Please contact me on... (freephone - NOT)

Hi All,

Today I received a text message out fo the blue, simply saying

"Hi, give me a call on 0124467****, it is important that I speak to you today"

Not knowing the number and having just gone bankrupt, I suspected it was a creditor.... Then a few minutes later, an email arrives, supposedly from MBNA asking me to call the same number, saying it is a freephone number.

Anyway, to cut a long story short. I work for a telco as a developer so have first hand experience with call charges (boy are they complex at a wholesale level) and have spoken to colleagues and obtained advice from OfCom. All evidence points to this number NOT being free and they are breaking some regulation by saying it is, maybe even fraud, not sure exactly.

Anyway, if you get random communications asking you to phone a 'freephone' number, it is ONLY freephone if it starts 0800.

If anybody has any doubt, the National Numbering Scheme can be viewed at:

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/telecoms/ioi/numbers/numbers_administered/

hope this helps save somebody's bill!

The Toad

All posts are WITHOUT PREJUDICE