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  1. #1
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    Bad News Mobile phone scam

    Auto forwarded by a Rule

    There is a new mobile phone scam operating, and sadly it is legal (for now).
    If you notice a missed call on your phone with the following number : - 0709
    020 3840
    DO NOT CALL THE NUMBER BACK as you will be charged £50.00 per minute.
    The last four digits may vary, but the 0709 will always be the same.

    How real this is - god only knows.
    Have Fun.





    U.N.C.L.E. X

    More UNCLEX than last week but less next :woot:

  2. #2
    DF VIP Member Spennyboy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mobile phone scam

    Quote Originally Posted by unclex
    Auto forwarded by a Rule

    There is a new mobile phone scam operating, and sadly it is legal (for now).
    If you notice a missed call on your phone with the following number : - 0709
    020 3840
    DO NOT CALL THE NUMBER BACK as you will be charged £50.00 per minute.
    The last four digits may vary, but the 0709 will always be the same.

    How real this is - god only knows.
    omg... that number is so common as well.

    i mean if u saw that on ur fone u would never susspect it to be anything more than a missed call. :coffee:

    thanx m8!

    i dont call people back anyway.... if its that important they will ring again

    any ideas on what happens if u answer the call before it becomes a missed call?

  3. #3
    DF VIP Member Crags's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mobile phone scam

    More than likely it's one of them that wont actually ring - if you happened to be looking at your fone at the time, it'll simply disconnect as soon as a connection is made - your fone would light up and that's it - more chance of you ringing back if you just happen to pick up yer fone sometime and see the missed call.

    People who scam money like this are just a bunch of c**ts! In fact anyone who scams money - and works in a Rover garage near me - is a cu*t! lol long story...

  4. #4
    DF VIP Member jackdaniels's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mobile phone scam

    Quote Originally Posted by unclex
    Auto forwarded by a Rule

    There is a new mobile phone scam operating, and sadly it is legal (for now).
    If you notice a missed call on your phone with the following number : - 0709
    020 3840
    DO NOT CALL THE NUMBER BACK as you will be charged £50.00 per minute.
    The last four digits may vary, but the 0709 will always be the same.

    How real this is - god only knows.

    Yeah i read about this ages ago on some mobile forum. Basically this is a hoax because the highest amount that can be charged to you per minute is £1.50. This was found out from oftel or something similar. Also in the hoax was this crap about if you didnt phone back but text the person you would be charged £20. as if!!!!

  5. #5
    DF VIP Member Fingolfin's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mobile phone scam

    There is actually a website (YAC ) that offers you " a number for life" - I actually have one of these numbers - their prefix is 07092... They get their funding from corporates and people who actually ring the number.. it is a small markup on the call charge but not to the extent mentioned above.

    The beauty of this system tho is that you never actually have to give anyone ANY of your real numbers... just give them your YAC number and you get it diverted to the number(s) you set in your profile.

    Voicemails left on your YAC number get sent to you as a wav file via email... you can also receive faxes on this number which will be forwarded to you as a tif attachment...

    BTW - I am in no way affiliated to YAC - just thought it may be of interest to members here.

    Same phone number for the rest of your life wherever you move house to or whatever and no-one need know your real number, can recieve faxes on same number... when I signed up it was completely free - but it looks like they may have introduced a yearly subscription fee :nowords:

    [edit] Ah - just found they do still offer the free service.... http://web2.yac.com/jsp/yacNumberFreeVsSubscription.jsp
    Last edited by Fingolfin; 8th December 2004 at 01:19 PM.

  6. #6
    DF VIP Member
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    Default Re: Mobile phone scam

    You are right there is no £50 per min calls
    Have Fun.





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    More UNCLEX than last week but less next :woot:

  7. #7
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    Mule's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mobile phone scam

    http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/scams/mobile.asp

    Claim: In Britain, mobile phone owners are being tricked into calling numbers that charge them £50 a minute.

    <NOINDEX>Status: Multiple — see below:


    • Mobile phone users are being lured into placing calls for which they will be charged £50 a minute: False.
    • Similar schemes that rack up tolls at much lower rates are afoot: True.
    </NOINDEX>Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2004]

    <TABLE width="90%" align=center bgColor=#000000 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD bgColor=#f8f8f8>


    There is a new kind of mobile phone scam. A missed call will show on your mobile phone. The number is 0709 020 3840! The last four numbers may vary, but the first four numbers will remain the same! If you call this number back, you will be charged £50.00 per minute. People have complained about their phone bills, once they have realised the cost of the call, but apparently this is completely legal. So beware, do not call back numbers beginning with 0709.


    </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>



    Origins: We encountered this caution against returning calls to numbers in the 0709 prefix in February 2004. Akin to its widespread and long-lived American counterpart, the 809 area code warning, this <NOBR>advisory</NOBR> about the 0709 prefix asserts phone users are being duped into calling numbers that will result in their being charged exorbitant sums.

    Some of the e-mailed alerts begin in this fashion:


    All this is TRUE one of my friends looks after the <NOBR>BT Vodafone</NOBR> contract and has checked this out with Vodafone.!! Its not a HOAX beware and pass it on.

    Helpful disclaimer that "Its not a HOAX beware and pass it on" to the contrary, there can't be anything to this. According to the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services (ICSTIS):



    Over the last few days ICSTIS has received hundreds of enquiries about the above 'scam', which is being widely publicised by <NOBR>e-mail.</NOBR> To help us put an end to the current spate of enquiries, please pass this information on to all contacts.


    The apparent 'deception' takes place when people receive a recorded message informing them that they have won an all-expenses paid holiday and are asked to <NOBR>press 9</NOBR> to hear further details. It is then claimed that callers are connected to a £20.00 per minute premium rate line that will still charge them for a minimum of five minutes even if they disconnect immediately. It is also claimed that, if callers stay connected, the entire message lasts for approximately <NOBR>11 minutes,</NOBR> costing £220.00. Please note this is not true.

    A £20.00 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 who claims that it has actually happened to them has been able to produce a phone bill to support their story.

    ICSTIS urges any individual or organisation that receives an <NOBR>e-mail</NOBR> about this scam to delete it immediately. Please do not forward it on to others.
    Although the ICSTIS page speaks to a con similar to but yet not quite the same as the one described in the 0709 caution, its point about the premium rate tariff being capped at £1.50 a minute holds true here as well — users cannot be charged the £50 a minute the <NOBR>e-mail</NOBR> would have them believe.


    However, while there are no £50-a-minute scams out there to worry about, frauds that operate along the same line (but at far lower rates) do exist and do take in the unwary. The problem of mobile phone users receiving "missed call" notifications soliciting them to dial numbers for which they will be charged at rates higher than they might otherwise expect is on the rise. Those so duped get drawn into returning calls that promise they've won prizes and thence into staying on the line in pursuit of same while the meter runs.

    Similar scams have been running in Japan at least since 2002. Known as "wangiri," this form of illegal <NOBR>come-on</NOBR> is often perpetrated by pornographic telephone services that dial victims at random by using special electronic devices that allow them to call thousands of numbers in the span of a few minutes. Such calls ring only once before disconnecting, which is just long enough to leave intriguing unknown "missed call" messages on cell phone users' displays. Those prompted by curiousity into returning such calls find themselves connecting to taped sexual messages or information on other types of adult entertainment, with those who choose to remain on the line charged high per-minute rates for the duration of the calls.

    The term "wangiri" derives from combining the English word "one," pronounced "wan," and the Japanese word "kiru," meaning "to cut off" and refers to the practice of ringing once then hanging up. Wangiri operators have repeatedly paralyzed broad areas of Japan's telephone networks, in 2002 prompting the government of that country to enact laws against the practice. Those laws carry penalties of up to one year in prison or fines as high as <NOBR>1 million</NOBR> yen.

    In February 2004 the ICSTIS had two firms which were using the scheme shut down. ICSTIS external affairs manager Richard Sullivan said the practice was "clearly in breach" of its code. His advice to mobile users: "If you get an unsolicited number on your phone our recommendation is not to call it. Most of the premium rate services are absolutely fine but there are a very small proportion of people damaging the industry."

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