General Chat

Two people I know have lost over £100 each. An unsolicited call, sometimes a recorded message, says you have won a prize holiday and to press 9 for further details. Do not press any button. Hang up quick. If you press 9 you will be locked in to a foreign premium-rate number and it will cost you at least £100, even if you then hang up. At it is from abroad, BT cannot do anything about it.

You still have to report it to BT and the police though Leonard, I had to do this last night, my thread is on page 2 (I think) regarding this. My telephone call was supposedly from Halifax Building Society, automated message saying 'important security alert from the Halifax - please press any key' I had that twice last night and once this morning. I contacted BT immediately and they advised me to report it to the Police, this I did and received an incident number. If you are caught out and lose money, BT will only reimburse you if you've reported it, as above.

Wiltshire Police fell victim to its own inability to spot a scam and, in December 2003, warned the public about the serious consequences of responding to an incoming call which could cost them hundreds of pounds. The alleged scam is meant to involve being called, with a recorded message telling the recipient to "Dial 9" on their telephone for more details, and if they do, they will be automatically connected to a reverse-charging premium rate number which will rapidly add to their telephone bills. Once again, ICSTIS had to step in and say that this was NOT POSSIBLE, and Wiltshire police eventually retracted their warnings about the non-existant scam. (ICSTIS, the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services, is the industry-funded regulatory body for all premium rate charged telecommunications services. ) Bob

Last week I received a recorded message telling me to press 9 for an exotic holiday just after receiving the warning about the scam, and hung up immediately. I have been told that people are contacting BT only to be told its a hoax and that its not possible to be charged so much money. There has to be something in it if people are losing money and perhaps someone should tell the telephone companies to get their act together. Marion

It is not a hoax. The two people I know who got caught for massive telephone bills are people of integrity and would not invent it. Incidently, neither knows the other. Len

Copied from the BBC News website: "Scam warning was false A warning to phone users against falling for a scam which could add £100 to a phone bill, was itself a phoney, it seems. Officers from Wiltshire Police said the con involved land lines and mobile phones and began with a recorded message. The message said: "Congratulations, we are calling to advise you that you have won an all expenses paid trip to [and then a location]. Please press nine now to hear further details." Police believed that if the recipient pressed nine and connected - even if they disconnected immediately - the other end would stay connected for a minimum of five minutes, at a cost of £100. 'Phone bill' But, on Monday, it emerged that the email which generated the original warning of the scam was itself, phoney. A message on the website of ICSTIS, the committee supervising standards of telephone information services, read: "A £20 per minute premium rate tariff does not exist. "The highest premium rate tariff available is £1.50 per minute. Despite the hundreds of enquiries received by ICSTIS about this "scam" - and most have heard about it second or third-hand - not one person has been able to produce a phone bill to support their story. "ICSTIS urges any individual or organisation that receives an e-mail about this scam to delete it immediately. Please do not forward it on to others." " Leonard, if you acquaintances have actually lost money then they need to tell ICSTIS.

As I said on my thread last week on this subject, having received several calls of this nature, I spoke to BT Customer Service who said it was NOT a hoax, and that pressing the 9 would result in my being charged upwards of £7 per second!!! Naturally, I hang up immediately, as do most of you, but what if younger family members don't? Now I don't know what to believe! Dierdre X