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[Dave-C]

C&P'd from a recent e-mail..

There was an item on the BBC radio about a telephone scam...

 

You get a call on your mobile - it only rings once or twice then cuts off - your mobile will show a missed call - even if you do try to answer immediately you do not get connected to anyone - if you try to ring back, thinking it's a missed call, you only get a ringing tone and no-one answers, the number of the caller will be something like 07016 and you think it's a mobile, infact 070 is what they call "follow me" numbers - it's a number which you can ring and the person can redirect the call to their home, their mobile, their office, or wherever they are - the number in itself should not cost you any extra to ring and there is nothing in itself suspicious about an 070 number.

 

however, the scam is that, if you listen carefully when you try to ring a scam call, it rings once or twice, then there's a gap of silence, followed by more ringing - what they think the scammers are doing is letting the call be answered by an answering machine and instead of you getting a message they play back to you the sound of a telephone ringing so you don't realise it has been answered

 

the authorities are not sure how the scammers are making money out of this, but the reality is that people are being charged for calls they don't realise they are making - because all they've heard is a ringing tone they don't realise they've been connected - when they get their mobile phone bills they are very surprised to see they've been charged

 

so the advice is, if you get a missed call and it's an 070 number, don't ring back unless you're absolutely sure you know the person who's rung you..

Just be careful out there :-/ :-/ :-/

[HolyCount]

My rule is --- if the missed call doesn't show up as a name ( ie someone in my phone's memory) I don't ring back -- if it is important they will call me again.

Generally the only bods who know my mobile number are those I want to speak to anyway ---- people who get it "other" ways, I don't wish to speak to !!!

[Danny]

autotrader's telesafe numbers are 070 I think, but then they're not likely to ring you first!!

[Mr Skrunts]

C&P'd from a recent e-mail..

There was an item on the BBC radio about a telephone scam...

 

You get a call on your mobile - it only rings once or twice then cuts off - your mobile will show a missed call - even if you do try to answer immediately you do not get connected to anyone - if you try to ring back, thinking it's a missed call, you only get a ringing tone and no-one answers, the number of the caller will be something like 07016 and you think it's a mobile, infact 070 is what they call "follow me" numbers - it's a number which you can ring and the person can redirect the call to their home, their mobile, their office, or wherever they are - the number in itself should not cost you any extra to ring and there is nothing in itself suspicious about an 070 number.

 

however, the scam is that, if you listen carefully when you try to ring a scam call, it rings once or twice, then there's a gap of silence, followed by more ringing - what they think the scammers are doing is letting the call be answered by an answering machine and instead of you getting a message they play back to you the sound of a telephone ringing so you don't realise it has been answered

 

the authorities are not sure how the scammers are making money out of this, but the reality is that people are being charged for calls they don't realise they are making - because all they've heard is a ringing tone they don't realise they've been connected - when they get their mobile phone bills they are very surprised to see they've been charged

 

so the advice is, if you get a missed call and it's an 070 number, don't ring back unless you're absolutely sure you know the person who's rung you..

Just be careful out there :-/ :-/ :-/

BBC (3) series "The Real Hustle"  A lot of the scams were shown on there.  Definately worth watching.

[waspy]

Thanx Dave   I'll bear that in mind

[theolodian]

Who in the world returns a missed call from an unknown number?!?  :-?

[zirk]

Follow me numbers are part of Personal Numbers, ie 0700, 07074, 07005 etc, and are not nomally included within your Network Allowance.

You will end up paying 15 to 35p per min on top of your bill to your Network, why, because they have to pay a % of that to The Personal Number People to connect your call wether answered or not.

And the Cherry on the Cake is that most Personal Numbers are owned by the Mobile Network Operators!

[Dave-C]

Who in the world returns a missed call from an unknown number?!?  :-?

Precisely....

I once went into a property to repair a telephone line, the person in there had about 50 (FIFTY) mobile telephones, all plugged into the mains and all online to a service, there was a pre-recorded voice chatting away.... to this day I don't know what was happening in there, he was very coy about just what was going on...  should of reported it, he'd have known it was me!!!

DC

[Jay w]

Who in the world returns a missed call from an unknown number?!?  :-?

Precisely....

I once went into a property to repair a telephone line, the person in there had about 50 (FIFTY) mobile telephones, all plugged into the mains and all online to a service, there was a pre-recorded voice chatting away.... to this day I don't know what was happening in there, he was very coy about just what was going on...  should of reported it, he'd have known it was me!!!

DC

Classic mobile phone fraud.....

Get a load of phones with cloned identity, use them for 'harvesting' by getting them to dial a number that you financially benefit from.

The networks wont bar the phones for a month after the invoice is due, by which time you have racked up a small fortune for very little risk/outlay

The other scam was foreign calls.
Get a load of phones, again by foul means, ensure international call bar is lifted, offer cheap calls to thiose who need it, pocket the cash, don't pay the bill and voila you have a small fortune  

[Richie London]

i had one yesterday, it rang for ages but i left it to go to answerphone, i called it back on payphone nothing there, 02070701995
maybe same thing??

[Plomien]

Phone number 02070701995 is found in the Oftel database.

Exchange: London

Operator: COLT Telecommunications

[Kevin Wood]

Who in the world returns a missed call from an unknown number?!?  :-?

They'd be lucky if I got round to returning the call if they'd left a message let alone just an unidentified CLI.

Kevin