Language and an obsession with Toshiba's.I'm worried now though... should I have kept her on the line for so long as what could they have been doing at the same time? Saying that my phone line is completely seperate from the virgin cabled tv and interenet service so they wouldn't have got much. But then I did tell her my TV was NOT a Toshiba so is that what they only needed to know? Maybe toshes are secure and the rest aren't.Yeah I'm just being paranoid but why would someone want to hack into a TV though, I don't get that. This is only a guess as I don't know much about the technical side, but if people use their TVs to access the internet for banking, there may be a way of finding out their bank info that way! They must want to gain something from it so I would be very suspicious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted August 8, 2011 Report Share Posted August 8, 2011 There’s absolutely no way that anyone can “hack into” a telly, not that there’s anything in there to hack. If you use your TV as a computer monitor for online banking then exactly the same applies there. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverlady54 Posted August 8, 2011 Report Share Posted August 8, 2011 As I said, I don't understand the technical side, but if people are accessing the internet through their TV and can log into their bank accounts, doesn't that mean the access can be compromised on their line, particularly if they use the same provider for phone, TV and broadband, just as if it was a desktop PC and someone asked about that as in previous scams? I'm interested to know what TV internet access covers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted August 8, 2011 Report Share Posted August 8, 2011 To my knowledge, all TVs only receive information rather like a radio, they don’t send anything out. The TV screen can be used as a monitor if connected to a PC but it’s the actual PC where the risk is not the TV or screen. Where the TV service is broadband based as with the likes of BT Total Vision, yes the same line carries your bank details together with your TV picture and phone line but that goes into the BT box that “extracts” the TV picture to be displayed on your TV. The BT box is essentially a glorified router and your bank details are held on your computer not your telly. Clear as mud I bet but don’t worry. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverlady54 Posted August 8, 2011 Report Share Posted August 8, 2011 I think I understand, and when I thought about it, I decided the TV must only act as a monitor, but it does make Dizzy's scam call all the more worrying as the question still remains, why would anyone need your TV details without gaining something from it? They aren't going to keep phoning people from India just to ask them what model their TV is with no ulterior motive, are they? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted August 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2011 Well at least they haven't rung back again... YET Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victor Posted August 11, 2011 Report Share Posted August 11, 2011 I had a call from these characters at 9:00 pm last night. She immediately asked what kind of TV I had and when I asked her why she wanted to know she didn't say but just kept on naming different brands. I eventually managed to get a word in and said "I'm not sure of the make of my TV but if you hang on I will go and check". I then hung up. I wonder how long she hung on ???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
algy Posted August 12, 2011 Report Share Posted August 12, 2011 had the usual call today at about 12pm, a woman with an Indian/pakistani accent stating she was involved in a survey, I didn't allow her to go any further and politely interrupted her stating as Sid had suggested that my ISP had been informed of these nuisance calls and they are running a trace (that's when the line went dead!) on these calls etc. Shall wait and see if she rings back, the same woman with the same patter has been ringing us for months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Sid Posted August 12, 2011 Report Share Posted August 12, 2011 I hope I get one of those calls about the TV. My reply would be "He is a six foot six ex Glaswegian docker that makes all his own dresses and answers to the name of Nancy" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted August 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2011 Vicor.... Weird that you got one too Did you happen to get the name of their company and was the phone number the same one that rang me ie 01498 765345 ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victor Posted August 12, 2011 Report Share Posted August 12, 2011 Dizzy, Firstly, why are you calling me Vicor ?? Secondly, NO I didn't get the company name or the tel. number. I will try harder next time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Sid Posted August 13, 2011 Report Share Posted August 13, 2011 More tea ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted August 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2011 Yes please Evils... decaf, milk and no sugar please ps Victor... do 1471 if they ring you again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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