We recently moved to a new house, and took over the previous owners’ phone number. Schoolgirl error. They weren’t ex-directory. We are now being plagued by phone calls from a number starting 0131 (although other numbers have been used), who claim to be from the “Windows Service Centre”. It is, of course, a scam, and they are actually ringing from India to convince you there is a problem with your PC and you need to buy some software over the phone to fix it. Despite some fairly, um, blunt advice from me as to where they can stick their security upgrade, they keep calling and I have been unable as yet to block the incoming calls.

I thought I’d pass the info along, in case a relative tells you they’ve just handed their credit card details over to a nice chap from the Windows Service Centre. If you can work out what level of rudeness gets them to stop calling, do let me know in the comments. I’m on level 4 out of 5 and only the fact that The Boy has been in the house has stopped me going nuclear. Never, ever, buy a house from someone who wasn’t ex-directory.

You can read more about it from The Guardian