Cold calls & spam emails

[Liz]

I have an 'advice' article to write this week about cold calls & spam in France.

Those of you living in France, what are the current most comment undesirable calls and emails you are getting?

There have been the insulation at 1€ calls, solar panels, heat pumps for 1€, money-back scam emails from social security, and the gendarmerie emails accusing you of whatever and inviting you to click on a link, god-botherers ringing up to see if we are ok as oldies after Covid, fortune-tellers and magnetiseurs .... have I missed anything?

What tactics are you using to avoid/deal with them?

Thanks!

[L Austin France]

I have an 'advice' article to write this week about cold calls & spam in France.

Those of you living in France, what are the current most comment undesirable calls and emails you are getting?

There have been the insulation at 1€ calls, solar panels, heat pumps for 1€, money-back scam emails from social security, and the gendarmerie emails accusing you of whatever and inviting you to click on a link, god-botherers ringing up to see if we are ok as oldies after Covid, fortune-tellers and magnetiseurs .... have I missed anything?

What tactics are you using to avoid/deal with them?

Thanks!

I don't listen if I don't recognise the number. The ansaphone will pick up any serious callers.
Recently I've taken to opening the call & leaving the phone on the television so whoever/whatever is calling can listen to the UK news channel which is usually on.
This seems to greatly reduce the incidence of repeat calls.

[hughnique]

I just let them waffle on, it gives me a bit of an insight in to pronunciation, then hit them with the je suis anglais et ne parle pas francais, funnily enough not 2 minutes ago I had one about a guarantee on insulation, I have just spent 350€ insulating a roof and this clown wanted to give it to me for a Euro. Last resort is a good old fashioned F off they normally understand that.

[Spardo]

Social Security and gendarmerie in emails and I don't answer the landline so now get very few calls on that. Recently a few have arrived on the mobile but I pretend to be deaf and just keep asking for sms or email. All who are genuine comply with that request.

[Bayleaf]

Usually don't bother answering (Mr B says may as well disconnect the 'phone - we only use it once a week for an outgoing call anyway).

Depending on my mood, I'll either put it on silent, or pick up and hang up straight away. Or answer with a very English "Hellooooo!" That gets rid of all but the most insistent. On occasion I've just replied with a "c'est interdit de maintenant", as someone French pointed out that it is indeed illegal to cold call people. But try telling that to the cold callers. I have also done as above mentioned - let them waffle on (quick French lesson for the day), and say "Non merci" when I've had enough. Or just let them listen to whatever I'm listening to at the time - music or TV if it happens to be on!

[niemeyjt]

We need a French Lenny

https://www.vice.com/en/article/d3b7na/ ... ting-troll

[Blaze]

I don't listen if I don't recognise the number. The ansaphone will pick up any serious callers.

Same here. Neither of us rushes to the phone anyway and like Bayleaf, we rarely use it except for outgoing calls. We never pick up if we don't recognise the number. They soon get the message.

I very rarely get spam on my Orange or Yahoo emails, so not a problem.

[ajm]

Our answer machine is on permanently and we only answer numbers we recognise. We changed to fibre in September, kept our landline number through the livebox and ( maybe a coincidence) not had a CD call since.

[Sparkle]

and the same here ie phone is on voicemail 24/7. All other expected callers are in my phone's phonebook and their number or name shows on the screen if it's one of them calling. As for spam emails we might get 1 or 2 per week certainly nothing like we used to but I think that was down to a friend that did a round robin email to 90 of his friends UK & French. I went through each address blocking it - took me ages but was worth it.

[Liz]

Thanks all (anybody else feel free to contribute!)