Possible compensation for dial-up fraud

Steve_xx

BT will bar all premium (09) numbers without charging. However, if you want to bar international numbers you have to pay BT £1.75 per month. These premium rate scams are increasingly coming from international numbers where the UK regulators will have little effect.

I think that BT should allow call barring as standard and it ought to be inclusive within normal line rental, rather than being regarded as a "value added service".

Similarly all other operators should prevent onward dialling of premium rate (09) or international (00) number without the input of a user defined passcode.

That would more or less sort the problem out.

Nadine

Yes, BT are not taking their responsibility seriously enough at the moment, and pressure from the likes of premiumratescam.co.uk may have some effect!

AlisonMargaret

I have just noticed our email dialler has 1470 in front of the number. Is this a premium rate number? Will we be charged for this - I presume BT (our ISP) has added this on.

Thanks

Smartasss

It is nothing to worry about.

1470 before any number just means that the number you are ringing can identify you as the originator of the call.

ISPs use it to ensure that only the registered phone number is dialling in and using your ISP account.

jellybambam

All BT see is that the user is effectively initiating the phone call, therefore it is a valid call and the user must pay the fee. I can agree with that but sympathise also.

The user may rely on antivirus or spyware type solutions but these ALWAYS lag the introduction of the virus. Even if they do not, you would not be able to go to Company X and say, 'excuse me, your product did not prevent a rogue dialler dialling out and costing me £100 - I want compensation'.

As someone who works in the computer security industry, with the current fairly high tech malware out there I would say that it is up to the individual to ensure that they are protected. No matter which site you peruse there are a few very simple steps to ensure that you do not get hit by a rogue dialler:

1. Use broadband and do not connect your modem to the phone line. Fantastic solution - infallible for this type of scam.
2. Use an uptodate AV and malware package - but do not rely on it!
3. If you have to use dial up then unplug the phone line when not in use and check your 'Network Connections' for unknown diallers on bootup and after every surfing session. Delete those that are not known to you.
4. In addition - bar premium rate numbers via BT.

Its not rocket science, and in these days of cyber crime, phishing and the like, the onus is on the user to be a little au fait with the potential consequences of being blissfully unaware.

LD

OKAY

just seen martin's post re a dialler buy one set it to block premium calls

liznewman

This happened to me last year. We had a number on our bill for Emsat it was a cost of £60 for 20 minutes. Apparently from what bt said it is a ship to shore phone.

We go nowhere with BT and barred the numbers. No matter how we tried we could not find out who this number belonged to. It was not an 09 number it was a 008 number. It is a scam that BT should be held accountable for espeacially as they could not even tell us, where or who to contact. I would still love to know who the number belongs to.

Steve_xx

If the number started 008 then it was an international number.

liznewman

Yes I was told it was an international number and it was made via a ship as Emsat are a satalite and it was a ship to shore call. But I could not find out which ship the call was made from. Sounded very suspect to me but there was nothing I could do about it so I ended up paying.

Steve_xx

That's very odd indeed. I would be inclined to complain to Otelo about this. Link follows:

http://www.otelo.org.uk/content.php?menuID=25&pageID=10