Scam

I saw this on facebook and thought I would share with you.



Scam Alert****SCAM PLEASE BE AWARE***** 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 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. 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.

Re: Scam

Thanks for highlighting that, Bridie. I'm not one to be fooled by stuff like this, but sadly some people would be. No genuine company would ever ask for your credit/debit card details over the phone or by email.

On a similar note, last year I tried to use my debit card in Aldi where I shop regularly. My card was refused and Aldi immediately called Barclays Bank for me and I spoke to a person from there. He asked me where I normally use my card, which I told him, and he asked me if I'd ever heard of a company called Chaadi in Mumbai!

Eh? Anyway, he said he'd have to stop my debit card but I hadn't a penny piece so he gave me half an hour to go to the cash point. Apparently, somebody in America had tried to make a purchase from Chaadi at a cost of $94, but Barclays had stopped the purchase from going through immediately. It turned out that my card had been cloned.

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My bank called me once to say someone had tried to buy lots of little things abroad for about £1 each which looked odd. Apparantly if they get away with that then they go for bigger things. Luckily the bank picked up on it. MInd you I didnt have money in my account but I suppose it would have gone into the overdraft at the time.

Re: Scam

Hi! That's scary! We in Australia have been getting calls saying they are from microsoft and that they are calling because there is a problem with the computer and they want you to sit down and log in so they can fix it for you! Yeah, right! I usually say "I do not have a pc" or "Sir/Madam, before you go any further, I must warn you this call is being recorded for security purposes". Funny, they hang up on me!!!

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My sister got an email from Amazon thanking her for buying 6 £75 gift cards from them - problem is she didnt buy them!! Fortunately she got on to Amazon & her bank straight away & managed to stop the money being taken out.

Re: Scam

That's an old Scam that's been on the go for a while now. I don't answer calls if I don't recognise the number and I certainly won't answer witheld ones. I have my answer phone on all the time and if they leave a message then I'll usually pick up before they finish speaking if it's not a cold seller. If they don't leave a message then that's their bad luck. I'm sick to death of calls from people who should'nt have my number in the first place.

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I have a new number and I have only given it to 4 people, I give out my mobile number because I can see on that who is calling.

Over the last week I have been getting constant calls from a company about ppi reclaims and an insurance company saying I can reclaim on my house insurance which would be clever as I dont have any.

How do they get my number when I havent given it to anyone? At my last house I was on the TPS, must sort it out here too. Its not even people I can swear at, its computers.

Re: Scam

I have just had a cold caller, I always hang up. They are a pain in the back side. Thanks for the warning about the BT scam Bridie.

Re: Scam

My bank recently had to cancel my credit card and issue a new one. They picked up very quickly on an attempt to order large items from a sporting goods company out in the mid-west ( ME? Sporting ??? ); they called me, and the charge was refused. This is a card I use only for on line purchases, so it's never even been out of my wallet. Apparently a hacker had managed to get my information; a big nuisance notifying every place I shop of the new card number. Bah!

Re: Scam

I heard about this 'BT scam' ages ago when I had similar calls myself. I am amazed with all the publicity anyone nowadays is sufficiently naive to be taken in by these people.

I know I am always up to date with all my bills and would tell this kind of caller in no uncertain terms to go to hell