Some amusing counters to the cold-callers selling over the telephone were suggested in a recent issue of the Daily Telegraph, and these included versions of the following :-

o Be excessively friendly. Thank them for calling, ask how they are, what sort of day they are having, if the sun is shining in Mumbai etc, and then switch to nasty and say you hope they aren’t one of those creeps who pretend friendliness to sell something.

o Ask for their home number, after all they are ringing yours so how can they really refuse?

o Tel them you are a lawyer and that their call is in direct breach of part 5, section 12 C (clause 7) of the Telecommunications Act 2012, or some similar nonsense you make up.

Other effective measures the writer has used are:-

o Tell them that because of the possibility of fraud you never talk to any organisation that withholds its telephone number and that you are going to hang up and dial 1471, to check their credibility.

o Tell them you can’t stop because you’re late for your bankruptcy hearing.

Do readers have any others?