| Telephone Scam (landline AND mobile) | |
|
CuZzA - Student  |
For British only... News: Warning - Telephone Scam Monday, 29 Nov 2004, 11:45am by Kath Roberts We have been advised of a telephone fraud currently in operation (this applies to home and/or work telephones - landlines 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 for 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 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 to HANG UP on any unsolicited 'free offer' call. This appears to be a variation on a theme, previous warnings have included calls made by individuals claiming to be conducting tests 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 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. _______________ - Even if Carlsberg made "w*nkers", Christiano Ronaldo would still be the biggest "w*nker" in the world |
| Login and add your comment! |
| Comments |
|
JavaGuy - Student 
|
"That's not a scam! You give 'em all your credit card numbers. If one is lucky, you win a prize!" --Grandpa Simpson _______________ My signature is only one line. You're welcome. |
|
Monteeeeeee - Nugget 
|
we get that crap all the time, they are so lame, i just hang up instantly. im on NTL and we still get it, NTL is aware of this and dont charge people for mistakes but if 10 show up on your bill they say your stupid and charge you  _______________ If you add me to MSN, tell me who you are 
Best Movie Character EVER!! |
|
JavaGuy - Student
|
This is not an urban legend, incidentally, as a quick search of snopes.com confirms. It has spawned some stories which are urban legends, but the essential premise is true. This is a real scam. Watch out for this one too--You get a call from someone who dialed the "wrong number" and is in dire need. Maybe he was picked up for drunk driving and only gets one phone call, or whatever. He begs you to dial #9, or #09 or *72 or whatever and then call his mother, whose number he gives. If you do it, you've just forwarded all your phone calls to that phone number. (This only works if your phone service provider actually has this feature and if the scammer actually knows the number sequence to use it for your cell provider, but he probably does). The result is that the scammer can then make long distance calls at your expense: To talk to his friend in Kookawanga, New Zealand he just calls your phone, which is forwarded, at your expense, to the number he really wants to call.  Also watch out for anyone who calls claiming to be a phone technician and asks you to dial a certain sequence of numbers. Phone company technicians do not actually do this, but scammers do. What a fascinating world we live in. _______________ My signature is only one line. You're welcome. |
|
Chicken - Jiblets - Student 
|
Woah scary, I got that call on my housephone. Luckily I didnt press 9. _______________ All You Base Are Belong To Us! |
| Login and add your comment! |