New Telephone Scam

Just heard of this one.

You get a call from "BT" telling you that you have a bill outstanding and if you don't pay immediately your line will be disconnected. If not paid immediately the cost of reconnection will be in the hundreds.

If you sound doubtful the caller will tell you that to prove they can disconnect you they will disconnect immediately. They invite you to hang up and try dialling out. You will find you can't - no dial tone.

They then call you back and try and get you to pay having scared you.

DO NOT GIVE ANY CARD OR PAYMENT DETAILS

Hang up, wait a while and you will find your dial tone is back.

The reason this works is that the caller is the only person who can end a call. So all they are doing when you hang up and try dialling out is sitting with their 'phone on mute - they can hear you - you hear nothing.

Never part with card details or any personal information when someone calls you.

 

I bet a lot of people fall for it too.

I've had calls where the caller hasn't hung up and they've rendered my phone useless for about an hour. They didn't ask for money though, but the thing is, what if in that time something happened and we needed to phone the emergency services? For younger folk they will probably have a mobile so not care too much, but a lot of old people, the very people whose phone is their lifeline, they won't have mobiles.

And yes, I would reiterate, never give ANY personal or bank details to a caller if you don't know with certainty who they are.

 

I've been known to do the very same thing to telephone sales people who insist on calling every evening in the middle of my serving up dinner.......just leave the phone down without hanging up. If they've been asked not to call back, and they do.....that's exactly what they get Either that, or they can provide me with their home phone number, dinner time/kids bed time, and I'll call them back then