Unwanted Calls

At Stour, we provide wholesale telecoms services to operators, CPaaS providers, and enterprises. We do not carry out telemarketing ourselves. If you’ve received a sales or marketing call and found that the number is allocated to Stour, it’s likely being used by one of our customers, or in some cases it may have been misused without their knowledge.

We take nuisance and scam calls seriously and work with Ofcom, our partners, and the wider industry to reduce them. Here’s what you need to know and what you can do.

What to do if you receive unwanted calls

1. Ask to be removed from their list
   Tell the caller you do not wish to receive further calls. They must add you to their “Do Not Call” list and stop contacting you.

2. Register with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS)
   TPS is a free service. Once registered, UK companies should not make marketing calls to you unless you have given them consent. Register at www.tpsonline.org.uk

3. Report ongoing issues
   If calls continue after you have asked to be removed, or if you are TPS-registered, you can report the matter to Ofcom or the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). See Ofcom’s advice on unwanted calls.

Number spoofing

Increasingly, nuisance and scam calls use CLI spoofing - making it appear the call came from a genuine UK number when in fact it did not.

• If the number was spoofed, neither Stour nor our customers made the call.

• At present, there is very little any network can do to prevent a fraudster from presenting a false number.

• Ofcom has guidance on recognising and dealing with spoofed calls: Read more here.

Reporting to Stour

If you believe a call has originated from a number genuinely hosted on our network:

• Please email us at fraud@stour.io with the following details:

  • The number that called you

  • The date and time of the call

  • Your number that was called

  • A brief description of the call (e.g. sales, silent, scam, threatening)

We will investigate and, if the call originated from our network, we will take action with the customer concerned.

Please note that, as a telecommunications provider, we are unable to disclose any specific information regarding numbers or callers without an official request from a recognised UK authority, such as law enforcement or a regulatory body. If you believe the situation warrants further investigation, we recommend you report the matter to:

• Your Local Police - for harassment or threatening calls.

• Action Fraud - for scams or fraudulent activity, at www.actionfraud.police.uk

If you provide us with further details or evidence, we can investigate internally. However, due to data protection regulations we cannot share findings or specific details directly with you. Once a formal request is submitted by the appropriate authority, we will cooperate fully within the bounds of UK law.

If you suspect the number was spoofed, you should instead report it to your own phone provider, who can trace the true origin of the call.

Our commitment

We welcome reports of misuse and are committed to playing our part in protecting the public from nuisance and scam calls.