Telephone Security…Telephones are used by criminals To Undermine Home and Personal Security.

Telephone Security UK

It is a regrettable fact, that telephones are used by criminals to undermine our home security and other devious individuals enjoy causing people anxiety or distress, by making threatening, abusive, or nuisance phone calls.

Home and Personal Telephone Security

It is well known that burglars use the telephone to ascertain if the occupiers are at home, so never leave an answer-phone message which informs them that you are away. On answering the phone, do not give your number and only your surname, so that the caller doesn’t know if you are a man or a woman. 

If the caller claims to have called a wrong number, ask him for the number he dialled. Don’t give any information about yourself to a stranger and never admit to being alone in the house.

Malicious Phone Calls UK Abusive or threatening phone calls can be distressing. On realising that a call is abusive, put the receiver down and walk away, allowing the caller to finish his offensive message, without upsetting you. On your return don’t say anything, just replace the receiver.

Some malicious callers may in fact know you; others dial numbers at random. You can help by taking these few simple preventive measures whenever you answer your phone: –

Keep calm and don’t show any distress, as most malicious callers are amused by hearing that you have been upset.

Don’t answer any questions on the telephone, even if they seem harmless, unless you know the caller.

Other family members should follow the same strategy.

Malicious phone calls can be abusive, alarming or very irritating. They may also be criminal under Section 127 of the Telecommunications Act 2003.

If you are continually troubled by this type of abuse, tell the police and the operator and do take note of the date, time and type of each phone call, which will help the authorities to trace the offender.Almost all malicious phone calls UK can now be traced, whether they come from private, public or mobile phones, anywhere in the country.

British Telecom provides a number of helpful tips to assist you in dealing with such calls.

Silent Calls Most silent calls are caused by companies using automated diallers in call centres, which initiate a large volume of calls. Some of these fail to link to an operator in the call centre and as a result you receive a silent or hang up call. The number is usually withheld when you dial 1471.

You should register with the Telephone Preference Scheme free, on 0800 398 893 to minimise these calls.