Just seen this on one of my work bulletin boards. This one is new to me, and seems feasible, so I thought I should alert people on here.
The new telephone 'scam' has arrived. I received a call from a 'representative' of BT, informing me that he was dis-connecting me because of an unpaid bill. He demanded payment immediately of £31.00, or it would be £ 118.00 to re-connect at a later date. The guy wasn't even fazed when I told him I was with Virgin Media, allegedly VM have to pay BT a percentage for line rental! I asked the guy's name - the very 'English' John Peacock with a very 'African' accent - & phone number - 0800 0800 152 0800 0800 152 .
Obviously the fella realized I wasn't believing his story, so offered to demonstrate that he was from BT. I asked how & he told me to hang up & try phoning someone - he would dis-connect my phone to prevent this. AND HE DID !! My phone was dead - no engaged tone, nothing - until he phoned me again.
Very pleased with himself, he asked if that was enough proof that he was with BT. I asked how the payment was to be made & he said credit card, there & then. I said that I didn't know how he'd done it, but I had absolutely no intention of paying him, I didn't believe his name or that he worked for BT. He hung up.
Did 1471 & phoned his fictitious 0800 number - not recognised. I phoned the police to let them know , I wasn't the first! It's only just started apparently but it is escalating. Their advice was to let as many people know by word of mouth of this scam. The fact that the phone does go off would probably convince some people it's real, so please let as many friends & family be aware of this.
This is good but not that clever. He gave the wrong number - it should have been 0800 800152 0800 800152 which takes you through to BT Business. The cutting off of the line is very simple , he stays on the line with the mute button on and you can't dial out - but he can hear you trying (This is because the person who initia tes a call is the one to terminate it). When you stop trying he cuts off and immediately calls back. You could almost be convinced! The sad thing is that it is so simple that it will certainly fool the elderly and vulnerable. Obviously, if this scam is real, once they have your credit/debit card details, there is nothing to stop them cleaning out your account.
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Comments
(Sorry, not ComputerMinded)
Easiest way is to copy it then paste it into an e mail.
Press the left hand button on your mouse and shade the text. Then click on the right hand button of your mouse and press copy.
When you send your e mail click as you would if you were going to type something but instead of typing click your right handbutton again and press paste.
If you've done it right the text will appear in your e mail.
Good luck!
Again, in English please ?
;-)
You'll have to wait for someone else to answer then! My knowledge of computers isn't great either!
The line about Virgin having to pay BTis bollox anyway. if you've got Virgin via cable then BT have nothing to do with it whatsoever. If you've got Virgin telephone service that isn't cable then its via Local Loop Unbundling (LLU) and Virgin will handle all contact with customers, BT will never phone you if you're signed up with another company via LLU.
However, this scam certainly is possible. I've experienced still being connected after having put the phone down and the other party not having hung up correctly. Not sure if this still happens, entirely possible BT fixed this problem (not experienced it in years).
What to do if fraudsters call
If you receive such a call and you suspect that it is fraudulent:
Do not give out any personal or bank details
Call your service provider’s nuisance call bureau to see if the call can be traced
If it can, pass on details to Ofcom or Consumer Direct (contact details at the end of the article)
What to do if you have given out personal details
If you have already received a call and given out your bank details you should:
call your bank immediately to let them know about the scam and to cancel your credit card or change your bank details
ask your bank to try and trace the payment
and if you get any details, let Ofcom or Consumer Direct know
To contact Ofcom’s Advisory Team call 0300 123 3333.
To contact Consumer Direct call 08454 04 05 06.
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consumer/2009/09/scam-alert-beware-of-bogus-callers/
Still, the guy from Fonejacker is hilarious ''There is a pigeon in the vault....but Sir, the pigeon will die''
Some poor old person being ' conned' ...... the unemployed etc.....
I hate this type of crime, and the police/authorities lack of interest.
The distress it causes is appauling, as far as I am concerned it is robbery......
Im not sure that any transaction actually takes plce. I think they just take your card details and then use them in some way or another to wipe you clean out. Im might be wrong tho as most scammers use the technique of getting their victims to transfer funds via Western Union, making it far more harder to trace.
Anti-Scammers
This website has more Info, plus some of the wind-ups are brilliant.
Altho the Bauhaus cover version was pretty good........
;-)