BT Phone Scam

sneekymum

Just thought I'd share a new scam with you all.

This Indian woman rang up the other day - says she's from the BT and would we like to change our line rental from paying quarterly to six monthly thereby saving us some percentage or other...

We just need to set up a new direct debit to do this...(i.e. give out our bank details).

We'll think about it says Sneekydad - Are BT really trying to reduce their profits? - perhaps if we could have some info in the post...

(Indianwoman passes Sneekydad to her manager - Indianman) - No - that won't be possible - you have to sign up for it over the phone...

Well, says Sneekydad, under English Law you have to provide written contract details on request - so perhaps you could email them?

Still waiting for that email.........

mspig

my dad got a phone call apparently form BT offering him cheaper line rental etc and wanted the bank details up front, my dad declined and then a couple of days later he received another call this time though a Scottish person saying they were form BT and that he had won their monthly prize draw of one thousand pond and could he provide the bank details as they would automatically transfer the money in to the account, my dad said no and put the phoe down he then rang BT direct and was told that they donot have monthly prise draws and that they did not ring up about cheaper line rental.

So beware out there nasty people after your money.

sneekymum

BT used to ring people up about prize draws - they did one that was in two parts about seven years ago now. After the first phone call I wrote and complained and it was agreed that BT would never call me again with this rubbish - sure enough I got the second half of the prize draw call...I wrote asking for compensation...still waiting...

I don't think they do that anymore.

They did make a sales call to me a few months ago so I wrote to remind them that they'd promised not to ring me.

They rang to appologise...(though no one asked for bank details on that
occasion).

But these weren't scams - just BT being stupid - but that makes the scams more believable.

MarkyMarkD

I don't believe that Indian call was from BT at all. There have been a number of cases of other phone providers contacting BT customers and conning them into switching suppliers. The "asking for the DD details" bit is a bit of a give-away. If you are already paying BT on quarterly DD, they wouldn't need the DD details again.

Milarky

What about having a line if you are suspicious of any caller to the effect that: "With your permission, I am going to start recording this conversation for security purposes. This will protect you as well as me. Do you agree to this?" If they aren't genuine then what do you think are the chances that they won't hang up at that stage? After all, you don't have to have any such recorder, and you can still say at the end "Thank you, but no."

Webbie_2

I'm sure you have already done this, but have you registered with the TPS to help reduce the number of sales you get?

April2

TPS registration won't stop such calls from abroad (in this case, probably from India).

pricefighter

The BT site contains useful info about what to do about these type of calls.

See https://www.bt.com/misselling

sneekymum

Sadly TPS doesn't apply to businesses - & we work from home - often we turn cold sales calls into our own marketing opportunity...

We are registered with TPS as a home but at the same time you can find us in the Business Pages.

I think the Indian scamers thought they were calling a house - you wouldn't discuss telephone charges with an employee if you thought it was a business.

knuckledragger

They are called "Slam scams" and are now thankfully illegal in the UK.

paulcdb

Looks like i've had the same call, twice in one day (lady and a man) could smell a scam from the start, the surname was wrong, the phone number quoted was wrong... and the fact that they were trying to sell me cheaper calls on a phone line that has outgoing calls barred... i really think BT would know this!! lol

Hope no-ones fallen for it because i've always said you have to be extremly slow not to wonder why they are asking for details they should already have... ah well!!