Phone Scams

The Guardian has a story about a recent prosecution by ICSTIS, the premium rate regulator. A Bristol based company was fined £300,000 for promoting a bogus prize draw scam. In reality what the scammers do is encourage people to dial a premium rate number (in the UK these have 090 prefixes). They then run up a telephone bill on average of up to £20. Worse are those lottery scams where the tricksters demand money up front to release the “winnings” leaving the victim thousands of pounds out of pocket.

In the UK we have a system of opt-out that allows us to register with the Telephone Preference Service. By registering with TPS, the number is put onto a do not call list that companies are legally obliged to observe. Failure to do so can result in legal action and a fine. Certainly since registering our number, I’ve noticed a dramatic decline in the number of unsolicited calls.

Unfortunately, scammers are engaging in illegal activity to start with, so are not too perturbed by a legally enforceable do not call list. The best defence therefore, is awareness.

A neat marketing trick that came our way the other day was from a company called Telewest – a cable and telephone service provider. The card that came through the door was apparently a follow up to an attempt to call round the previous day. My wife is skeptical that they called at all. I believe that it is entirely possible that they did as this company is a serial door knocker and as neither of us was in, it seemed plausible enough. Either way, the card claimed that they had called the previous day to change our internet connection to their broadband service even though this had not been requested. Despite this, the card stated that they were certain that the competitive nature of the product would have been sufficient for us to allow them to have carried out the work on the spot. Doorstep selling irritates me at the best of times. Junk mail, too – but this little tactic, gimmick though it doubtless is, is a supreme piece of arrogance that ensures I will never, under any circumstances, ever, ever, ever, use Telewest’s products or services.