Possible Mobile Phone Scam?

sophieschoice

I've just received an email which says:



Forward on to anyone you know with a Mobile

If you receive a phone call on your mobile from any person, saying that
he or she is a company engineer, or telling that they're checking your
mobile line, and you have to press #90 or #09 or any other number, end
this call immediately without pressing any numbers.

There is a fraud company using a device that once you press #90 or #09
they can access your 'SIM' card and make calls at your expense.

Forward this message to as many colleagues, relatives and friends as you
can, to stop it.

Many thanks for your time regarding this matter, take care and regards.

Ypaymore

Its a URBAN MYTH and has been doing the rounds for yonks ,dont waste your time and others by circulating this nonsense.

http://www.snopes.com/fraud/telephone/jailcall.asp

sophieschoice

Ypaymore wrote: »

Its a URBAN MYTH and has been doing the rounds for yonks ,dont waste your time and others by circulating this nonsense.

http://www.snopes.com/fraud/telephone/jailcall.asp

And exactly how would I have known that if this is the first I'd heard of it?
Did you mean to reply quite so rudely?

knuckledragger

sophieschoice,
perhaps the reply was a little abrupt but don't take offence. Whenever I get an email warning of this or that, I check it out on www/hoax-slayer/com only then do I think about forwarding to friends/family...

Ypaymore

sophieschoice wrote: »

And exactly how would I have known that if this is the first I'd heard of it?
Did you mean to reply quite so rudely?

You could have tried googling.:D

sophieschoice

It takes a lot more than that to offend me!
The email came from a very good friend via what appeared to be a police officer so was done in good faith.
Thank you for that site, I've never heard of it.

sophieschoice

Ypaymore wrote: »

Do you always believe everything that is sent to you, and circulate it willy nilly. You could try googling.

Why would I google when I don't believe a close friend would send me anything but genuine emails?
Take care you don't fall off that high horse.

Ypaymore

sophieschoice wrote: »

Why would I google when I don't believe a close friend would send me anything but genuine emails

Always pays to do some research.

http://www.google.com/search?q=90+telephone+scam&rls=com.microsoft:en-gb:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7GGLL_en

Guys_Dad

sophieschoice wrote: »

Why would I google when I don't believe a close friend would send me anything but genuine emails?
Take care you don't fall off that high horse.

Putting aside the tone of any previous posts, the advice given to you was good. I am sure that your friend sent the warning on to you in good faith, just as you posted your warning here.

But the internet is full of such hoaxes and the originators get their kicks by seeing just how many gullible souls will pass on their hoax. There are a number of hoax slaying sites. Next time you get such a warning, try Googling with an extract from the warning and see what comes up. The same applies to virus warnings too.

If you find that the warning is genuine - and after may years as an I T Manager my experience is that less than 5% are - then pass it on, otherwise deny the hoaxers the oxygen of publicity.

It is worth letting your friends know about hoaxslayer as well.

Not preaching - just explaining.

OldGreyFox

Been mentioned a few times. Eg:


http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=125821

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1328837&highlight=http+www+snopes+com+fraud+telephone+jailcall+asp

Bigcammy

You can also check https://www.snopes.com when you get one of these. I get at least one of these a week from a friend and no matter how many times he's told he keeps forwarding them on blindly, perpetuating the hoax. You also get multiple variations on the "Don't open an email with the Budweiser frogs" or similar, usually screaming in capital letters about how it's going to destroy your hard disk etc, I just delete them immediately.