Discussion
Below are details of a scam currently going the rounds. The police have requested that as many people are alerted as possible. Unfortunately it is a genuine scam.
Police Report.
The reason this is working so well is it plays on your good will!
Picture the scene:-
You are sitting at home and there is a knock at the door. On answering it you are confronted by a respectable looking woman in a suit, who is lightly distressed. She explains that her car has broken down further down the road and she needs to contact her husband to come to her aid. Is it at all possible to use your phone to call him?
You allow her to use the phone, but being the suspicious type you stand with her as she makes the call. She dials the number, and asks to be put through to Mr Smith / Brown / Stevens (Whatever). She holds the line for about thirty seconds. She continues, "In that case can you ask him to leave the meeting for a minute I need to speak to him quite urgently." She apologies again and explains they are getting him out of a meeting.
A couple of minutes goes by and she starts to speak to her husband. She explains the situation to him, tells him what has happened to the car, is annoyed because she now can't get to her meeting, and asks what she should do now. She listens for a few seconds and then says, "Well as soon as the meeting finishes can you come to Cardiff Road / Leicester Road / Surrey Street (Whatever), where the car has broken down. Another few seconds go by, "OK, I'll see you in about twenty minutes then."
She put the phone down, and thanks you ever so much for your kind assistance, even offering you a pound for your trouble, but of course you decline, it's no trouble.
She leaves and everything is fine.
Or is it?
The day or week before knocking on your door she set up her own premium rate line with a telephone company at the cost of about £150, and she has dictated that calls to that number should be charged at £50 per minute.
She has dialled that number. The conversation she has had with her "husband" is entirely fictitious, there is a pre-recorded voice message on the other end to give you the impression she is talking to someone. She has been on the phone for about five minutes, that call just cost you £250, the majority of which goes into her pocket, and the first you know about it is when you get your bill a month later.
To rub a bit of salt into the wound, she hasn't even committed a criminal offence. You've given her permission to use your phone. 5 occasions in Luton where this has been reported in the last couple of weeks.
Would anyone reading this please pass it on to friends and colleagues etc. Otherwise it could cost someone a lot of money.
PC Paul Toseland
Corby Business Anti-Crime Network Administrator
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Too much spam in your inbox? Yahoo! Mail gives you the best spam protection for FREE! Get Yahoo! Mail
Police Report.
The reason this is working so well is it plays on your good will!
Picture the scene:-
You are sitting at home and there is a knock at the door. On answering it you are confronted by a respectable looking woman in a suit, who is lightly distressed. She explains that her car has broken down further down the road and she needs to contact her husband to come to her aid. Is it at all possible to use your phone to call him?
You allow her to use the phone, but being the suspicious type you stand with her as she makes the call. She dials the number, and asks to be put through to Mr Smith / Brown / Stevens (Whatever). She holds the line for about thirty seconds. She continues, "In that case can you ask him to leave the meeting for a minute I need to speak to him quite urgently." She apologies again and explains they are getting him out of a meeting.
A couple of minutes goes by and she starts to speak to her husband. She explains the situation to him, tells him what has happened to the car, is annoyed because she now can't get to her meeting, and asks what she should do now. She listens for a few seconds and then says, "Well as soon as the meeting finishes can you come to Cardiff Road / Leicester Road / Surrey Street (Whatever), where the car has broken down. Another few seconds go by, "OK, I'll see you in about twenty minutes then."
She put the phone down, and thanks you ever so much for your kind assistance, even offering you a pound for your trouble, but of course you decline, it's no trouble.
She leaves and everything is fine.
Or is it?
The day or week before knocking on your door she set up her own premium rate line with a telephone company at the cost of about £150, and she has dictated that calls to that number should be charged at £50 per minute.
She has dialled that number. The conversation she has had with her "husband" is entirely fictitious, there is a pre-recorded voice message on the other end to give you the impression she is talking to someone. She has been on the phone for about five minutes, that call just cost you £250, the majority of which goes into her pocket, and the first you know about it is when you get your bill a month later.
To rub a bit of salt into the wound, she hasn't even committed a criminal offence. You've given her permission to use your phone. 5 occasions in Luton where this has been reported in the last couple of weeks.
Would anyone reading this please pass it on to friends and colleagues etc. Otherwise it could cost someone a lot of money.
PC Paul Toseland
Corby Business Anti-Crime Network Administrator
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Too much spam in your inbox? Yahoo! Mail gives you the best spam protection for FREE! Get Yahoo! Mail
Published Friday 9th August 2002 13:57 GMT 
www.theregister.co.uk/2002/08/09/pc_plod_fills_email_inboxes/
www.theregister.co.uk/2002/08/09/pc_plod_fills_email_inboxes/
Also shown up as false on here - www.snopes.com/inboxer/scams/phone.htm
URBAN MYTH!!!!! I work in the Premium Rate industry and let me tell you if a UK or Overseas number existed that charged £50 per minute I would not be talking to the likes of you lot!! I would be on my £200 million boat in the Med!!
UK = £1.50 per minute or per call max (although higher tariffs are being talked about (max £5))
Overseas = never seen anything more than around £3.00 and that's to remote Islands in South America!!!
UK = £1.50 per minute or per call max (although higher tariffs are being talked about (max £5))
Overseas = never seen anything more than around £3.00 and that's to remote Islands in South America!!!
Gassing Station | The Pie & Piston Archive | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff