Re: Phone call scam- calls you at £20 per min!!

soolin

I think this tyoe of email that your friend received is one of the scam ones, designed to frighten people.

If you check on the various telecom sites it will confirm that if you hang up your telephone line the charges stop, you are no longer connected to the caller so you cannot be incurring charges. In the 'old' days of manual exchanges it was possible to remain connected if someone didn't pull a plug, but that sort of exchange went out years ago.

Secondly, the highest per minute charge rate is £1.50. Still appalling, but nowhere near the £20 quoted in the e mail.

I dislike this type of spoof mail or urban legend as they are designed to frighten vulnerable people.

Soo

jamie01892

According to BT's website the most expensive premium rate numbers begin 09997 at £5.92 per minute!

obeywan_kenobe

I keep on hearing about scams like this. The last one I heard was about when you get a knock on the door by a damsel in distress whose car has broke down. She wants to borrow your phone to ring her husband. Instead she rings a £50 per minute premium line she had set up.

I am not sure if these stories are exaggerated to make the point or are totally made up but I do agree it is scare mongering.

Also some stories are signed off by some detective or police department to add authenticity.

soolin

They are made up to scare people. My elderly mother in law was told an urban myth about fake BT engineers listening in on houses to see if they were empty so they could burgle them. She was told that these burgulars used the green telephone junction boxes and the day she was told this there was an engineer working in the next road.

She is already terrified of being burgled or mugged and believed the print out of the e mail that her neighbour showed her that these people preyed on elderly ladies. She was also told she couldn't phone someone for help as then of course the burgular would know as he was listening on the line and would hurt her.

By the time another neighbour found her she had spent hours locked in her house terrified to move and unable to phone anyone. It made her very ill. The ironic (not) part of it was that the neighbour who originally told her the story was a policeman and when we complained he just said that he didn't think anyone was daft enough to fall for these urban myths.

Soo

Freebie_Hunter_2

Obeywan - this is an urban myth. There's also one about a delivery driver who mis-delivers and asks to use ur phone to call the depot to check address.

Urban myths are silly stories made up by very sad and bored people and then spammed to all and sundry in the hopes it gets famous. This in turn gives the geeks a real kick so they get working on another air-brained idea.

If you do a google search you'll find a few funny sites. Snopes.com I belive has some good ones.

JohalaReewi

However, there is 0800 REVERSE which allows callers to make a reverse charge to you which you can accept by pressing 9. The charges are not £20 per min but are not cheap either. £2.50 connection and between 10p and 40p per minute (min call 3 minutes). Check out https://www.0800reverse.co.uk in particular the code of practice. See also the rates at

http://www.serviceview.bt.com/list/current/docs/Inland_Operator.boo/2106.htm

note that peak period is 7am to 9pm EVERY DAY (inc weekends).

peter_the_piper

You can either elect on this web site to Not receive any 0800 reverse numbers or just listen in and let the computer run its course. It gives up after a short while, if you just put the phonr down it keeps ringing again.

JohalaReewi

Saw one of my friends yesterday and she told me about this recorded message she keeps getting which waffles on for a bit and then asks her to press 9. It has even been recorded on her anserwing machine so this is not an urban myth. However, she did not press 9 so does not know how much they would cost if she did press 9.

sahmed_2

I have received this recorded call 6/7 times. Once my wife pressed number 9 and got charged over £9.

When you hang up the line dosen't cut for a while. If you pick up in a minute the massage still running there untill finish.

Pink.

This is not an urban myth!

I have had this phone call......I'd won a holiday, press 9 etc etc. I hung up, but if my 10 year old had answered it may have been a different story.

This scam was highlighted on the local Northern Ireland News earlier this week. The report said that if you did press 9 you could be charged up to £1000.00. Apparently there is nothing that can be done to stop it, as the call originates outside the Uk.

Pink

System

Yes it is an urban myth.

From the horses mouth:

http://www.icstis.org.uk/icstis2002/default.asp?node=-1

Quoting:

UPDATED: WEDNESDAY 24 NOVEMBER 2004

£20 PER MINUTE AND £50 PER MINUTE TELEPHONE 'SCAMS' - URBAN MYTHS

Over the last few days, ICSTIS has received dozens of enquiries about the above 'scams', which are 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.

In the first case, 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 costs £260.00.

In the second case, the apparent 'deception' takes place when people receive a missed call from a number beginning 0709. It is then claimed that, if callers dial this number, they are connected to a £50.00 per minute premium rate line.

Please note that these stories are NOT true.

£20.00 per minute and £50.00 per minute premium rate tariffs do not exist - the highest premium rate tariff available is £1.50 per minute. Despite the dozens of enquiries received by ICSTIS about these 'scams' (and most people appear to have heard about them 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 these 'scams' to delete it immediately. Please do NOT forward it to others.