Forums Forums Local News Phone scam

A friend of mine had an experience he wishes to share:-

Received a phone call from BT, informing me that he was disconnecting 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 - he gave me the very 'English' John Peacock with a very 'African' accent - & phone number -0800 0800 152. Obviously the fellow realized I didn't believe 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 disconnect 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. I dialed 1471 -number withheld I phoned his fictitious 0800 number - not recognized. So 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 as possible know of this scam. The fact that the phone does go off would probably convince some people it's real, so please make as many friends & family aware of this. How is it done? This is good but not that clever. He gave the wrong number - it should have been 0800 800 152 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 initiates 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 many. By the way this is not about getting the cash as this would not get past merchant services - it is all about getting the credit card details which include the security number, to be used for larger purchases. **Please Copy And Paste**.

I can cut your phone line off very easy, I phone you, I don't put my phone down and press mute button, you put yours down, pick it back up you get silence no dial tone you can not dial out your phone is useless, until I put my receiver down.

£10 says you can't do that to me

he said th\t in the OP

i've done that trick a couple of times with mates as a bet (i bet you i can make your phone not work...) childish stuff (i'm only 24 gimme a break) but didn't realise that you could turn it into a full on scam.

i'll pass this message around to stop others falling victim.

Its authentic
http://www.snopes.com/fraud/telephone/btscam.asp

We just got a good scam, a letter supposedly redirected from Hong Kong, a relative left $5million dollars and this requires the guy to sort it out and split the money with us, the envelope is from Staples and it has a very poor business postage sticker and it came via the post, I think, the name is from the BT telephone book,haven't passed it to plod yet as I've just come in, so beware.

You didn't.

I had a very similar phone call on Thursday but the guy said he was from virgin media and we had a problem with our broadband but we only have a phone with virgin but not broadband, anyway before he called my phone rang twice and when I picked it up there was dead silence which was probably "a primer" for some made up fault which needed a payment.
I told him that we dont have broadband with Virgin and he said nothing just hung up.

my old phone i keep switched on keeps ringing with an 0800 number but i dont answer it, heres a good site to check whos ringing you http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/01706833772

More than likely an auto dialer waiting for someone to answer so they know they have a live one.

This happened to me a good couple of years ago, which I related on here at some point a while back.
I didn't phone the police but phoned BT. They did an investigation and returned saying it was not from BT and stated that BT would never phone up and demand or address an issue in such a fashion. It is not their policy to deal with an issue in such a way.

No longer do I have any tolerance for any of these, what I would call 'rogue phonecalls'. At present being pestered by Surveys about Life Style. Still coming from foreign lands. These companies that have sold our numbers on , have a lot to answer for.

My mobile number has NEVER been give to any business, company, or used to phone any business or company. It is for family/friends only and yet my number is known in business circles. So, thanks very much Tesco !