It’s safe to say that I’m not a big fan of call centres, or cold callers, despite the fact that everyone has to make a living.

But I draw the line when unsolicited calls from such establishments come through on my mobile phone.

My mobile number is only known to close friends and family. So how did that happen?

Our privacy is slowly but surely being eroded. The caller advised that he had information on me that indicated I was due substantial compensation having been mis-sold PPI (payment protection insurance).

He said that the information that he had was accurate and had been provided by a regulated and reliable source and I just needed to answer a few personal questions.

So being me, I played along. He then wanted to know my address. Then my previous mortgage companies.

It was then that I reminded him that it would be rather foolish of me to provide personal and sensitive information to a stranger over the phone. He got annoyed and hung up on me.

I know I have never been mis-sold any financial products in the past, so the gentleman was clearly lying and not even very good at it. Now I have even less tolerance of call centres.