Tell your friends is the title, but if any moderator thinks this post should be elsewhere, feel free to move it.
I've just received a very lengthy and details email from a very well placed business person, the last person to fall for a scam. But, she nearly did. I am fairly sure I would have fallen for it. The local police are aware of it, they say to tell everyone you know to be aware. I have drastically reduced the contents of this e mail because it is far to long for a forum.
Your phone rings. B T here, you owe us £300 and we need at least £30 now by bank card or we are going to cut you off.
In the case I am writing about, the lady said "I'm not even with B T, I'm with virgin phone (or similar).
The caller was'ent put off, his reply - yes, virgin have to pay us a commission, and if I don't have £30 now I'm going to cut you off.
Lady. How do I know you are telling the truth. Apparently the caller called himself Tom brown (or similar) but had a strong African accent.
Man. I'll prove to you I'm BT. I'll cut you off now, just try and make a call to a friend, and I'll phone you back in five minutes.
Lady. O K
Her phone immediately goes dead, she try's to dial, nothing, no dialling tone, nothing. So after five mins the phone rings.
Man. Now do you believe me. And here is our department phone number and he gives a number something like 0087 0085 2345
To cheer you up the lady said get stuffed or something, but I think he would have done enough for me to give him card details for £30
So how is it done. Dead easy. The caller presses the mute button at his end, he can then hear you trying to call a friend, after a minute or two he puts his phone down and then recalls you. The phone number he gave is indeed some unpaid bill dept at B T but with just one of the noughts in a different place. The reply to the given number is "no such number.". Dialling those magic numbers that tell you who has been calling you results in"number withheld."
Be warned. And don't forget, the £30 wouldn't have gone through, the merchant services I think they are called would have stopped the payment. But the caller probably wouldn't even try. He had a much bigger fish. Your card details including the three numbers on the back----for an extended shopping trip at your expense