Phone Scam

[Alex_Blackwood]

Extract of e-mail I received from very reliable source.

Phone Fraud - Warning from the Police 11 May 2005 We have been advised of a
telephone fraud currently in operation -this applies to home and work
telephones, landlines and mobiles. If you receive one of these calls, upon
answering the telephone you will hear a recorded message congratulating you
on winning an all expenses trip to an exotic location You will then be asked
to press 9 to hear further details. If you press 9 you will be connected to
a premium rate line that costs approximately £20 per minute. Even if you
disconnect immediately, it will remain connected for a minimum of 5 minutes
costing around £100. The final part of the call involves you being asked to
key in your postcode and house number, which has other serious consequences.
After a further 2 minutes you will receive a message informing you that you
are not one of the lucky winners. The total bill by then will be £100. Since
the calls are originating from outside the UK, BT and other telephone
companies are left relatively powerless to act. The only safe solution is to
HANG UP before the message prompts you to dial 9, even safer HANG UP on any
unsolicited 'free offer calls'.
There is another scam operating on mobile phones as well. A missed call
comes up. The number is 0709 020 3840, the last four numbers may vary,but
certainly the first four will remain the same. If you call this number back
you will be charged £50 per minute. People have complained about their phone
bills, once they have realised the cost of the call, but apparently this is
completely legal. So beware, do not call back numbers beginning with '0709'.

 

[snowleopard]

An old urban myth. BT charge a maximum of £1.50/min on premium rate lines.

 

[RupertW]

Alas, this is an urban legend/hoax.

The clues would have been in the bits of the email which you didn't quote, saying things like, "Send this to EVERYONE you know", or "All this is TRUE one of my friends looks after the BT Vodafone contract and has checked this out with Vodafone.!! Its not a HOAX beware and pass it on. "

Link to explanation of the hoax: http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/scams/mobile.asp

 

[duncan]

yep the former is very active - we had 2 calls about 3 weeks ago. we didn't press 9 and don't know what the actual consequences would have been.

the latter concerns me a lot if it's true because of the kids mobiles. With all the changes to accounts etc of their mates it is absolutely natural for them to simple ring any number on a missed call to find out who wanted them....and for them the consequences are horrific.
I do not accept that the telcoms are powerless to do anything - however they don't seem to think it necessary to take any big steps to avoid these situations and I wonder if the regulator might not step in and demand changes such as mandatory warning messages before any conection over a certain tariff etc The technology must exist - the will ought to as these people are preying on us all, indiscriminantly. Whilst I am not sure about capital punishment for all murder cases I would bring it in for these people without hesitation.

 

[Alex_Blackwood]

May be a myth but I have had one such call this pm and a friend has had several in the last couple of days. So like all these scam calls, myth or not, I would say it's a game not worth playing!

 

[l'escargot]

I think you have missed the point - it can't happen and anyone who says it has happened to them is not telling the truth. There are no £50, or even £20, per minute lines - they do not exist.

Also 0709 is not an allocated number nor is it an international number all of which start with 00.

Have a look a couple of paragraphs down on this page

 

[BlueChip]

Met Police fraud alert web site

The Met Police have a web site where they list all types of currently active fraud
There is no mention of the phone fraud you mention.

 

[snowleopard]

You are both right - The automated calls starting "Congratulations..." certainly do happen, I get them regularly. They may just be advertising or they may be hooks for a con. They do not connect you to premium rate lines at £20 or £50 per minute.

 

[spottydog]

0709 numbers are allocated in the UK. It is an access code for routing calls to a VOIP telephone. THe call is charged at the standard uk call rate - 5p/min. See http://www.voiptalk.org/products/0709+UK+PSTN-2-IP+National+Number.
There are numerous telephone scams around but the one I feel is the most costly, if you are unfortunate to be the victim, is your computer redialling an overseas internet providers number automatically when you are online.This of course can be prevented with good antivirus s/w or having a broadband connection. BT refuse to accept any responsibility but naturally take the profits generated by this illegal activity!