Scary ringtones for nasty callers

Mobile phone owners are using unflattering ringtones to help dodge "nuisance" calls from ex-lovers. Theme tunes to scary films such as The Exorcist are among the signals used as a warning that the call might not be welcome, a survey reveals today.

The most popular tone assigned by women for their former boyfriends was Independent Women by Destiny's Child.

Men used Britney Spears's Toxic and the M*A*S*H theme Suicide Is Painless. The study, for Tesco Telecom, found one in 10 phone users have a system warning the call is from work.

Sonia Turner, 29, from Brighton, said: "I use the Wombles tune for my friends and the Ski Sunday theme for people from work.

"There is also one particularly persistent ex-boyfriend and I also have a tune for him - the theme from Jaws."