Others may have heard of this scam but new to me so I thought I would post it in case anybody else has a similar phone call.
I had a phone call from a private number. Bloke gave his name as PC Andy woods from Paddington Green Police , badge number EK206. He said they had a man in custody who had cloned my debit cards.Could I check I had all my debit cards. I was to ring National Fraud Helpline on 0208 9020943. They can cancel all my cards. I was not to use any cards or use online banking. The real Metropolitan Police know of this scam. If you google that number a few people have had same the same experience.

Thanks for the warning. Getting more devious. Death penalty for those who con pensioners.bit harsh i know but hate hearing of vunerable people getting ripped off

Not harsh at all, disrupting peoples last few years of life is a "life crime" as far as I'm concerned.

Someone told me of a similar one today. Telephone message saying that a close relative has been taken ill. Contact number given. Apparently the phone number is costing a fortune if you return the call.

The Nuisance call blockers are becoming more and more popular and affordable. However a pensioner may not be savvy enough to understand setting them up.

You can't trust emails or your phone anymore.

And pensioners are so vulnerable.

I recently signed up for an interest in this at BT. I have a feeling if lucky a free phone with a specific call bar button on it maybe in the offing.A random matrix of customers will then become part of the mechanism to bar calls and enhance their own "new tech breakthrough". I will save a few from commenting (dream on mate!)

Sounds promising. I am intrigued to see TalkTalk block 75 million nuisance calls per week.We are with Talk Talk and can enter a code to block the last number called. This is fine but is limited to 10 numbers and this particular call was a private number as are so many, so we have no chance.I see most people get at least one nuisance call per month. There are days when we get 6 or more including all the PPI and accident people.I guess this is because we are in more than many people.

BT is launching a "breakthrough" new service aimed at diverting millions of nuisance calls.

From BT website and AP 12th Feb 2016 -

"Most people receive an unwanted telephone call every month, mainly about PPI or personal injury claims, automated marketing messages or sales.

Now a BT team will monitor calls to our 10 million domestic customers and identify any patterns of callers.

The "rogue" numbers will be diverted to a junk voicebox, which we estimate will affect up to 25 million unwanted calls a week.

If you’re a BT customer, you’ll also be able to divert the calls yourself to the "Blacklist".

The service will launch later this year, harnessing huge computer power to analyse data.

John Petter, chief executive of BT Consumer, said: "Nuisance calls are one of the great annoyances of modern life.

"Everyone will have received one. We are delighted to have made this major breakthrough. We are giving control of the landline back to our customers and removing a major hassle and grief for millions of customers.

"We have been at the forefront of equipping our customers to defend themselves against the flow of PPI and unwanted marketing calls that has become a flood in recent years.

"Now we are able to announce that we are working to identify and tackle huge numbers of those calls in the network."

Mr Petter called on other telephone providers to join the fight against the "menace" of nuisance calls, adding: "They can help us to root out the malicious players they may be hosting on their own networks when we identify dodgy and suspicious calling behaviour."

Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: "People are fed up with being bombarded with unwanted calls so this is a step in the right direction for millions of BT customers. We now need to see more action taken by the industry and Government to help reduce the stress and anxiety caused by nuisance calls."

An Ofcom spokesman said: "We've been working closely with communications providers to encourage them to implement innovative technical solutions to the problem of nuisance calls.

"We therefore welcome BT's plans to intercept nuisance calls on its network and reduce the harm caused to consumers." "

The Extras are never free with BT.
Caller display to run a Nuisance type phone, free for 12 months then a monthly charge.

Its sounds good, but not everyone is with BT. From personal experience the Nuisance Phones are 100%. Only family get through on my mums phone now, and she was vulnerable.

Hopefully it works.

Recently purchased the BT 8500 Advanced Call Blocker. Delighted with it as it has blocked 100% nuisance calls and only family and friends and the people we want get through to us. We were getting at least 5 nuisance calls a day between Nov and Jan from International Numbers - False numbers and Withheld numbers all is now peace. I welcome this BT initiative as I could afford a new phone but many many vulnerable people cant.

Try registering with The Telephone Preference Service, I've found it works.
From their website :-
The Telephone Preference Service (TPS) is a free service. It is the official central opt out register on which you can record your preference not to receive unsolicited sales or marketing calls. It is a legal requirement that all organisations (including charities, voluntary organisations and political parties) do not make such calls to numbers registered on the TPS unless they have your consent to do so.

i have one of those and its great, no more sales etc

Hi, I'm thinking about getting a BT 8500 to block nuisance calls, if I just bought one as the main 'phone would that serve to protect our extension 'phones?

I registered with the TPS ages ago, but they can only pursue live nuisance calls, and they can't do anything about calls from overseas. Most of the ones I receive are silent calls or recorded messages, with a few live ones from Asian call centres. I daresay the TPS weeds out some, so it's worth doing, but it won't solve the whole problem. I'm with talktalk and have blocked 'number withheld' calls and am thinking about blocking overseas calls, as I don't know anyone who's likely to ring me from overseas. Nuisance calls are right up there with multiple charity bags through the letterbox, as far as unsolicited stuff goes; but at least you can make use of the charity bags, if you don't want to fill them...

@ludwigvan
NO

The BT Phones are DEC phones so only the main one needs to be plugged into the mains. Any Extra handsets need only a power point to charge but do not need to be plugged into an telephone extension.

So anything else plugged into an extension phone socket would probably ring.

The Main BT phone prevents any of the Nuisance calls ringing unless the number is on the allow list or the caller has pressed the hash key and said there name.

Summary
The BT Nuisance Phone work as a group.
Share contact details and block lists.
They are worth every penny if your getting sales calls.

You can add on a phone at a later date if you need to, but when i was pricing them it was £5- 10 difference for 2 or 3.

Don't buy from BT Store as they say 33% discount but it works out exactly the same price as Argos, so go there and if you don't like them take them back

Hope that helps

Thanks for the thought but I registered with TPS a few years back and found it made no difference at all so now have BT8500 on order from Amazon, 4 handsets for £85.

Hi Mark, thanks for the info.

Sorry to sound thick, but do you have to be with B.T for these 'phones to work?

No, you can be with any provider.

Thanks Salmon.

ludwigvan, I have the BT 8500 cordless phone & after years of getting up to 10 unsolicited called/ day this new phone has stopped them all, withheld numbers & international calls. It doesn't even ring, just stops them in their tracks, brilliant!

I am delighted, I ordered the BT8500 on Thursday evening and they arrived this morning .Well done Amazon. I am pleased to say four nuisance calls today and not one of them came through. Many thanks for the recommendations folks.Really good that you can see what has been blocked in case you want that call.