Home Phone Line Fraud - Not Possible??

catlad

did you notice any one on the telephone poll making a phone call as that once happen in burton the guy phoned his famly in a another country on a company phonline up
on the telephone pole

lady_lurkalot

Thanks catlad but I think it is unlikely it was anyone up a telephone pole as all the calls were made in the early hours of the morning and were continuous one after another i.e 4 calls to the same number 09059151234 on the same night at 0029 hrs, 0045 hrs, 0055 hrs and 0121 hrs. I know this must be one sick b*****d to be phoning these lines like this but you'd have to be pretty desperate to be up a pole in the freezing weather!

wantmemoney

lady_lurkalot wrote:

i.e 4 calls to the same number 09059151234 on the same night at 0029 hrs, 0045 hrs, 0055 hrs and 0121 hrs. I know this must be one sick b*****d to be phoning these lines like this

I think you will find these numbers are purely being dialled to earn the 'end user' a share of the premium rate revenue.

this is how it is supposed to works.

Oxygen8 own the numbers and supply them to companies like Livelines

Livelines 'resell' them to 'work from home' people.

the work from home people are supposed to advertise the number and their 'service' to encourage people to phone.

These are Premium Rate numbers and Oxygen8, reseller, end user(crook sometimes) and your Network all take a share of the money from the bill.

What actually happens.

A crook will obtain the number from the reseller or directly from Oxygen8 and think up various ways of making peoples phones dial their number.

Hacking and dialling on stolen phones are just two method they use.

The Networks and Industry are fully aware it's going on but will not tell the victims.

lady_lurkalot

Thanks for the explanation Wantmemoney - so its probably not some sick perve in a dirty raincoat its a devious (and pretty clever) crook. I still think its a scandal that this is going on and being covered up by the phone networks etc how many people are being scammed like this that we never get to hear about. Also when it does happen the phone providers refuse to acknowledge it and make people like my mum feel like the criminal.

lady_lurkalot

I've had an email reply from Phonepayplus to my on-line complaint. They've basically said that they cannot intervene with a disputed bill, and that we must sort it out with the network provider (which we are trying to do - without much success at the moment). They did say that the 2 numbers I sent them as an example of those itemised on the bill were licensed to Square 1 Communications? Has anyone heard of them please.

Also, I've been told that the cordless type telephones are more susceptible to 'hacking'. Has anyone else heard this please?

Buzby

No - providing it is a DECT handset, someone would have to have explicitly enabled their hantset and register it onto her base station, which makes it something that BT cannot investigate ,as it isn't their problem. I would suggest she clears all the registered handsets, then re-registers the ones she uses which will knock out any she is unsure of. Unfortunately, if the breach happened in this way, BT will not find anything as the fraud was not on their line, but with the cordless handset. It would then be up to the goodwill of the network if they could waive all or part of the cost.

If someone can access her property when she's not there, it may be better to dispense with cordless entirely, not because it is insecure but she cannot control a third party interfering with her base station to register another handset.

lady_lurkalot

Thanks Buzby that all sounds a bit too technical for me to understand - sorry what does DECT mean? My mum only has one handset (which was bought from a reputable shop) and no-one has access to her property when she's not there.

wantmemoney

lets not jump to to many conclusions too quickly

there is no reason to believe the calls were made from the part of the line she is responsible for.

just out of interest were any of the calls longer than twenty minutes...if they were then PhonepayPlus has to 'investige'

EDIT the Regulations state this to prevent unintentional huge bills..the problem is the crooks know this and you will see the calls will cut off at 20mins or less.

DevCoder

Buzby wrote: »

No - providing it is a DECT handset, someone would have to have explicitly enabled their hantset and register it onto her base station, which makes it something that BT cannot investigate ,as it isn't their problem. I would suggest she clears all the registered handsets, then re-registers the ones she uses which will knock out any she is unsure of. Unfortunately, if the breach happened in this way, BT will not find anything as the fraud was not on their line, but with the cordless handset. It would then be up to the goodwill of the network if they could waive all or part of the cost.

If someone can access her property when she's not there, it may be better to dispense with cordless entirely, not because it is insecure but she cannot control a third party interfering with her base station to register another handset.

Thats not strictly true, the DECT algorithm has been cracked for quite a few years, although cracking it and knowing how to then exploit it is a bit beyond the average person (and you'd still need to be within DECT range so although possible outside the premises, not much distance outside!)

As mentioned its more likely on the other side (non consumer) of the line.

lady_lurkalot

Thanks wantmemoney and krisdorey for your comments I think the crooks have been clever and limited the calls to less than 20 mins but I will double-check the itemised bill to make sure (there is a big long list of numbers).

Re: the cordless handset type phones, I've heard that these can act as a sort of 'walkie talkie' type transmitter and can be 'hacked' into??

Any info on Square 1 Communications please?