Telephone scam - offered any freebies / call back?
 

Another genuine warning about a telephone scam

British Telecommunications plc Registered office: 81 Newgate Street London
EC1A Registered in England no. 1800000

We have been advised of a telephone fraud currently in operation (this
applies to home and/or work telephones - land lines and mobiles):

If you do 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 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 will be £260.

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 press 9; even safer is to HANG UP
on any unsolicited 'free offer' call. This appears to be a variation on a
theme, warnings have been sent previously regarding calls made by
individuals claiming to be engineers conducting a test on the line and
asking for 9, 0# and text messages similar to the routine described above.

DO NOT DIAL 9 (OR 9,0# OR 0,9#) FOR ANYONE! BT has been contacted and
confirmed the details as being true. There is another scam operating on
Mobile Phones.

A Missed Call comes up. The number is 0709 020 3840. The last four numbers
may vary but certainly the first four numbers 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.

Regards

[Edited on 21-11-2004 by aws]

From the ICSTIS website:-

£20 Per Minute Telephone 'Scam' - An Urban Myth

Over the last few days ICSTIS has received hundreds of enquiries about the above 'scam', which is being widely publicised by e-mail. To help us put an end to the current spate of enquiries, please pass this information on to all contacts.

The apparent 'deception' takes place when people receive a recorded message informing them that they have won an all-expenses paid holiday and are asked to press 9 to hear further details. It is then claimed that callers are connected to a £20.00 per minute premium rate line that will still charge them for a minimum of five minutes even if they disconnect immediately. It is also claimed that, if callers stay connected, the entire message lasts for approximately 11 minutes, costing £220.00. Please note this is not true.

A £20.00 per minute premium rate tariff does not exist – the highest premium rate tariff available is £1.50 per minute. Despite the hundreds of enquiries received by ICSTIS about this ‘scam’ (and most have heard about it second or third-hand), not one person who claims that it has actually happened to them has been able to produce a phone bill to support their story.

ICSTIS urges any individual or organisation that receives an e-mail about this scam to delete it immediately. Please do not forward it on to others.

Fast work Rockhopper. There are enough real scams out there for us to be worried about.:alien:

Should have read the whole thread shouldn't I rockhopper. I cut and pasted Tim's post and e-mailed to my daughter, cos she's always believing she'll win something for nothing. Just sent her another e-mail to say, 'ignore it.' Now she'll probably be cross with me for thinking she's stupid enough to believe it! Dohhhhh :o:o:sniff: