Had one today, a woman about "my" washing machine warranty. They asked for Mrs Lucan by name but I handled it. As it happens I had bought a new one (in my name, not Mrs Lucan's) only 4 weeks ago, and I first took this to be the usual attempt to sell an extention to the standard year's warranty, so I pointed out it was still under warranty. But they kept to their script, seemingly not having listened, and said maybe my maker's warranty had expired and I therefore needed to renew my cover.
It dawned on me that they knew nothing about my washing machine and had phoned entirely at random, hoping to find people who's washing machines had recently (say within a few months) run out of their standard year or two year warranty. I suppose that as nearly every house has a washing machine, there must be a very high proportion in that target bracket, perhaps 10%. The caller's script was intended to give the impression that they represented the maker.
I challenged them to tell me what washing machine I had and when I bought it, as I was interested to know how much of my information had been sold to these people. They knew nothing, and they suggested terminating the call as they sensed me getting angry. They would have had no chance of selling me an extended warranty anyway, even if they were genuine, as those warranties are rip-offs.