Beware, this telephone number is currently being used a Computer Scammer!

At 10:52 today an Asian scammer tried to get me to give him control of my PC telling me there was a problem with it. When I told him he was scamming b.....d he hung up!

Do not answer the phone, or questions when you see, or get calls from telephone number 00198977738880

I think I can usually spot a scam call, but the ones which are more likely to trick you are from callers who seem to be from your Bank, ISP, etc., and seem to know all your details. The calls sound convincing because they have got some inside information which a random cold caller would not have.

I had some calls a while back from a chap who said he was from Virgin Media and wanted to offer me a cheaper deal, and seemed to know all my account details. It all sounded too good to be true. I checked the number, and found it originated in Manila, which set the alarm bells ringing big time.

I contacted Virgin Media in the UK who said the number was nothing to do with them. Even so, there must have been a leak of confidential information to the dodgy outfit in Manila. It only takes one bad apple in an organisation to sell private data.

They really are scumbags, who would have your false teeth away if you opened your mouth long enough.

I reckon they should be dealt with under the terms of the Laws in which Country they try to scam people, with Universal power of arrest given to round them up, no matter where they live.

'Scam us and know that we are coming after you' would be my statement...

Ron, maybe you are not aware of the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) This is an official body set up to ensure UK compliance with the relevant legislation on cold calling, The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003

The TPS is designed to prevent unwanted telephone cold-calling to individuals both on land-line and mobile numbers. You can register with them on-line. The service is free and very effective, but it can't stop calls originating from companies with no UK presence, or from companies you have given permission to use your number. On the strength of my experiences, I would recommend registering to prevent almost all these nuisance calls.

There is also a lot of useful information on the TPS web-site on how to deal with nuisance and scam calls.

Thanks Edward and yes I am aware of the TPS. However, having registered twice over the years I think they also leave a bit to be desired.

You are correct of course re the 'UK presence' factor and generally speaking these scumbags are outside the UK.

ActionFraud is also a way to report these scams if it is a regular thing, but you will need details in order for it to be followed up successfully.

It's not even confined to landlines any longer either, with my number being called probably two or three times a week.

See the latest warning from CNET...

http://nls.cnet.com/pageservices/viewOnlineNewsletter.sc?list_id=e497