Lee Beaumont has made ?300 since he set up his own 0871 number'I was annoyed with the PPI calls when I'm trying to watch Corrie', he saidKept his free line for friends and family and premium rate for companies
By Martin Robinson
PUBLISHED: 08:06 GMT, 29 August 2013 | UPDATED: 00:16 GMT, 30 August 2013
Clever man: Lee Beaumont was plagued by cold calls so hit back with his own premium-rate phone number
FED up with the constant barrage of unwanted calls, Lee Beaumont decided it was time to take revenge.
The businessman turned the tables on the cold-callers by setting up his own premium rate phone number – and has since pocketed ?300 as a result.
Mr Beaumont said he was inundated with calls to his landline from salesmen, especially those offering help with compensation claims for mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance, so decided to make them pay to speak to him.
The 25-year-old paid ?10 plus VAT to set up a personal 0871 landline and now makes money every time he receives an unsolicited phone call.
He said it was ‘extremely easy’ to set up the number online.
He chose an 0871 number because it was more profitable than one starting with 0845 or 0844.
Mr Beaumont said he gave out the premium rate number whenever he needed to talk to utility companies but had a separate line for his friends and family to call.
‘I was getting annoyed at the PPI calls I was constantly getting so I thought there must be a way to make money out of them,’ he said.
‘I decided I would get an 08 number and realised if I had an 0871 number they would be charged 10p a minute.
‘Out of this I get to keep 9p for every minute, so I phoned up all of my service providers and told them I would be changing my number. This was in 2011 and I’ve made ?300 from it.’
Mr Beaumont, who runs an e-commerce business from his home in Leeds, said the cold calls had now dried up, but he continues to make a few pounds a month from utilities trying to sell their products.
‘Companies ring me up and the first thing they ask is, “Why do you have an 0871 number?”,’ he said. ‘I tell them it is so I can make money out of them.
‘Npower were particularly annoyed and wouldn’t call me. They’d keep emailing me, but I’d tell them to call me. Eventually they gave in, but I have left them now and they regularly call asking me to rejoin them.’
Frustration: The calls came, as usual, in the evening during Lee's favourite shows, so he spend ?10 plus VAT on his own 0871 number (file picture)
Far from dreading the nuisance calls, Mr Beaumont now says he relishes the sound of the phone ringing.
‘I actually want to be cold-called now,’ he said. ‘I’d definitely recommend everyone to do it – it definitely stops the PPI calls.’
But premium number regulator Phone Pay Plus yesterday warned other members of the public against trying the same thing.
A spokesman told Radio 4’s You And Yours programme: ‘Premium-rate numbers are not designed to be used in this way and we would strongly discourage any listeners from adopting this idea, as they will be liable under our code for any breaches and subsequent fines that result.’
Consumer champion Which? has been extremely critical of cold-callers and launched The Calling Time On Nuisance Calls And Texts campaign in March.
The campaign called for an expiry date on third-party consent, so firms have a limited period to call a consumer after they tick the opt-in box on a form.
It is estimated that up 700million nuisance calls are received every month. Research by Which? found eight in ten people have received an unsolicited call in the past month, while six in ten have received calls about Payment Protection Insurance and half have taken calls from accident claim companies.
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