THIS IS TRUE, EXACTLY AS THE EMAIL SAYS, IT’S HAPPENED TO SOMEBODY I KNOW – JILL
please send this on or forward
Subject: BT
Phone Scam – please read and make people aware
I
think everyone should read this as it’s such an awful scam, particularly for the
elderly. Please take heed and pass it on!
Forwarded Alert –
Serious Telephone Scam
I received a call from a ‘representative’ of 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 and he said John
Peacock in a very definite foreign accent & phone number –
0800 0800 152.
Obviously the fella realized I wasn’t believing 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 disconnect 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 did 1471 & phoned
his fictitious 0800 number – not recognised.
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 know by word of
mouth 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.
This is good but not that clever. He gave the wrong number – it
should have been 0800 800152 and not 0800 0800152 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 the
elderly and vulnerable. Obviously, if this scam is real, once they have your
credit/debit card details, there is nothing to stop them cleaning out your
account.
Parkview Estate near Victoria Park 