How to put a stop to cold calls
Research by Ofcom shows around half of us receive a cold call every month. Many are from scammers who have found new ways to trick us out of money. Here is our checklist for blocking those calls…
Use a free call-blocker BT’S Call Protect is a free service for customers that automatically diverts calls to your junk voicemails if they have been identified as being on BT’S blacklist. You can also manually block certain callers.
Sky’s Talk Shield service is free for its Broadband and Talk customers. Callers have to state their name, then you can choose to accept the call, add the caller to a Star List (they’ll get through every time) or Block List, or send them to voicemail. If it’s an automated call, it will be blocked. Talktalk offers a very similar service for its customers called Callsafe.
Buy a call-blocker or call-blocking phone You can purchase devices that plug into your existing landline and block unwanted and automated calls. We rate the Truecall Call Blocker (£99, Amazon). You can also buy a home phone that has call-blocking tech built-in; we recommend the Panasonic KX-PRS120EW (£69.99, Currys PC World).
Block nuisance calls on your mobile You can block individual numbers on your mobile. For iphones, go to your Recent Calls and press the i next to the number. Here, you can choose to block the caller. For Android phones, go to your recent calls, select the number to block and Add to Reject List from the menu in the top right-hand corner. On both iphone and Android, calls from the blocked number will go straight to voicemail.
Register with the Telephone Preference Service Visit tpsonline.org.uk and register to opt out of receiving any unsolicited telesales calls. It’s free and works for your landline and mobile. It can take up to 28 days to come into effect. If you have given permission for a company to call you, then you could still receive calls from them, even when you are registered.