Landline Fraud Protection Charge

Skewed_Halo

Please forgive me if this post isn't concerning a usual topic but I literally don't know where else to go for advice.


I have a landline/calls package with a small provider called Adept. Recently they sent me an e-mail saying that from the 1st January they are introducing a charge of 94p per month that will allow them to 'limit my exposure' to £200 in the event that criminals rack up large charges from my number. This is something I can opt out of.


"Our industry continues to be the victim of more sophisticated and widespread fraud whereby criminals from this country and abroad access phone lines and sell access to those lines to others to make free or cheap calls. Several of our customers, businesses and individuals, have incurred considerable “bill shock” (as it’s often called these days) with thousands of pounds of calls to premium rate numbers or expensive international destinations. This problem is as much ours as it is our customers because we are ultimately liable for reimbursing the carrier for the calls and then we have to ensure our customers, where the physical lines reside, are in a position to settle the cost of those calls. As a result of this we’ve been looking at ways of mitigating your exposure to ensure this is kept to an absolute minimum."


I have never heard of this before and was wondering if anyone else's phone company does something similar. Also, in the event that large charges were run up on my account through no fault of my own, am I actually legally liable for them.


Would you sign up for this or not?

Farway

Is this a personal or businesses account?

greyteam1959

Business or personal account ??
Would not sign up either way.

Skewed_Halo

Sorry, it's a personal account. I'm one of the few people who haven't bundled my home phone in with broadband yet.

[Deleted User]

Skewed_Halo wrote: »

Please forgive me if this post isn't concerning a usual topic but I literally don't know where else to go for advice.


I have a landline/calls package with a small provider called Adept. Recently they sent me an e-mail saying that from the 1st January they are introducing a charge of 94p per month that will allow them to 'limit my exposure' to £200 in the event that criminals rack up large charges from my number. This is something I can opt out of.


"Our industry continues to be the victim of more sophisticated and widespread fraud whereby criminals from this country and abroad access phone lines and sell access to those lines to others to make free or cheap calls. Several of our customers, businesses and individuals, have incurred considerable “bill shock” (as it’s often called these days) with thousands of pounds of calls to premium rate numbers or expensive international destinations. This problem is as much ours as it is our customers because we are ultimately liable for reimbursing the carrier for the calls and then we have to ensure our customers, where the physical lines reside, are in a position to settle the cost of those calls. As a result of this we’ve been looking at ways of mitigating your exposure to ensure this is kept to an absolute minimum."


I have never heard of this before and was wondering if anyone else's phone company does something similar. Also, in the event that large charges were run up on my account through no fault of my own, am I actually legally liable for them.


Would you sign up for this or not?

Never even heard of Adept. You say this is something you can opt out which seems to indicate that you're automatically opted in, is that not illegal? Either way I wouldn't pay it.

Skewed_Halo

I finaly got round to phoning them about this. Basically I was told that they hadn't yet come across the type of fraud they were talking about on a residential line, and so I opted out.


Thanks to those who gave their input.