Page 1 of Lattest phone scam, bewarned !

Got this Email from a workmate....

> Got these details from a friend whose husband is chief immigration
officer at Gatwick airport who received this from the police.

>Below are details of a scam currently going the rounds. The police
have requested that as many people are alerted as possible. Unfortunately
it is a genuine scam.

> The scam seems to be working well because it plays on your goodwill!
> The scam is as follows, Knock at your front door. On answering it you are confronted by a respectable looking woman in a suit, who is slightly distressed. She explains that her car has broken down further down the road and she needs to contact her husband to come to her aid. Is it possible to use your phone to call him?

> You allow her to use the phone, but being the suspicious type you
stand with her as she makes the call. She dials the number, and asks to be
put through to Mr. Smith/Brown (whatever). She holds the line for about
thirty seconds.

>She continues, asking that whoever is there that they get her husband out of the meeting. She continues to apologise and hold the line.
> A couple of minutes goes by and she starts to speak to her husband.
She explains the situation to him , tells him what as happened to the car.
She finishes the call by saying ` will see you in a about 20 minutes
then` she puts the phone down and thanks you for your kindness. Never to be
seen again.!

What has happened?

> A week or two before knocking at your door she has set up her own
premium rate line with a telephone company at the cost £150, and she dictated
that calls to that number should be charged at £50 per minute. She has
dialled that number when she came into your house, and the conversation with
her husband was entirely fictitious.

>A pre-recorded message is on the other end. the five minutes spent on your phone has cost you approx £250 and she is pocketing the money.The first you know about it, is when you receive your bill.
> According to the law she has not committed any criminal offence. You
have given her permission to use your phone.

...........Bewarned !

This item was edited on Thursday, 25th November 2004, 19:00

Isn`t this a sort of virus? The kind that gets millions of people mailing it around.
I think the maximum anyone can charge is about £1.50/min isn`t it?

EDIT: here you go..
Ste

This item was edited on Thursday, 25th November 2004, 19:05

First heard about this particular scam about 9 years ago when I was working at the hotel. This, along along with the call from `A BT engineer checking your line, please press 9 on your switchboard then hang up`, were constantly drummed into us on a regular basis

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I ate what?


My Collection

Oh no - urban myth terrority again. Since the max is £1.50 per minute - that woman spent 2 and three quarter hours making that quick call to her husband - I should have made her a cup of tea ( or given her dinner 8) ). If you see any flying pigs let`s know.

Spartacus

Don`t be too hard guys - he`s only trying to help.. :)

Ste

Yup, simply trying to help where they think a scam may be...
And...carrying on from that...anyone heard of this to a mobile?

I got an "Alert" the other day (usually these only come from my answering machine or similar), but this one was from "Click her to download ur free ringtone" (and yeah, spelled like that in text speak!!)

I "skipped" it, but is this one of those "they send you a text you open it they charge a couple of quid for end user terminated" text message thingy?

I aint that hot on mobiles, and basically send or receive texts, and make calls! Lol
Using a Samsung A800 on O2 but unlocked.

Jimbo : oÞ

Jimbo I would check with your phone company as I receive a lot of `junk` texts and I can`t delete them without opening them and I only found out that I had been charged £3 per month for about 6 months when I went through my paperwork and checked my bill. >:( Absolute tossers. There is a website that you can report them too, I think someone posted it a few weeks back.

Back to the origianl point, who actually lets people into their houses nowadays? If a woman came to my front door and her car was broken down a) I`d be suspicious that in this day and age she hasn`t got a mobile phone and b) I would give her 20p to go and use a phone box! ;)

Quote:
I only found out that I had been charged £3 per month for about 6 months when I went through my paperwork and checked my bill
This is actually what worries me Nina.
I`m on a special staff tariff and don`t have itemised billing. They screw up every time I try to get a single itemised bill, even paying for it!
Now, this "alert" like I said had a "View" and a "Skip" option.
It doesn`t show in my text message in or outboxes.
I know the phone is internet capable, but I don`t use it/have never signed up to any (to the best of my knowledge that is!)

Might nip into the shop today and try to get the number for the staff department and ring `em next week....

Jimbo : oÞ

Corrach, I appreciate you`re trying to help, but let`s try looking at this story more closely:

(1) it is impossible to run up a bill this large in that space of time, as has already been noted

(2) The scam involves setting up a phone company and thus leaving a trail of evidence a mile long.

(3) The scam also involves the woman hanging round the house for long enough for victims of the scam to remember her appearance.

(4) And all this for what is at the end of the day a pretty small sum of money.

(5) Oh yes, and she is breaking the law. Same principle as if A lent B a hammer in good faith and then B killed A with it.

I think we should file this one next to the tale of the vanishing hitch-hiker.

This item was edited on Saturday, 27th November 2004, 17:26

What vanishing hitch-hiker? Who, what, where, when?

Cheers, Marty 8)