Home Insulation scam (UK)

RockyRoger

Mrs RR and I had a cold call yesterday purporting to come from a company empowered by the government to check our loft and cavity wall insulation. The lady cited ECO4. Mrs RR very suspicious.
Today a chap called with a large tool box. But no proper identification. Didn't feel quite pukka. I didn't let him in and I sent him on his way. Mrs RR (who had been praying) very relieved.

Shipmates beware!

North East Quine

I had an odd phone call. The caller introduced herself as "Jo" and started talking about insulation.
I asked who she represented. She repeated that she was "Jo" and carried on talking about insulation.
I asked who she worked for. She repeated that she was "Jo" and returned to her insulation script.
I asked who was paying her to make the call. Again she said "My name is Jo" and back to the script.
I must have tried six or seven times to find out what company / organisation / whatever she was calling from and she replied "My name is Jo" each time.
I gave up and hung up on her, but I don't know why she kept persisting. There wasn't a language difficulty, because she sounded like a native English speaker.

Your lady caller wasn't called Jo, by any chance?

Nick Tamen

This is one reason I have my phone set to send callers not in my contact list straight to voicemail.

Bishops Finger

RockyRoger wrote: »

Mrs RR and I had a cold call yesterday purporting to come from a company empowered by the government to check our loft and cavity wall insulation. The lady cited ECO4. Mrs RR very suspicious.
Today a chap called with a large tool box. But no proper identification. Didn't feel quite pukka. I didn't let him in and I sent him on his way. Mrs RR (who had been praying) very relieved.

Shipmates beware!

What is ECO4, please?

You and Mrs RR acted wisely IMHO. Well done.

Heavenlyannie

I never answer any unexpected phone calls. Anyone who knows me will know I hate phone calls (I was brought up in a house without a phone) and will text me instead.

Alan Cresswell

ECO4 is a government initiative to supply grants towards improving home efficiency (usually insulation, but heat pumps etc also qualify). The scheme is due to end shortly, so this gives scammers the ability to (truthfully) say "this scheme is ending soon", and then going into their usual "you must act now" line (NEVER TRUST ANYONE WHO SAYS YOU NEED TO ACT IMMEDIATELY).

Bishops Finger

Alan Cresswell wrote: »

ECO4 is a government initiative to supply grants towards improving home efficiency (usually insulation, but heat pumps etc also qualify). The scheme is due to end shortly, so this gives scammers the ability to (truthfully) say "this scheme is ending soon", and then going into their usual "you must act now" line (NEVER TRUST ANYONE WHO SAYS YOU NEED TO ACT IMMEDIATELY).

Thanks!

KarlLB

I love scammers. I try to see how long I can keep them going before they twig.

Enoch

North East Quine wrote: »

I had an odd phone call. The caller introduced herself as "Jo" and started talking about insulation.
I asked who she represented. She repeated that she was "Jo" and carried on talking about insulation.
I asked who she worked for. She repeated that she was "Jo" and returned to her insulation script.
I asked who was paying her to make the call. Again she said "My name is Jo" and back to the script.
I must have tried six or seven times to find out what company / organisation / whatever she was calling from and she replied "My name is Jo" each time.
I gave up and hung up on her, but I don't know why she kept persisting. There wasn't a language difficulty, because she sounded like a native English speaker.

Your lady caller wasn't called Jo, by any chance?

That sounds as though it might be a pre-recorded automatic message. I've had one or two of those recently. They're intended to fool you into thinking they are a real person.

It's repeating the same message that makes me suspicious. If you'd given the answer she wanted, you'd have got the next sentence, giving you the impression she was a real person but until then the previous sentence will automatically repeat.

A good way of testing for this is to ask a question, preferably one that you think might be unexpected.


Responding to what @KarlLB ays, sometimes, if I'm not in a hurry, I'll spin scammers along on the basis that while I'm wasting their time, they aren't scamming somebody naive. It's a point of pride if the scammer eventually swears at me.

Stercus Tauri

The trouble with spinning them along until it's obvious that's what you're doing is that some of them have a program that punishes you by calling back at least once a day for a couple of weeks afterwards. I learned that from experience. Better to hang up, or if you are feeling polite, say "Thank you" and then hang up.

North East Quine

No, Jo was definitely real. At one point I asked if she was working for anyone, or if phoning people to talk about insulation was her hobby, and I got a proper reply before she tried to get back to the script. She was just determined not to reveal which company was phoning, she kept mentioning government grants, and was, I think, trying to give the impression she was from some government department or quango.

I, too, enjoy spinning out a scam call. Especially the ones from "microsoft"

Gill H

My dad used to answer in Welsh. The caller hung up every time.

Lamb Chopped

I answer in Vietnamese. Unless the spammer is Vietnamese (like lately), in which case I switch to German. It works great with six foot tall menacing street beggars as well.

Cathscats

When I lived in Chicago I used to use my broadest Scottish accent and say “Do you ken whaur you’re calling? Have you checked the number?” They always hung up.

Hedgehog

In college, my roommate would just speak gibberish that sounded as if it MIGHT be a foreign language. That way we didn't risk the other person knowing the language. "Gonya peekatto! Nay so dinga, carray? Carray??"*

*Translation: Whatever you want it to be...

Merry Vole

Mrs Vole is so grateful we got rid of our landline.
And yes if a caller to my mobile isn't on my contacts I will ignore. Sometimes I phone a mystery number back from my work phone -usually no-one picks up the call.

Alan29

I had a call from someone pretending to be from Microsoft. I asked him if he thought he was making his mother proud by doing this. Then hung up.

mark_in_manchester

I have a friend who is 85 years old, and he enjoys a laugh. He was telling me about dealing with a scammer on the phone; apparently saying he liked the sound of what the guy was offering but would need to check first with his Dad - cue lots of calling up the stairs to 'Dad'...

betjemaniac

Hedgehog wrote: »

*Translation: Whatever you want it to be...

That’s much more offensive than I was expecting tbh.

The Rogue

Enoch wrote: »

Responding to what @KarlLB ays, sometimes, if I'm not in a hurry, I'll spin scammers along on the basis that while I'm wasting their time, they aren't scamming somebody naive. It's a point of pride if the scammer eventually swears at me.

Double points if you make them cry.

Stercus Tauri

I've been told to f*** off by a scammer while I was in the middle telling him he was exactly the person I wanted to talk to, as were about to get quotes for some new windows (but not the kind manufactured by Microsoft).

Molegrip

After I told an obvious scammer he needed to reconsider his life choices, he hung up. Around 10mins later he called again, gave me 5secs of foul abuse, and rang off.