Today, I was talking to an elderly lady who had a bogus caller knocking at her door and calling her landline.
This man had turned up at the door step in South London around 11:45 and after knocking at the door and ringing the bell, he proceeded to call her landline and demanded that she opened the door, claiming he was a BT engineer. This man was dressed in a blue boilersuit and had a mobile phone, which he used to call the lady on her landline. She was surprised to see that he had her home phone number.
He tried to gain entry into this lady's home on three separate occasions on the same day, on the first attempt the man left for about 10 minutes and apparently returned to try again ringing at her doorbell and calling her landline at the same time. On his third attempt at trying to gain entry into the lady's house, he returned wearing a yellow fluorescent jacket, and brought along some work equipment, which workmen sometimes use when working on the pavement. According to the lady he persisted in calling her landline 6 times from his mobile phone and then kept his finger on her doorbell continuously ringing and desperately trying to gain entry into her home.
Eventually when the nuisance became too much for her, she confronted him by talking to him behind the door without opening it. She demanded to know what he wanted and he claimed that he was sent by BT to check a fault on her line. She told him that her phone was working fine and that she had not called BT, he asked her to open the door in order for him to check the phone as she could have problems with it later. At this point she told him to get lost and he eventually left after she threatened to call the police on him.
This lady told me that she had called BT afterwards to check whether they send engineers on random visits and the BT representative told her that they never visited people without first booking appointments and advised her to report the matter to the police, which she did.
The man, who spoke with an english accent did not offer any form of identification and there was allegedly no BT van in sight.
Some tips to keep out the conmen/womenUnder no circumstances should you open your door to strangers especially if you are home alone.
Some people suggest using a chain on your door, but I suggest that the door should not be opened at all as a chain can be broken if a criminal pushes or kicks the door hard enough. It is better to be safe than sorry. Use your spy glass instead to look at whoever is at your door.
A genuine person will offer identification and will wait while you check or phone the relevant company to see that they are genuine.
If you do not have an appointment with the company eg, gas, electricity, phone, do not open your door. Even if a genuine gas or electric company representative calls at your door, you can check the reading yourself, write it down on a piece of paper and give it to them through the letterbox. You do not have to open your door.
Do not be bullied into opening your door by persistent calling of your landline or knocking at the door. If in doubt, call the police on 999 immediately.
Related External LinksTen pensioners targeted at the week-endBogus BT workers target elderly people in MoiraPembroke Dock pensioner lost money to Bogus BT caller - Western Telegraph, 26 March 2009
Milford Haven police warn of bogus BT callers - Western Telegragh, 7 May 2009Home Safe Tips - Beat the bogus callerHow to beat the bogus caller - Leaflet in PDF format
I attended the Business Startup show a few days ago and I bought a number of books from Crimson Publishing. One of the books that caught my eye is 99 Businesses to start at home by Kim Benjamin.
