Beware : Tuvalu internet scam

nsc_2

Can anyone help?

My sister has fallen victim to an internet scam.

Apparently, every time she has gone on line over the past couple of months or so, the server number has been redirected to a number in Tuvalu at exorbitant cost. Thus, she has just received a highly inflated phone bill, which BT says she has to pay, and she is told that her next bill will be in four figures.

What should she do?

Thanks


Neil

emc

Tell your sister to

- ask BT to stop premium rate calls from her line, if this is convenient,

- install some software such as a firewall and an anti- spyware program to stop the dialler being installed on her computer,

- report the premium rate company to ICSTIS - the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services,

- if she's using Internet Explorer, try Mozilla Firefox for browsing the internet, as Firefox is more secure than Internet Explorer and has more security options.

TREVORCOLMAN

Re stopping premium rate and international calls. I did this thro BT a little while ago. It is very easy and does not cost much. It takes about 24 hours. When you set it up your also have a PIN Number which you chose. So you can then take the bar off if you wish to make a premuim rate or international call. You can then put the block back on again.

Worth a few quid for peace of mind I think.

Trev

TREVORCOLMAN

BT Cust Serv 0800 800 150

Calling features info: 0800 789 456

Hope this helps.


Trev

emc

I believe that when your sister reports the premium rate company to ICSTIS, she can challenge and demand a refund for each and every call that costs more than £20.

King_David_2

Isn't Tuvalu, and this isn't from experience, one of those places where !!!!!! lines go through or something?

I always wonder exactly how this happens as when I had dial-up, it never happened to me at all.

You can, and others will know exactly how, put the bill in dispute, I think. Maybe I'm wrong.

Take a look at http://www.ofcom.org.uk, there might be something there.

Malestrom

Your sister needs to ensure that the Dialer program has been removed from her PC, otherwise it will happen again! As others have said, install a good FREE firewall, such as ZoneAlarm or Sygate too. Don't rely on the XP firewall (if she runs XP) as it doesnt block outgoing traffic.

nsc_2

Thankyou, everyone.

I've passed on the info to her and she'll get it sorted on Tuesday. She tells me that it's not a premium line but an international one, so she's not covered by ICSTIS, so how she stands with the BT bills remains to be seen.

Anyway, thankyou very much - and I've told her to keep off the !!!!!! sites! ;D

digital

My sister has fallen victim to an internet scam.

[snip]

BT says she has to pay, and she is told that her next bill will be in four figures.

What should she do?

Point out to BT that they know all about this, having had thousands(?) of customers already affected by it, most of whom have already complained.

Watchdog on BBC1 have also covered the scam and challenged BT about it. Perhaps an email to Watchdog might produce results?

Malestrom

Also advise her to change to broadband (if available in her area), there are lots of cheap deals around now (from just over £10 pm) and this will never be able to happen again.

TREVORCOLMAN

The International and Premium rate Barring works for me.

;D