In the beginning, cold callers played by a set of rules, directing their unwelcome interruptions to your landline telephone, but now they pollute mobile networks as well. Until recently, most of these calls were flagged 'number unavailable' or 'number withheld', enabling you to choose to refuse by not answering. These days, however, they lure you into responding by displaying a 'proper' phone number. And before you tell me that there are devices you can fit to your line to block numbers once you have discovered they are cold callers, allow me to point out that the gadgets do nothing to block new nuisance callers. Call blocking services offered by BT and TalkTalk that allow subscribers to filter calls are not a total solution either.
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