News for internet dialler victims

wantmemoney

Recently Margaret Hodge MP (DTI) has wrote to Sir Alistair Graham (Icstis) to ask him to explain why BT were allowed to continue billing for a group of "service providers" in Majorca for seventeen months.
The fraud was the subject of a BBC The Money Programme on 11/11/05.
"The Great Phone Call Con".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4397308.stm
The BBC identified this group as being responsible for 20% of all complaints in 2004.
According to Icstis the companies were under "investigation" from 1st Jan 04 onwards. According to Alun Michael MP they recieved their last complaint in May 2005.
Throughout that period tens of thousands of families were screaming at Icstis and BT the same thing concerning the same small group of companies using known 0909967**** telephone numbers.
They all claimed they had not requested any service, had not agreed to pay for any service, and indeed had not recieved any service.

The companies were all using 09 premium numbers supplied by Telecom One and the companies were all registered at the same two Majorcan addresses.
Premium Media Communications.. used 300 numbers
Quizir SL ................................used 900 numbers
Mesa Rotation..........................used 500 numbers
Amara Amichi/
Middleton holdings ltd................used 500 numbers
Cala de Plata...........................used 500 numbers
Despite BT and Icstis recieving many hundreds of identical complaints for each number, BT and Icstis insisted they didn't know the numbers were being used on illegal dialler software.
Margaret Hodge and Sir Alistair Graham have all the information concerning this case.
If anybody was a victim of internet "rogue" dialler fraud I strongly suggest you write to them to ensure there isn't a whitewash and coverup.

wantmemoney

Here's Sir Alistair Grahams (Icstis) explanation of why BT and other network providers were allowed to force tens of thousands of families (with the threat of disconnection) to pay for services they all claimed they had not requested, had not agreed to pay for and indeed had not recieved.
http://www.the-scream.co.uk/forums/t22598.html?

wantmemoney

I recieved this email from Icstis after contacting my MP. It shows that Icstis misled the media and the public as to the serious nature and scale of the premium rate internet fraud in 2004.
They may have misled and witheld evidence from the Police Hi-Tech Crime Unit.
Parliament may have been misled by Icstis and others.
Below are the Telecom One "service providers" that were responsible for over 20% of all dialler fraud in 2004. They were using approx. 3000 easily recognisable Telecom One 0909967**** premium rate numbers.
Icstis and BT were recieving complaints about them as early as 1st Jan 04.
The following email shows that as late as 14th Feb 2005 Icstis did not know the content of the service or how it was being promoted or marketed. In short BT (and other networkoperators) were being allowed to bill and force victims to pay for services when there was no evidence the services existed.

Dear ********,
Thank you for your email of the 5 October 2006 inquiring about Ofcom case reference CW/00833/04/05.
This Ofcom case arose following ICSTIS’ referral to them of network operator Telecom One. The service providers, to whom this Ofcom case refers, are: Massalia Telecom, Adventive Media and World Travel. The fourth referral mentions various service providers of dialler services, including:

o Premium Media
o Cala de Plata
o Inversion Zarnosa
o Quizir
o Amara Amichi
o Ibero, and
o Mesa Rotation

You should note that this case refers only to the conduct of the network operator. Ofcom currently regulate network operators and consequently any further inquiries about this case should be directed to Ofcom. The details of the case, now closed, are set out at:

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/bulletins/comp_bull_index/comp_bull_ccases/closed_all/cw_833/
Yours sincerely
ICSTIS Secretariat

Did Icstis mislead and withold evidence from the police?
At the height of the proplem in 2004 Icstis was recieving thousands of complaints a day.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39158412,00.htm
Suhil Baht,policy advisor at ICSTIS said :
"If it's only a few cases, then we can put it down to the husband or kids not admitting to surfing !!!!!!, but if 300 customers are saying the same thing about one company, then we can't ignore it," said Baht. "We can't work out what the problem is, so have recently started talking to the Hi-Tech Crime Unit so they can do a criminal investigation."
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39158412,00.htm
Quizir SL was using 900 Telecom One numbers. Each number had recieved numerous identical complaints. From the 1st Jan 04 to Suhil Baht's statement in mid 2004 Icstis had recieved several tens of thousand of complaints concerning Quizir SL.
In the artical Icstis claimed they were working closely with the police. Did they give the identities of the Telecom One service providers to the police? Did they tell them they were responsible for 20% of all complaints they had recieved? Did they tell them that actually there wasn't any evidence that the services Icstis claimed they were regulating and that BT were being allowed to bill for even existed?