The Latest Telephone Scam

The latest scam that I felt I should bring to everyone’s attention is very simple yet very effective it scamming individuals and businesses out of there much needed cash flows in these harsh times.

This was brought to my attention by a relative that is currently doing the rounds across the UK. Here is how the scam works.

Someone claiming to be calling as a ‘representative’ of BT will call and claim that you are going to be disconnected because of an unpaid bill. The person will demand payment immediately or threaten you with disconnection with a hefty reconnection fee if you say you want to reconnect at a later date.

If you are running a business, the prospect of having no telephone contact is huge, no customers can call you and you can’t contact customer’s suppliers. Your business is under threat.

Luckily the person who they were trying to scam wasn’t with BT so they weren’t fooled by this guy trying to de-fraud her. Additionally she was suspicious of a very English name being used with someone with an African accent.

This guy realised that the person he was trying to scam didn’t believe him so he said he will prove it. He will then ask you to hang up and try and call someone. When the recipient tries this they won’t be able to get a dialling tone, they won’t be able to call out. This would be very powerful proof to many.

The person will then call you back and ask if this was proof even for you and then demand that you provide you debit or credit card details there and then or you will be cut off.

Clearly if it was BT you can ask them for a phone number to call back and check and there will be no problem. If you find yourself targeted by these fraudsters then complain to the police immediately and let your friends and family know about this scam before they fall victim to it.

The fraud scheme works because the victim is under the illusion that the person can cut off there phone line. The way they do is by simply staying on the phone line when you hang up and try to redial. They initiated the call and therefore they have to end it for the call to terminate, so they simple mute their phone which is why you will be unable to call out. It can be very convincing.

Sadly it will fool the vulnerable and elderly, do your bit by telling friends, family and colleagues. Hopefully the scam artists won’t be targeting them next to rip-off them. Protect your business from these types of scams by attending the next marcus evans conference being held in your region.