Man Made £2,000 From Charging Cold Callers Who Kept Phoning Him

A cunning British man made £2,000 by charging relentless cold callers after deciding to take revenge after being constantly interrupted while relaxing at home.

Lee Beaumont attempted to enjoy Corrie but kept getting calls from random businesses, so he decided to use it to his advantage.

Credit: BBC

Beaumont, a resident of Leeds, purchased a phone number that began with the number "08," enabling him to charge customers a fee when they dialed his number.

When he needed to contact utility companies, he gave out the 0871 number, but he maintained a different line so that friends and family could call him free of charge. You're missing a career, buddy.

Alamy

Appearing on You and Yours on BBC Radio 4, Beaumont said: “I was getting annoyed with the PPI calls when I’m trying to watch Coronation Street, for instance, so I’d rather have an 0871 so I can make 10p a minute.”

“I thought there must be a way to make money off these phone calls.”

After doing some online research and looking into setting up an 0845 or an 0844 number, he claimed that the process was "extremely easy."

“The best one I found was the 0871, as I could make a good chunk of money,” he explained.

Beaumont claimed he had been getting 20–30 calls per month, but after switching to the new number, he only got about 16—clear evidence that it was effective, though he acknowledged he had started to 'want cold calls' after realizing how much money he could make from them.

He added: “Some companies are fine with it.”

“Sometimes they won’t call me, and I say fine, you’ve got my e-mail address - e-mail me. And 99 percent of the time they will use my 0871 number.”

He had earned a remarkable £2,000 from his premium rate number by the year 2015.

Beaumont claimed in an interview with Dan Johnson from the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire show that he was earning "7p a minute on every single cold call" he had received.

“I’ve been having cold calls for years – mainly in the evening times,” he said.

“I bought a phone number started ‘08’, originally to stop the cold calls. But, in fact, they carried on calling me on the 08 number, and I started actually making money from it.”

Beaumont disclosed to journalist Dan Johnson that the connection he was using for the interview cost him 10p per minute and that he would profit by 7p from that.

Most people, according to Johnson, "wouldn't go that far," but you can register your phone number to try and stop telemarketing calls, and if they still call you, you can file a complaint with the Information Commissioner.

Another caution against following Beaumont's example was issued by premium number supervisor Phone Pay Plus, who said to Radio 4 in 2013: “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.”