BE AWARE OF THIS SCAM
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 to re-connect at a later date. The guy
wasn't even fazed when I told him I was with Virgin
Media, allegedly Virgin 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 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. 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. So 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 will include the
security number, to be used for larger purchases.

Wow Gemma, how do these people think up these idea`s, absolutely incredible, so glad you posted it, thankyou.

Could i re-post it on my facebook please and warn more people.

Thanks Gemma xx

I got it from Facebook do pass it on

Ok hun, thanks

Info only.
http://www.snopes.com/fraud/telephone/btscam.asp

Sigh, another that doesn't know what snopes is but knows how to forward a chain mail.

Thanks for the

LMFAO yerrrrrrrrrrrr

Wow how bad is that ,these scam`s are becoming a pain .I wonder what would happen if you see that number come up (caller display) and you didn`t answer it ? would this guy then leave you alone and move on to the next victim ? well i won`t answer it now i know the number ,thanks for letting every one know . This is why i do like wiki ,very helpful at times ,June

Didn't you read the link June? It was one guy in 2009 who scammed a few stupid people. It's not something that's ongoing.

Ban the Poster....

its very easy to make some one believe there phone has been cut off, phone them, but just do not put receiver down and put your phone on mute, only works on landlines

I Just read this on the Internet......

Please tell all your loved ones and post to facebook......


The BBC announces that Germany has invaded Poland and the armed forces in Britain and France have been mobilised in response. Many Polish towns have been bombed and Danzig (Gdansk) has fallen under German control. Translated excerpts from Germanys proclamation to German citizens are also read out, revealing his objectives and his view of recent negotiations for a settlement. In London preparations for war continue; Queen Elizabeth, consort to HRH King George VI, visits the Women's Voluntary Service, while the evacuation of children gets under way. The bulletin also includes an appeal for all emergency services personnel to report for duty immediately.

Huh?

Old news

Thanks again exO_, no i didn`t read the link ,just caught the head line and carried on reading

I bet the nigerian had a knife in his hand while he made that call also. maybe even a bomb vest.

Probably just george agadagadwengo doing hisnusual rounds

Should this actually be real, there is no way someone on the BT helpdesk can connect / disconnect your phone at will.

Connections / disconnections are sent in update batches and are not done on an individual basis by their telephone support staff.

The only way that could have been done was by someone near to the house, fiddling round with one of those green boxes you see on street corners, or "concentrators" as they are known, and physically disconnecting the line from the PSTN.

I have done this with your quote again as the point in question may well get lost along the line.
This happened to me approx 18 months ago. Exactly as you have posted it. The only difference was that they didn't call back a second time.
Fortunately I knew it was a scam immediately as I had paid my bill the week before. So I was not very polite. They were asking for £120 !
Once the line was cleared (about 10 mins)I immediately phoned BT and they responded by saying, that they would never make a call of such nature,it is not their policy. They continued to enquire and returned saying that no such call had been made from BT.

For future reference: In certain situations if you should get a call to a
LANDLINE which you are unsure about in anyway. Do NOT replace the receiver. Leave it off the hook and call either BT or Police from another phone. The call could then possibly be traced. I am not sure how it would work with mobile phones.

Edited for more info.

If you phone a small business, for example, then the same is true. The connection is only closed when the caller hangs up the phone.

I have an ISDN2 (digital) here at home, you wouldn't be able to do it to me as I have 2 channels. i.e. when someone calls me and I'm on the phone, another handset will ring if someone calls my home number. Likewise, if someone is on the phone, I can still make a call.

It is true enough what Willo says, by targeting home phone lines you are 99.9% certain to be able to do the trick. But then these chumps, if they wanted to, could do a line check to sus which type of line you have prior to calling.

Also worth noting is something that Gypsy touches upon, if they are calling from a withheld number then you won't know they are calling using any form of caller ID.

Anyway, it's a none event as it's unlikely to happen and the whole thing is just designed to see how far an email can go, do us all a favour and don't pass it on. It's just irritating.

Oh come on... please, police, someone has called me and I don't like them, could you trace the call please, I've left it off the hook.

Never going to happen. Put the phone down and move on with your life.

I say analogue, you say public switched telephone network

True, BT couldn't disconnect your phone from their network by clicking a button on their PC.

But we're getting far too complicated for your standard wiki thread.

I keep having to call the mechanic in to fix my computer when the screen gets covered in Tippex.

I stated in certain situations, which could mean abusive calls to women, and yes the calls can be traced, depending on the severity, whether it's done or not.

..Well tbh they shouldn't be on the phone in the first place unless there's one handy in the kitchen.

FYI IP checks are the same, when someone says 'omg the police will track your IP!' the paperwork involved and costs assosiated with actually tracking down information on the person that was using the line at that particular time just aren't worth it except for the most serious of cases. And, sorry to say, phone scams don't fall into that category.

Sorry Exo all this has got a bit distorted. I am not for one moment sugesting that anyone should call the police for a phone scam. What I was trying to get across is that if anyone should be seriously violated by phone calls, and each individual is capable of making their own decission on that point, then that is a proceedure they could follow. Once the receiver is replaced the call cannot be traced.
My daugher was held up at knife point in her bed and had all her personal items taken including her phone. Next thing the perpatrator was phoning her boyfriend. The police had the call traced and pin-pointed within 5 mins. In such circumstances, we do pay for our services from BT or any other provider and our council tax is for Police operations.

Nothing to add but that ^ made me LOL

Had a distinctly foreign call the other day from the 'makers of my computers operating system' the usual, theres problems, need money, blah, blah. I just told them we didnt own a computer.

Caller ID just said unavailable.

I was tempted to keep him hanging on for ages and acting the dumb innocent pc owner with a big wallet and costing them money on their long distance call, but I had to go out there went my fun for the day.