How to save money and avoid scams – Helen Martin

HOW many people under 40 have a landline phone? And how many over 50 have still got one?

I used one for about 60 years, until last week. We’d had elderly relatives who used our 0131 number, but most had passed on. The main users of the landline became scam callers threatening internet collapse or Amazon Prime debts.

Friends suggested we could have fancy ‘block’ systems, but we couldn’t be bothered. And most younger relatives and friends were surprised we hand a landline at all.

It was impossible for them to figure out what a landline phone provided in comparison to a mobile – other than no need to recharge it daily because it was permanently plugged in.

It dawned on us that the ‘telephone’ was an old-fashioned form of communication, useless when you left the house, and an identification to fraudsters that whoever they rang on a land number was probably at least over 60 and someone they reckoned they could con and steal from.

So, we ditched it. Escaping scammers was one advantage, but the best was how much money we saved – hundreds of pounds a year.

And when we discussed it with the supplier, who also provided the TV package and broadband, we gained even more bill reductions.

This far, younger people will think I’m a blooming old idiot. (Generally, you might be right!) But my point is to suggest to everyone (as long as they do have a mobile) they can save money and thwart nasty callers.

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