Hi, Rusty!
It has been colder out this afternoon than early morning , as the sun disappeared.
I am warming up indoors now ...and am not going out again!!
Sometimes we, too, have recorded messages from BT......but often it is a "live" person on the other end of the phone , usually speaking with a foreign accent.
In both cases, I block the numbers.
You are right to be concerned that some elderly person might be duped into following the caller's instructions.
I think folk panic, as you say, at the thought that their phone, or internet connection, might be cut off.
Yes, Thames Water is becoming a fixture in our street!
And it only a short, narrowish , tree-lined residential street, not a major road, so there is little room for all the necessary manoeuvring.
A real pain!