Cold callers from a so-called Manchester number are targeting businesses and leaving abusive messages.

A caller from the 01613940000 telephone number asks to speak to the manager of the company and if no-one is available then abuses them by saying ‘Go to Hell’.

Any attempts to ring back the number are futile as the number is dead and seems to be a fake.

The caller has an Indian accent and at first seems like a genuine sales call many businesses may receive.

Businesses and residents have posted their feeling on the ‘Who Called Me?’ website.

One said, “Guy wanted to talk about our business energy supplier, we told him not interested so he told us to ‘f*** off’.

Another said, “Man with an Asian accent asked for the owner of the business. Claimed to be from Eon and wanted to discuss a contract renewal. Our contract isn’t with Eon, he quickly hung up.”

One user posted, “The number called me and he was claiming to be a person named John and he said to me f*** off and hung up.”

Another user posted, “Had an aggressive call, asked to speak with the owner. I said he wasn’t here and the bloke said I was lying as he had made an arrangement to speak with him!.”