New scam - BEWARE!

The following was originally found on Facebook, but the warning has been spreading throughout many forums:-

I received a phone call from BT, informing me that he was disconnecting me because of an unpaid bill.. He demanded payment immediately of £31.00 or it would be £ 118.00 to re-connect at a later date. The guy wasn't even fazed when I told him I was with Virgin Media, allegedly VM have to pay BT a percentage for line rental! I asked the guy's name - he gave me the very 'English' John Peacock with a very 'African' accent - & phone number - 0800 0800 152. Obviously the bloke realised I didn't believe his story, so offered to demonstrate that he was from BT. I asked how & he told me to hang up & try phoning someone - he would disconnect my phone to prevent this. AND HE DID !! My phone was dead - no engaged tone, nothing - until he phoned me again. Very pleased with himself, he asked if that was enough proof that he was with BT. I asked how the payment was to be made & he said credit card, there & then. I said that I didn't know how he'd done it, but I had absolutely no intention of paying him, I didn't believe his name or that he worked for BT. He hung up. I dialed 1471 - number withheld I phoned his fictitious 0800 number - not recognised.

So I phoned the police to let them know. I wasn't the first! It's only just started apparently, but it is escalating. Their advice was to let as many people as possible know of this scam. The fact that the phone does go off would probably convince some people it's real, so please make as many friends & family aware of this.

How is it done? This is good but not that clever. He gave the wrong number - it should have been 0800 800 152 which takes you through to BT Business. The cutting off of the line is very simple, he stays on the line with the mute button on and you can't dial out - but he can hear you trying (this is because the person who initiates a call is the one to terminate it). When you stop trying he cuts off and immediately calls back. You could almost be convinced! The sad thing is that it is so simple that it will certainly fool many.

By the way this is not about getting the cash as this would not get past merchant services - it is all about getting the credit card details which include the security number, to be used for larger purchases at a later date.

This quite an old scam, a friend of mine who runs a multi million pound company got caught out on this a few years ago.
This was a big surprise to me I thought he would be the last person to get caught like this but he said he'd had a crap day at work his wife answered the phone and passed it to him in a panic oh there going to cut off the Broadband etc and he just went along with it.

His card was cloned and the trickster was caught trying to buy electrical equipment in a department store, it only came to light in time to catch the culprits when he emailed customer complaints and moaned about the way he'd been treated saying when his contract was up he was going to switch to another supplier.

So annoying.

Regarding the 'line still alive if the caller doesn't hang up' scenario, this has been the case for donkey's years. Back in the early 70's I did some cabbing in South London, and even then I remember that unscrupulous cab firms in your area would use the following method to stitch you up.

They would call my cab firm's number from an out of the way, rarely used phone box, place two match boxes under the receiver so it never disconnected and stick £2 or £3 worth of coins in and drive away ... result of which would be that phone line to the office was dead for hours, usually at the most important times like pub kicking out time. If you only had one line coming into that office you were screwed, as to the punters, it was permanently engaged - so missed out as your rivals would get the fare.

Been doing some research and it seems exactly the same principle applies today. Apparently it often happens in GP's surgeries when an old person rings up to arrange an appointment and then forgets to replace the receiver. This is why they brought in the siren sound to alert you if your phone is off the hook.

You live and learn!