Home Phone Line Fraud - Not Possible??

iniltous

alex99 wrote: »

Sorry to be negative, but I think it's highly unlikely that BT will do "the decent thing". Past form suggests they will simply ignore all your protestations and keep demanding the money while repeating the mantra that the calls were made on your line.

Once BT start getting heavy, you will have to establish that you are in dispute with them about the bill (this will give you an initial 8 weeks to fight the thing) and then you may have to take the case to the Communications Ombudsman http://www.ombudsman-services.org/communications.html.

Meanwhile you should maximize pressure on BT by using every means at your disposal - including the press. I'm sure people on this forum and over at http://www.the-scream.co.uk/forums/f30.html? will help if you provide as much information as you can about these calls (obviously don't publish any personal information on the web).

It's also worth being persistent with PhonePayPlus. In my experience, they almost always refuse to help in the first instance. They usually relent if you are insistent. At the very least, they ought to be able to find out more about the companies that Square 1 Communications has leased these 09 numbers to.

Unless I've missed it, the OP didnt reveal the service provider, it may be BT, but until the OP says who the service provider is, then why mention BT ?, for what its worth, if the OP's relative lives in a place that has staff on duty evenings and nights, then its possible that if telephone services enter the building in a common 'utilitys' area, a bored employee with access to this area could easily tap onto the line and make calls, if a crime has been commited (almost certainly) then if not already done, the OP should be reporting it to the police and then telling the service provider that the calls in question were made illegally, and they, the service provider shouldnt be benefiting from a crime

wantmemoney

iniltous wrote:

Unless I've missed it, the OP didnt reveal the service provider

hi,
you're correct but an easy mistake based on past BT cases.

this is interesting!
http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/09828739995

http://www.phonepayplus.org.uk/Number-Checker/Check-a-Number-Results.aspx?ncn=09828739995
Check a Number - Result
PhonepayPlus has the following information about number :
09828739995

Customer care number: 0844 477 2997
Search result provided by: SQUARE1 COMMUNICATIONS LTD
Service connected on: 22 February 2012
Service terminated on: This service is still operating
Name of service: Babestation
Type of service: SQUARE1 COMMUNICATIONS LTD has not provided this information
Service description: SQUARE1 COMMUNICATIONS LTD has not provided this information
How much does this service cost? £1.53 per min
If you would like to find out more about this service or have a question about it then you should contact SQUARE1 COMMUNICATIONS LTD
WESSEX HOUSE
STATION ROAD
WILTSHIRE
BA133JN

now that may be an odd co-incidence...it would be interesting to look at the Oxygen8 revenue before that date and who they were sharing it with.

alex99

iniltous wrote: »

Unless I've missed it, the OP didnt reveal the service provider, it may be BT, but until the OP says who the service provider is, then why mention BT ?, for what its worth, if the OP's relative lives in a place that has staff on duty evenings and nights, then its possible that if telephone services enter the building in a common 'utilitys' area, a bored employee with access to this area could easily tap onto the line and make calls, if a crime has been commited (almost certainly) then if not already done, the OP should be reporting it to the police and then telling the service provider that the calls in question were made illegally, and they, the service provider shouldnt be benefiting from a crime

Sorry you are right, the line operator has not been vouchsafed - though the line has been identified as a BT line.

If it's a BT line with a different operator, it won't be BT hassling for the money, but it will be down to BT to check for misfeasance. History suggests they won't look very hard.

(All my comments on this thread are of course based on the assumption that the facts of this case as as reported)

birkee

catlad wrote: »

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

:rotfl:

Up a telephone pole all night, calling sex lines?
What an image.
Maybe participating in some sexual activity of their own whilst doing so? :rotfl:

alex99

iniltous wrote: »

the service provider shouldnt be benefiting from a crime

:rotfl:

The network operators and the service providers have made millions from content provider scams over the years

lady_lurkalot

Hi everyone and thanks for your messages and support. There have been some developments which at the moment I can't say too much about on here, but thankfully things are looking more hopeful for my mum now. I will post further and update when I can.

alex99

lady_lurkalot wrote: »

Hi everyone and thanks for your messages and support. There have been some developments which at the moment I can't say too much about on here, but thankfully things are looking more hopeful for my mum now. I will post further and update when I can.

Sounds like good news. Please do update us if you are able to - even if you have to keep some details confidential. It's always useful to have the information on different kinds of vulnerabilities of the phone system to premium rate.

wantmemoney

lady_lurkalot wrote:

Thanks everyone for your replies. My mum lives in local authority accommodation so perhaps she should report this to the council? Two of the numbers which are listed on the bill are:
09828736666
09059151234

Hi everyone and thanks for your messages and support. There have been some developments which at the moment I can't say too much about on here, but thankfully things are looking more hopeful for my mum now. I will post further and update when I can.

http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/09828736666
09828736666

Olive
19 h 59 min ago

Repeated calls from this number.

it's possible lady lurkalot has been conned with BT's(or whoever) 'investigation' and police 'investigation' con.

They just do not and never have investigated this type of case as criminal fraud against the customer.
They always treat it as 'theft of service' against the Network.

I think the details on the bill should be posted for future reference.

wantmemoney

lady_lurkalot wrote:

This reply confirmed my suspicions that this is NOT an isolated case and BT has known for a long time that this hacking is going on. WHY HAS THERE BEEN NO BIG OUTCRY AND INVESTIGATION OF THIS FRAUD?

@lady lurkalot
you may be interested in this....it would be interesting to know who numbers Square1 were using.

Square1 - FAQs
square1communications.net/faqs.aspA: Square1 Communications is a profitable company, run by honest, up front, hardworking people. Our own network provider is Opal Telecommunications ...
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:yBK_svWhpVsJ:square1communications.net/faqs.asp+%22square1%22+opal&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk

It is a snapshot of the page as it appeared on 23 Jan 2012 10:14:52 GMT.

Q: When will I get paid?

A: All revenues are paid 35 days after month end. For instance, revenues from traffic generated in January are paid on the 5th working day of March. We provide a revenue statement for the January traffic on the 10th working day of February and ask that you then invoice us the stated amount before month end.

Q: How do I know I will get paid?

A: Square1 Communications is a profitable company, run by honest, up front, hardworking people. Our own network provider is Opal Telecommunications Limited, which is part of The Carphone Warehouse group. While this does not guarantee you payment, it at least provides peace of mind that your revenues sit with solvent, reputable organisations.

Opal is the company that provides SquareI with it's premium rate lines and 'revenue share' billing agreements with the Networks including TalkTalk.

but Opal is also part of the TalkTalk Group

http://www.talktalkgroup.com/about-us/our-history.aspx

Our history
TalkTalk started as part of The Carphone Warehouse Group PLC and in less than 10 years has become one of the UK's leading telecoms companies.

TalkTalk’s venture into the fixed line telecoms market began, when Carphone Warehouse acquired Opal Telecom PLC, a fixed line, voice telecommunications network provider.

I not implying above companies are responsible or that they supplied the numbers that were used.......the two numbers you posted 09828736666
09059151234 both belong to Oxygen8.

don't forget to update

lady_lurkalot

As promised, I am now able to update this thread, and I'm glad to say that my mum has now received a letter from her phone provider which acknowledges that her phone line has been tampered with, and confirming that the £1,600 will be removed from her account. It has taken many weeks of stress, worry, and numerous phone calls to get to this point, and the phone provider hasn't exactly been sympathetic or helpful. We are now going to try and get some compensation from them.

I can now definitely say that home phone line fraud IS possible!