Author Archives: klara

Community Power Against Spam! NZ & Austrialian Weekly Top 5

Welcome back to the Tellows weekly update on the most annoying spam and scam numbers of New Zealand and Australia. Here are the numbers that have been harassing you the most:

1. 0800438229 Telecom, TelstraClear or other networks with a tellows score of 8
2. 063569092 from Palmerston North with a tellows score of 5
3. 0381998010 from Melbourne with a tellows score of 8
4. 0385239459 from Melbourne with a tellows score of 6
5. 02123546400 from vodafone New Zealand with a tellows score of 5

The most wanted number of this week is New Zealand’s 0800438229 which is most likely a dodgy debt collector called Baycorp sending sms from number 64210025900, advising to ring 0800438229.

Here is the latest comment on the number given by Jimbob:

Sent from number 64210025900, message says “Pls rg 0800 438229 quote ref 3138345 15669 or reply txt Call regarding an urgent matter”. If it was legitimate (and urgent), wouldn’t they call me? There is no name or clue as to who has sent the text. I can only assume that it is dodgy and no way would I reply or call the number provided.

Are you also getting calls from 063569092 on both cell phone and landline which you never manage to answer because they ring off in a second? If yes, you probably did not miss anything important. Tellows users’ comments are talking about a company with almost no public information given anywhere at all – here is what Paul wrote:

I’m getting a lot of calls from this number of late, both on landline and cell. Sadly I cannot locate much detail, apart from the fact that Millway Enterprises has been struck off. The company director in NZ was Tak Chuen Wong, and there are two listings for him / her in Palmerston North – neither with the address shown in the companies office registration though.

Australians are most likely to face a cold call from number 0381998010. Some Tellows users called the number back – here is what Scally experienced:

This number keeps calling but when I answer they hang up. They’ve called once a day for the last week. I called the number back and it was a woman who said she was from Optus then she started telling me that I’d won a free ipad or something. She just kept babbling so I hung up.

Australia’s second worst spam number 0385239459 shows the same characteristics: not only ping calls, but also it is from Melbourne. It is possible that both Australian top spam numbers belong to the same call centre.

Gilly reported:

Recieved a call from this number and when I answered they hung up. I rang back from a secure phone line and they didnt answer.

We hope we will find out more about number 02123546400 on rank 5. Despite the low number of comments it seems to be a very active number.

We count on you in the struggle against phone spam and scam!

See you soon,
Your Tellows Team

Sick Of This Call! The Australian & New Zealand Top Nuisance Numbers

Welcome back to the Tellows weekly update on the most annoying spam and scam numbers of New Zealand.
And here they are:

1. 0800438229 Telecom, TelstraClear or other networks with a tellows score of 8
2. 02239859700 mobile service (2degrees) with a tellows score of 8
3. 0381998010 from Melbourne with a tellows score of 6
4. 0296123591 from Sydney with a tellows score of 5
5. 098874136 from Auckland with a tellows score of 7

This week’s absolute top spam number of all New Zealand and Australia is a very suspicious debt collection company called Baycorp.

User Thatsme reported:

Baycorp probably purchased details illegally from MSD staff who were subsequently dismissed – they harass, use deceptive tactics, and refuse to clear your credit when a debt is paid, or where no debt is proven

There’s not much to say about the numbers on rank 2 and 4 – automated silent calls only. The number on rank 5 is almost the same: used to be silent calls, but now there´s a call centre on the other end trying to sell products of a company called “design boys”.

Australia’s most annoying number is a smartphone and tablet PC telemarketing number.

The latest comment was given by user tele yesterday:

They have been calling me constantly when I was unavailable so today when I had some time off I called them back and someone called “Michael” wanting to sell me a galaxy tab + galaxy ace with 2GB of data and $500 worth of calls or something for like $49. I told him I don’t need a new phone but he was very persistant. The thing that worries me is that I am with another carrier so I don’t understand how they got my number…. and I would really like to know

Thank you for all your comments. We will bring you more news on the numbers next week.

See you soon,
Your Tellows-Team

First Tellows New Zealand Weekly Update On Top 3 Spammers – Auckland Strikes

This is the first Tellows weekly update on the most annoying spam and scam numbers of New Zealand.

3. 098874136 from Auckland with a tellows score of 7
2. 099291108 from Auckland with a tellows score of 5
1. 08009524855 Telecom/Telstra or other number with a tellows score of 8

Last week’s rank-1-number moved to rank 2 for this week and we have a newcomer – a mobile number on rank 1:

For the number on rank 1 user Nano reported:

Said they were calling me to inform about a prize drew. I cancelled my contract with them long ago so I asked them to remove me from their list. they said they would, I hope so.

For the number on rank 3 unser madharry reported:

Got a hangup from this number when I called it back it was a marketing company trying to sell somthing, accent to hard to understand. Suspect they are using a dialer to cheak for live numbers

Although we hope that your comments will work against spam, we will bring you more news on the numbers next week.

See you soon,
Team Tellows

The First Top 3 Spammers of New Zealand

Here we are with the first Top 3 phone spam report for New Zealand!
This is a historical moment, so everybody, please, keep your eyes on:
3. 0279238796 mobile service number with a tellows score of 9
2. 0221361991 mobile service number with a tellows score of 9
1. 099291108 from Auckland with a tellows score of 5

For the number on rank 1 user Vichy reported:

It’s very strange that a formal bank calling in the evening and asking for a survey. Highly doubt it.

Whereas Kate wrote this for the same number:

Number called back again this evening, Market research company for sky TV asking to do a 10 minute survey. Trustworthy.

Obviously, we are dealing with a market research number from a call centre here. Some people do not find it disturbing, other do.

We are glad if you can give more comments on the numbers and we look forward to read more next week!

See you soon,
Team Tellows

Displaying Spam Hot Spots – Tellows Heat Map!

Which areas are the most affected by spam and scam calls?

The Tellows heat map shows the regions which are constantly called by certain phone numbers.

How does Tellows collect the information?

The Tellows heat map is designed to display information where phone numbers were searched for and also how often they were typed into Tellows. The map is being updated each day.

You can find a heat map for your country by clicking on the statistics link at the bottom of the tellows main page.

The locations marked red are suffering most heavily from spam and scam calls at the moment you are looking at the data. It is interesting to see that some numbers are really focusing on certain areas. It is often that you can see people in your area facing the same spam calls as you.

You can view the heat map for New Zealand here.

Feel free to share you ideas and thoughts on our services. We are grateful for any comments, suggestions and constructive criticism.

 

Regards,

Your team Tellows

Tellows E-mail Notification Service

Hello friends and fellows!

You have entered a comment about a number that seemed suspicious to you. Now, you are curious what will happen next. Will there be other people with similar experience? Possibly someone could provide you with more necessary information about the nuisance caller.

This is why Tellows implemented an e-mail notification service. In order to make use of it after entering a comment, please cross the box beneath the comment window saying [] I’d like to be notified if there’s news regarding this number.

You will be notified by e-mail as soons as there is another comment for this number will be available.

Here are the detailed steps for ordering e-mail notification:

1. Go to the comment form and write a comment in the appropriate field.

2. Check the box saying  I’d like to be notified if there’s news regarding this number.

3. Enter your e-mail address and state how often you wish to be notified.

4. Submit comment. 

 

Have fun and never surrender against spam!

Regards,
Your team Tellows!

Special Feature of Spam Indication: Tellows Score

What does the Tellows Score say?

Being a platform for everybody who fell victim to phone spam and scam, Tellows does not only offer exchange of information about numbers, but also it provides evaluation of numbers with the help of a numerical system.  Starting from 1 (trustworthy number) to 9 (highly suspicious number), you can see straight away, what kind of number you are dealing with.

Furthermore, the score is highlighted with the help of respective colours: score 1 is marked in bright green, 5 is a neutral yellow, whereas score 9 is in alarming red.

This is a fast and easy way to look up dangerous numbers and well as to warn others of them.

In case you know such dangerous numbers, please report them to Tellows. We are convinced that it is essential to share information and experience with others in order to fight spam and scam. Remember, this information prevents the scammers from their success.

Have a nice week without any unnerving calls!

Kind regards,

Your team Tellows

Tellows Number Statistics Available

Am I the only one? Sadly, no.

Whole countries and areas suffer from phone spam. Once you looked up a suspicious phone number on Tellows, you might wonder if other people were also frequently harassed by that number and if yes, how many? And when?

Detailed information on the amount of search requests is given on each number’s so-called detail site.  Simply click on the respective line saying Search requests for this phone number inside the number’s info box. If the queries for a number reached a sufficient amount, there will be a detailed amount given. Having clicked there, you will see a graph displaying additional stastics on the number. You may adjust the time period in which you are interested – choose between 1 day, 1 week, 1 month or 3 moths and press adjust to display the new graph.

Here is an example for the New Zealand number 099291108.
In this moment, the number was looked for 468 times, which is a suffient amount of queries in order to display it in a chart. Usually, there will be a tendency towards peak activity times of numbers during the week and less activity on weekends.

Do not hesitate to contact us about this function. Ideas as well as every comment is welcome – either suggestions or constructive criticism.

 

Thank you!

Yours,

Team Tellows