A new study has revealed that London is the most exploited area by cold callers.
Refurbished tech experts Back Market analysed the number of nuisance call reports coming from 752 area codes in the UK, as reported on who-called.co.uk since 2015, to see which area codes receive the highest percentage of reports nationally.
Researchers also analysed the most recent comments left while making these reports to determine the most common phone scams by number of reports.
A spokesperson at Back Market commented on the findings,
“Unwanted phone calls have become an all too common facet of modern life, with scammers and marketers regularly making outbound calls that many people would rather avoid. These are so common that many people feel apprehensive when they see an unknown phone number, especially if it is a landline.
“To help others with this problem, people log numbers that make nuisance calls on sites such as who-called.co.uk. We wanted to see which area codes were being targeted most often as the base of operations for unwanted callers, finding London’s 020 area code had the most reports. Surprisingly, Blandford Forum was third on our list, with the number of reports for the 01258 area code more than 43 times greater than the Dorset town’s population.
“We also analysed what people had to say in their reports to identify the most common type of scam nationally. We found that scammers routinely impersonate trusted institutions like banks, Amazon, and internet providers such as BT. Banks were the most frequent institution scammers impersonated, with 587 out of 1,168 reports (50%) we looked at mentioning matters relating to bank accounts.
“While certain businesses will contact you if they suspect something is wrong with your account, they will never ask you to transfer money when calling you, will never ask you to download software, and will always be happy for you to hang up and call back on a number you know belongs to them. In addition, they will never pressure you with time constraints, and will do their best to reassure you if there is suspected fraud on your account.
“Scammers, on the other hand, know that the chances of their scam being successful diminish dramatically if their target hangs up and calls a different number to verify what they are being told. They will always try to complete their scam in one call and will routinely prey on the fears and good nature of their mark to get them to transfer money as fast as possible. Never feel pressured to correct a mistake made by a company’s employee on a call like this, as this is a common way of getting people to send money because they feel sorry for the person who made the mistake.
“Scammers will also try to complete their scam by having victims transfer money through less protected payment methods such as bank transfers. This is because banks have fewer avenues of recovering money transferred this way than if a credit card was used, for example.
“If you are ever suspicious of what you are being told or receive a call out of the blue discussing transactions or account details, never feel bad for hanging up, waiting a few minutes while you find a phone number or other contact information for the institution in question, then contacting them through that trusted and secure contact method. Banks often have their customer service number printed on the back of credit and debit cards. You can also find contact information through official correspondence such as letters, bills, or statements.
“Scammers are very unlikely to wait around while you complete your checks and will usually move on to their next target by the time you are ready to verify things with the institution in question. This will also give you time to calm down, so if fraud has happened on your account, you can help the advisor identify fraud quickly and begin fraud protection procedures promptly.
“There are a few options for blocking spam callers and minimising the chances of being targeted by a scammer. Turning on call filtering in your phone’s settings, registering with the TPS, using a third-party call filtering app, and using call filtering on handsets with this option are all good choices.”
How to block spam calls
There are several options for blocking calls from unknown numbers. On iPhone, you can enable Silence Unknown Callers by going to Settings > Phone, scrolling down to Silence Unknown Callers, tapping the option, and turning on the feature. This will block phone numbers that are not in your contacts list or that you have not contacted in some way previously from calling you. It is disabled for 24 hours after using an emergency call.
On Android, open the Phone App, tap the three dots in a vertical pattern for more options, tap Settings, and then turn on Caller ID and spam protection. This uses a database of phone numbers to determine a caller’s ID and filter out spam calls.
For landlines and mobiles, you can register your phone number with the Telephone Preference Service, the UK’s official Do Not Call list. Once you have registered the desired numbers with the TPS, telemarketers and sales callers are legally required to not call those numbers.
Third-party apps can also help filter spam calls, and many options are available. Many landline handsets also offer call filtering.
Which areas host the most nuisance calls?
| 10 UK area codes used most by nuisance callers, by percentage of national reports | |||||
| Rank | Area | Number of lookups | Number of reports | Percentage of all reports nationally | Area Code |
| 1. | London | 183,210,617 | 3,580,172 | 20.14% | 020 |
| 2. | Manchester | 66,412,481 | 611,150 | 3.44% | 0161 |
| 3. | Blandford Forum, Dorset | 1,218,237 | 508,653 | 2.86% | 01258 |
| 4. | Liverpool | 17,387,057 | 439,605 | 2.47% | 0151 |
| 5. | Leicester | 9,161,592 | 435,501 | 2.45% | 0116 |
| 6. | Leeds | 17,447,710 | 373,659 | 2.1% | 0113 |
| 7. | Birmingham | 23,944,561 | 351,554 | 1.98% | 0121 |
| 8. | Sheffield | 10,502,984 | 318,806 | 1.79% | 0114 |
| 9. | Glasgow | 20,548,882 | 254,500 | 1.43% | 0141 |
| 10. | Bristol | 8,143,248 | 220,745 | 1.24% | 0117 |
| UK Overall | 709,179,147 | 17,774,148 | |||
London takes the top spot for the area where the most nuisance calls originate from in the UK. A total of 3.58 million reports of nuisance phone numbers have been made against 020 area code numbers on who-called.co.uk, making up 20.14% of the UK’s 17.77 million reports.
Manchester is the second hardest hit by nuisance callers, with 3.44% of all reports filed nationally against 0161 area code numbers. In total, Manchester numbers have had 611,150 nuisance caller reports.
Blandford Forum, Dorset, is third, with 2.86% of the UK’s reports. The 01258 area code has had 508,653 nuisance call reports in total, an alarming figure when Blandford has a population of 11,796.
