Phone Scam (in UK)

[Guest zeta101]

"Dear All

Please be aware of the following telephone scam relating to home and/or

work phones (including mobiles). The scenario is:-

Your phone rings and you receive a recorded message (or it can also be

a real person!)

"Congratulations. We are calling to advise you that you have won an all

expenses paid trip to . Please press 9 now tohear

further details."

If you press 9, you'll be connected to a premium line that bills in

theregion of £20 per minute.

If you press 9 and connect, even if you disconnect immediately, the end

will stay connected for a minimum of 5 minutes - at a cost to you of£100 -

the message lasts for 11 minutes.

The final part of the call asks you to key in your postcode and

house number (which has other serious considerations) and then, after a

waitof a further two minutes, responds with the message;

"Sorry, you are not one of the lucky winners." and disconnects, adding

a further £260 to your bill!

Unfortunately the calls are originating from outside the U.K. and

as such BT and other providers are relatively powerless to act.

The only safe solution is to hang up before the message prompts you

to press 9."

I had one of these recorded call to my home telephone last week, luckily I hung up right away...

[Guest James]

holy sh*t!

thanks for the advice

Posted from my SmartPhone!

[Guest Stuart P]

It's another hoax - check out the following articles on the register:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/34349.html

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/34389.html

Stu.

[Guest zeta101]

What i find interesting is that the calls themselves are NOT a hoax, since ive recieved an exact one (recording saying you won, and hanging up does not disconnect until thier message is apparently finished...dont know if you had to press 9 at the end though)

Anyway, its obviously dodgy, so i i wonder how the people make money from it, hmm