New Scam

jac114 · December 16, 2003

we had an internal mail warning today about a scam going around where the phone rings and a recorded message says congratulations you have one a ?????press 9 to leave your address and postcode.. you then go on to ask more questions.. ..anyway it costs about £20 per min and you cannot hang up for the first 10 min as it will not disconnect you.. and if you are on for more than that it will then bill for 20 mins...

if you get this just put the phone down and do not press 9

this is apparently comming from overseas and bt are powerless to do anything about it!!!

craig

BESTY · December 16, 2003

nice of you to tell us ,thanks mate :winky:

Zee007 · December 16, 2003

Full story:

> > The scam relates to home and/or work phones (including mobiles)

> > The scenario is:- Your phone rings and you receive a recorded message,

> > "Congratulations. We are calling to advise you that you have won an all

> > expenses paid trip to an exotic destination. Please press 9 now to hear

> > further details."

> > If you press 9, you'll be connected to a premium line that bills in the

> > region of £20 per minute.

> > If you press 9 and connect, even if you disconnect immediately, the other

> > end will stay connected for a minimum of 5 minutes - at a cost to you of

> > £100 - the message lasts for 11 minutes.

> > The final part of the call asks you to key in your postcode and house

> > number (which has other serious considerations) and then, after a wait of

> > a further two minutes, responds with the message;

> > "Sorry, you are not one of the lucky winners." and disconnects, adding a

> > further £260 to your bill!

> > Unfortunately the calls are originating from outside the U.K. and as such

> > BT and other providers are relatively powerless to act. The only safe

> > solution is to hang up before the message prompts you to press 9.

Monster-Mat · December 16, 2003

so why ar'nt BT and all the other providers publically warning peeps about this........obviously they are actually making something from this.even if its a line connection fee

aido · December 16, 2003

Surely if it's going thru BT's system they'd need to be enabling the ability to reverse the call - if not then everyone would be able to make free phone calls billed to the receiver using whatever the loophole is??