General Chat

Deanna
Hi I don't think we've spoken before~~
I had exactly the same as you, with hindsight I should have reeled him in and got more info out of him , but they are so clever and do not reveal details.
I told him I had no debts and he insisted I did, so I asked him where he had my details from and the line went dead!!!
He knew my name, I've opted out of having my name put on the electoral register for public use, am ex directory so where do these scammers get their info from. ..?
I do not buy online , I shred all my mail with addresses on. If I do buy from catalogues I always put my middle name as beginning with F , which it isn't but then I at least know where they have had the info from:)
Just as well you were vigilant but unfortunately others aren't so.
Sandie.x

This came up a couple of weeks ago on here.

It is a SCAM in CAPITAL LETTERS.

Tell the caller to go away (use whatever expletives you like, Baldrick had a few good ones) and put the phone down. Don't even enter into a conversation.

I have no compunction whatsoever in telling cold callers where to go , but it seems a bit racist until you can understand what they are saying before you go down that road :)

Just to clarify my description of the call centre in India.

Awhile ago there was an email circulating freely on the internet of a photo of such a person and underneath it it had "The latest call centre in India. You have all spoken to him".
The photo was of a man on a crowded strip of sand, either a beach or a riverbank with typical crowd scenes such as you would see in the Far East behind him and sitting on a modified bike with a computer, generator and phone exactly as I have described.
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There was no racism implied but the fact is ,we get calls every day from people with accents wanting to sell phones, free holidays, new telephone providers asking about our phone bill and if you answer with something that is not on their list of words they hang up.

Racism / racialism doesn't enter into the equation. These people are identity thieves, short and simple.

Just a few seconds conversation with them, even if you don't allow them access your computer - which is what they are really after - can let them confirm more about you than you will ever give away by putting your mother's details on your GR tree.

My niece felt it was a dig at part of her culture, so therefore it was perceived as racist by her. She should know. She has been the victim of it a number of times, and no, she is not over sensitive. I perceived it as being racist, too.

LGP, I was referring to a comment by Marjery, which was derogatory about call centres in India, not about scams. I did point out that scams are very different. And Illegal. So Marjery's repitition of something she saw elsewhere was inappropriate at the very least, and the original was derogatory and was racist. I found it offensive, as well as my niece. And do you know the saddest bit? They were the very family I was referring to in my original post!! Which was why I pointed it out to her when she popped in with her brother.

Love

Daff xxxxx

c'mon ladies - handbags at six paces!
Racist? Jesus H - it'll be a multi thousand pound compensation claim next! Get over it.

Do you know, Eddie, I spent many, many years not speaking up when I found something distasteful. I would shut up and put up. But then I realised that I have a right to my own point of view, and I have the right to challenge any remarks I find unpleasant or whatever. I have exercised that right on this thread. Poor Jude, I do apologise, but I have to run with this one.... I'll owe you next month!

Now, I wonder if I was a male challenging that *joke* you would have come out with something quite as derogatory as that statement there... maybe meant in jest? Yes, erm... very funny! Not.

No multi thousand pound compensation claims... just pointing out how a *simple* *joke* can be perceived by someone whose culture is on the receiving end.

Jude, I am afraid that my sticking to my principles has meant your thread has degenerated.... I reiterate what I said at the start though... that was definitely a scam, and definitely against the law. I have had one phonecall already this morning, very similar.... oh, and it was a British Regional accent. It seems I have a problem with my pc, too..... ;¬)) I turned Ceebeebies up very loud and left her enjoying the music.

Love

Daff xxxx

Actually Eddie, I agree with Daff.

It's very negative remark to make about India's call centres when in fact India's call centres are very technologically advanced and India is now perceived as a very much an up and coming country.

Daff has been nothing but polite and certainly there has been nothing from Marjery or Daff to suggest "handbags at six paces", they've put their points across very politely in my opinion.

I actually found your remarks " Jesus H" and Get over it" more confrontational.

**wonders whether there is a male version of Handbags at Six Paces which is equally derogatory"

I agree with Daff,
I wouldn't hang up the phone on any foreign person,altho we know that call centres do employ Indian people.
As in my case I asked ( cos I couldn't understand what they were saying ) I asked...
'Were did you get my details from please !?'
They immediately hung up !
I no way give any bank / credit / internet details on cold calls or any thing that I myself initiate.
Sandie.

being a bit hard of hearing,and also being a bit of a realist I find no racialism, in the "call centre" joke........that applies whether it is an indian person speaking, a northern Ireland person , from wales, or from north of the border. strong accents for me, just do not work.......I have also lost count of the number of times I have to ask a telephone helpline correspondent to speak up, and also the amount of times I have had to abandon a call, because I just cant understand them.........
Bob

Hi Bob, I think it was the comment about someone peddling on the bike that was the issue.

Yes, 007, exactly right... it was inappropriate, and totally unecessary to make the *3rd world* bicycle comparison to the legitimate (although maybe tiresome, but legal none the less. Many UK based institutions contract out to them!) Call Centre work that goes on in and from India... which is actually very technically advanced in many areas, these days. Your point about the strong regional accents even from within the UK is very valid... my mum has hearing problems, so misses the nuances of some of these. In my opinion a very good thing... she tends to be very very trusting. So my issue was not about call centres in India... if you read again I am sure you will see that... but about the crude *peddaloe* reference. A *joke* that wasn't and isn't a joke, being passed on rather than shoved in the bin where it belongs. Now that WAS racist... and if you can't see that, it is because you are looking at it from your own perspective, which is probably not Indian, or Asian. Just because you can't see it yourself, does not mean that it isn't so.

The issue about scamming calls is a separate issue entirely. Now that is illegal, and can destroy lives with the identity theft etc that can happen as a result.

So... my original statement was, I never respond to ANY cold callers.... e-mail, doorstep or telephone. Ever. No matter what id they present to me (charities and double glazing/conservatory salesfolk). Ever. Eventually, if cold callers were not getting any responses, then they would stop the practice... it is precisely because people do respond, to legit as well as scams... that the practice is so proliferate just now.

Thank you, Sandie and 0073/4 for understanding exactly what I meant.

Love

Daff xxxx

Having had the Microsoft call a while ago and the virus call this week I am now regretting not getting them to repair my non existing S..y satelitte.

I must be very lucky I now only get automated calls which I hang up on immediately and they are now dwindling. When I use to get cold callers before they could ask me anything I told them that if they called again I would put them on my nuisence phonecall list. Job done

I think it is a scam

To clarify my remarks once more.
Everyone knows that India is the IT centre of the world and graduates hundreds of computer experts who are employed by overseas companies
Everyone knows that all firms and lots of banks use call centres in India as it is a less expensive option than employing staff in their own countries and that they are large and modern and well run. No argument there.

Everyone knows that there is a huge Middle Class in India who live in good houses and own cars and televisions and live quiet prosperous lives. They never make the news as no one is interested in good news. My very nice Indian friend told me that.

I doubt whether people making these telephone scams are calling from a properly run and modern call centre. Perhaps telephone companies who are handling scam calls should be asked about tracing them if possible or the attention of the police should be drawn to them..

Nobody is implying that the man on the bike is sitting there making scam phone calls to people in Britain. Only the photographer who took the original picture would know why he took it and where.

Someone has obviously found it on the Internet, stuck a caption on it and circulated it as an E Mail. It arrived on my computer among a collection of jokes. I deleted them all after I had read them as I usually do. Me deleting my email doesn't mean that it isn't still circulating out in the ether somewhere. A lot of people had seen it before me.

Nothing was said or implied by me about India being a third world country. As far as I know it is now regarded as coming up to First World status along with C..... I won't mention the name in case someone has a C...... relative looking on who will take offence.
All countries have rich and poor people in them whether they are First World or not and it has nothing to do with the overall standing of the country in question.
Lastly I was brought up in a country with no colour bar (for want of a better word) and no class conscienceness . "Jack was as good as his master" and no one cared what religion you were or even if you had one.

I have not ever been in the habit of analysing every thing I see and read looking for racial overtones and I am not about to start to suit other people's ideas of political correctness. I find it rather sad to hear that people in this day and age think like that. Perhaps they need to look at themselves to find out why.

There has recently been a scam where I live that netted the culprits in the vicinity of half a million dollars and a number of people on talk back radio bravely came forward to admit they had been scammed and to warn others. The calls were traced to a country in A...... Not mentioning the name for the same reasons as above.

We have an answerphone, cheap basic one, so we can just sit there and monitor what calls to respond to, leave the cold callers talking to themselves, they soon click off even the automated ones lol

Lizx