Cold calling: UK areas making the most scam calls

Pegasus spyware infiltrates mobile phones to extract data or to activate a camera or microphone to spy on the owner – Copyright AFP Michal Cizek

London leads the UK in nuisance calls, with 020 area codes responsible for 20.14 percent of all national reports, according to a new survey. Nationwide, there have been over 17.7 million reports of cold calling, alongside more than 709 million number lookups.

Scammers frequently impersonate well-known companies, including banks, Amazon, and Internet providers.

Refurbished tech specialists Back Market have recently examined nuisance call reports from 752 UK area codes, using data from www.who-called.co.uk , to identify which regions report the most frequent unwanted calls. The study also reviewed recent comments from users to reveal insights into the most common scams encountered nationwide.

10 UK area codes used most by nuisance callers, by percentage of national reports are:

1. London
2. Manchester
3. Blandford Forum, Dorset
4. Liverpool
5. Leicester
6. Leeds
7. Birmingham
8. Sheffield
9. Glasgow
10. Bristol

Data was based on the total number of reports for each of the 752 area codes was then compared to the total number of reports for all codes to find what percentage of unwanted calls in the UK originate from each area. This percentage is the basis for the final ranking. Each area code had up to five of its most recent complaints available to read. To find the most common types of complaints, these reviews were compiled to identify the UK’s most common cold call topics.

The most commonly reported types of scams by number of mentions in most recent reports

Impersonating bank
Impersonating Amazon
Impersonating BT
Suspicious card transactions
Impersonating internet provider
Suspicious bank account activity
Impersonating bank security
Suspicious international payment
Suspicious international transaction
Total 1,168

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. Manchester is the second hardest hit by nuisance callers, with 3.44 percent 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 percent 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.

How to block spam calls

There are several options for blocking calls from unknown numbers. On iPhone, the user 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.