Missed calls from our landline but no calls made

[Andyjenk3]

We have had 3 calls in 3 days from people who say they missed a call from our number. One actually read out the number he had - which was ours! We have not made any calls at all! Any suggestions?

[nodrogd]

One word. Scammers.

Your number has likely been cloned by scammers in India who are using it on their caller ID to convince people they are calling from a UK number.

These numbers are changed regularly, so calls should subside in a few days.

[coenoby]

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@Andyjenk3 wrote:

One actually read out the number he had - which was ours! We have not made any calls at all! Any suggestions?

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Sadly, your experience is becoming increasingly common.

In the old days spammers used to spoof their number with obviously fake numbers (such as "12345" for example)  simply to get round blocks on 'number withheld' calls. Now as you have discovered they tend to use  genuine phone numbers.

It is no comfort I know, but it's worth pointing out that the scammers have no knowledge of you whatsoever.

They just happen to have picked your landline number at random from a large block of numbers they are currently using.

Hopefully the people calling you back have been polite. Unfortunately some innocent individuals  and businesses have suffered from abusive callers who have been under the impression that they are talking to the scammers themselves. Hopefully that won't happen to you but it is worth bearing in mind.😉

The good news is that as @nodrogd has said,scammers change the numbers they use quite frequently, mainly to get round any number blocking that victims may have put in place. So this should not  go on for long.

Unfortunately there is not a lot any of us can do to avoid this happening to us.

Coenoby

[Hayley_S]

Hello @Andyjenk3.

Welcome back to the community page, thank you for posting on here.

I am sorry to see that you have been receiving nuisance phone calls.

Please see our webpage on how to deal with these call by clicking here.

I hope this helps.

Many thanks,

[Andyjenk3]

The people calling me do not appear to be scammers. In fact they appear to have been scammed into phoning me, which they probably are charged for. I need to know:

A) HOW is it possible for my landline phone number to appear on "missed calls"? They ARE in missed calls, not messages - I asked.

B) Who do I need to contact to stop this happening? It has gone from one every 2 days to 3 a day.

C) Is this happening as a result of VM disclosing 100s of thousands of customers' details recently and if so what is VM doing about it?

[Andyjenk3]

What do scammers gain by getting someone to phone ME? As I see it only the phone company gains as the caller is paying for a needless call. ARE PHONE COMPANIES DOING THE SCAMMING AS THEY HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY AND GAIN THE BENEFIT?

[goslow]

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@Andyjenk3 wrote:

The people calling me do not appear to be scammers. In fact they appear to have been scammed into phoning me, which they probably are charged for. I need to know:

A) HOW is it possible for my landline phone number to appear on "missed calls"? They ARE in missed calls, not messages - I asked.

B) Who do I need to contact to stop this happening? It has gone from one every 2 days to 3 a day.

C) Is this happening as a result of VM disclosing 100s of thousands of customers' details recently and if so what is VM doing about it?

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If your number has been used as a fake caller ID then, in answer to your questions

A) A feature of the present phone network allows callers to insert their own caller ID when they place calls. Businesses do this legitimately when, for example, they want to present a general switchboard number as their caller ID.

B) There is nothing you can do to stop this. As advised above, it should, hopefully, die out on its own when the scammers switch to another fake caller ID. You have just been unlucky that they have taken your number. In the meantime, you could leave a message on your answering machine explaining your number is a private residential number and has been misused as a fake caller ID and let calls go to answering machine (or just an announcement with no option to leave a message)

C) It has come about as a result of scammers' identifying your number is live and working line and then feeding this back into their scamming routine as a fake caller ID.

Proposals exist to make it harder for the scammers to use fake caller ID as part of the switch off of the existing analogue phone network. Unfortunately this won't be fully implemented for a few years yet.

[Hayley_S]

Hello @Andyjenk3.

Thank you for confirming this to me.

I was able to locate your account using your forums details, an appointment has been booked as it seems that you may have a crossed line, which is what could be causing this, the engineer will be able to check this and amend it.

Please check on your online account for your appointment, please note this is the earliest date and time we have at the moment.

Many thanks,

[Andyjenk3]

So it probably is due to VMs data breach. Thank you VM for the harassment you've caused.

I still do not see WHY?

[Hayley_S · Accepted solution]

I apologise if this is how it came across @Andyjenk3, but this is not what I meant, please do understand that I am here to try and help you.

I can not tell you why as I do not know, only the engineer can check to see if this is the case, I am not saying this is 100% the issue but we need to rule it out as a possibility.

If you do not want this I can cancel it for you, please let me know.

Thanks,