An Eltham man is urging local residents not to engage with nuisance calls after an aggressive encounter.

News Shopper recently reported a warning to residents of Eltham after reports of fraudulent calls telling them their broadband was about to be cut off.

A resident of Dumbreck Road in Eltham has now come forward to tell News Shopper of his experience with a very persistent caller claiming to work for BT.

The resident received calls on June 21 from a man claiming to be from BT Openreach, who needed to speak to him about his own BT broadband.

He politely told the man on the phone that his provider wasn’t BT and he wasn’t interested in talking to a cold caller.

The man on the phone persisted, creating a false story that BT dealt with Virgin Media and fibre broadband.

He even threatened to disconnect the internet to the property and became aggressive on the phone.

The Eltham resident said: “I didn’t give him the chance to ask for my details but he called 4 or 5 times and left messages on my answerphone.

“I told him that I was going to call the police if he kept ringing but he just responded saying ‘Go on then call the police, call them now'.

“My advice to people is, don’t engage with these callers or they get aggressive. Put the phone down on them and if they call back put the phone down again.”

The Dumbreck Road resident has since researched the number, which is apparently based in North California.

So what can you do to stop nuisance calls?

Register the number calling you with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) and they can block the number from calling you again

If you suspect anything, put the phone down immediately

Out of the blue calls should be a red flag to you - companies are unlikely to ever call you without warning

Legitimate companies never ask you to hand over any details unless you have been warned before from a letter

Never hand over your card details to ANYONE that has called demanding it to stop something happening (internet being cut off, gas/electricity cut off)

Get caller ID and if you don't recognise it, let it go to answer phone.

Deals are never as good as they will make them sound

Even if they sound convincing. Hang up and call your providers back on the number you use normally.

For more information visit Action Fraud - TPS - Which?