
This was an article reported in the papers today about a rare customer win for people being harassed by cold marketing calls from a robot, meaning the people affected could receive up to $900 if they received a call!

Regulatory bodies across the world are finally coming down hard on the people who breach our trust in them to keep our data safe, and to not abuse it by selling it or feeding it into robotic auto diallers.
If you still use a landline then you will have definitely experienced the inconvenience of a robocall. It goes something like this:
"Hello and welcome to <Companyname>, you have been selected as a special recipient of <fictitious prize>, to claim your <fictitious prize>, dial this premium rate number or press 3 to speak to one of our agents"
It’s pretty annoying, and you could receive them even if you are part of the TPS list TPS Website (a service UK companies have to adhere to when cold calling UK telephone numbers) this only really applies to UK companies.
A large amount of these calls actually come from countries with quite lax telephone practice regulations, but quite often, they show a UK telephone prefix on their call, ensuring a higher possibility of someone answering (many people don’t answer with-held number telephone calls).
I find the practice of calling from overseas for robo-marketing or any other type of telephone marketing to be highly annoying, mainly because the calls are about a car accident i never had, or a PPI claim I should pursue.
So what can you do about it?
If you are receiving nuisance calls on a regular basis, which have a UK telephone number, and you are on the TPS list, you can report the number for abuse/harassment/nuisance by inputting the number into the telecom tariffs website to find the operator.
You can see the operator of the number at the bottom (Virgin Media in this case), and it is then simply a case of logging a complaint to them. They will contact the owner of the number and inform them to cease and desist or the service will be disconnected.
This may only stop the calls short term, but until all of the countries unite against telephone abuse, then there is not much else we can do.
If you are receiving nuisance calls or ‘robocalls’, my advice is to do the following:
- Register your telephone numbers on the TPS website
- Record your calls (there are many free android apps out there, sorry iPhone users)
- Take a note of the number and report it using the system above if it becomes a nuisance.
For SMS spam abuse, simply forward the SMS for free to your operator:
- EE, Orange, T-Mobile and O2: Forward the SMS to 7726
- Vodafone: Forward the SMS to 7726 or 87726
- Three: Forward the SMS to 7726 or 37726
An easy way to remember 7726 is that they are the numbers on your telephone keypad that spell out the word SPAM.
Are you getting nuisance calls? Have you been called by an auto/robo dialler? Do you have any further suggestions on how to keep your number safe?
Comment below and I will include it in a future update article. Thanks for reading.
edit: 16/08 12:13. Just received an unsolicited telephone call from overseas about a car crash i may have had last year that I should claim for. Telephone number: 02033933177. I’ll be reporting it now to Magrathea Telecom.