Accident that wasn't my fault.

[Rollypolly]

I'm sure this must have already been discussed but I was just curious having received yet another phone call telling me I'd had an accident which wasn't my fault. Does anyone ever say 'oh yes, that's right, I did'. Surely if you'd had an accident you'd sort it out not wait for some random phone call. I get 3 or 4 calls a week which I find is as I've never had an accident. I just quietly put the phone down but it really gets on my nerves.

[geared]

Quite common, it's annoying and against the law (unless you've consented to receive these calls) but often they fake their number making it hard to report.

Edited May 7, 2019 by geared

[L00b]

I’m still getting them occasionally 7 years on. And they simply must be trawling the web for updated contact info, because I’ve changed mobile and country since!

 

You’re very kind with just hanging up. I swear like a sailor until *they* put the phone down: if enough people did it, after a while these ambulance chasers simply couldn’t recruit anyone anymore, and the practice would die down with them 😉

[Top Cats Hat]

1 hour ago, Rollypolly said:

Does anyone ever say 'oh yes, that's right, I did'. 

I used to when I had a broken ankle and was stuck in the house and very bored. What you need is a genuine reg number which you can get off ebay which will show up on their database and confirm that ABC 123 D is the blue Toyota Yaris that you described.

 

You would not believe how angry they get when they realise that you have wasted an hour of their time. Got bored with it in the end.

 

If you don't want to do the full hour, you can ask them how they got your phone number. They will tell you that something like the Motor Accident Reporting Bureau informed them. When you ask them who they are they usually say that they are a part of the Department of Transport or VOSA. You then say that you are looking at the DoT website on your device and it doesn't seem to exist, and watch them wriggle and squirm to get out of it. 😀

[Janus]

I don`t answer unknow numbers, but store them in my phone under nuisence 1 2, 3, 4 and so on, and ensure each one is on auto reject. Never had the same number call me a second time.

[Top Cats Hat]

2 hours ago, geared said:

Quite common, it's annoying and against the law (unless you've consented to receive these calls) 

 

Even if you consented to the call, it is a crime of deception if they lie to you in order to get your business. As they start the call by claiming that they have been informed by a ficticious body that you have recently been in an accident, every call is potentially against the law.

 

[Rollypolly]

I certainly haven't consented to the calls. I didn't realise it was illegal. I might have to give the swearing a go 🤣

[Top Cats Hat]

25 minutes ago, Rollypolly said:

I certainly haven't consented to the calls. I didn't realise it was illegal. I might have to give the swearing a go 🤣

I'm sure that they are used to swearing. 

 

If you have the time, a good wind up is so much better. If you really lay it on thick with the whiplash/couldn't work for a year stories you can picture the $$$s racking up in their head.

 

Remember, every ten minutes of their time you are wasting is ten minutes they don't get to con some poor innocent. And if you are a driver, remember that fraudulent and inflated insurance claims increase your premium.

[Rollypolly]

I never realised I could have so much fun on the phone. 😀

[altus]

There was an article in the Guardian a while back by someone who had come up with a new way to deal with these sorts of phone calls.

 

'Is your mother proud of what you do?

'When she's talking with her friends, does she say "My son phones up people in the UK and tries to presuade them to commit insurance fraud'[1] or is she embarrassed of what you do."

'Have you actually told her what you do for a living or have you not because she'd be too ashamed to have a son like you?'

'Get yourself a proper job your mother could be proud of you doing.'

 

One guy phoned her again few months later saying he'd stopped working at the call centre and got a job he didn't feel embarrassed telling his mother about.

 

 

[1] Replace with appropriate for calls from "Microsoft", etc.