Tellows

More and more often, consumers are victims of telephone fraud or have been harassed by frequent unwanted calls.

Over the last few years, the number of technical support scams has been increasing. There have been over 11,000 tech-support fraud complaints across over 80 countries in 2017 with claimed losses totalling nearly $15m.

tellows is a reverse telephone directory website based on the reports of users. Users can report unwanted calls and leave a so-called tellows score.

It gets annoying when the phone rings and at the other end a salesman, a marketing peddler or a subscription cheat steals valuable time. The tellows caller identification and blocking apps put a stop to that.

This week brought fantastic news for victims of telephone fraud as regulator PhonepayPlus confronted phone offender RS Premium, frequently reported on tellows.co.uk, with a hefty fine and a ban on operating premium rate numbers.

The UK government is currently considering following other countries' lead and introducing radical consumer protection measures with regard to coldcalling.

21st October 2013 brought good news for all phone-owners as British regulator Ofcom joined forces with international regulators in the UK, USA and Canada to crack down on 'spoof' callers.

The latest scam reported by tellows users involves victims receiving telephone calls from individuals who claim to work for the debts department at British Gas.

In an attempt to take advantage of the fact that many people are plagued by persistent calls from call centres and telemarketers, scammers claim to provide telephone preference services.

With an increasing number of people taking to social networking sites as tool to stay in touch with acquaintances, they have become a popular target of scammers and fraudsters.