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PLEASE PASS ON TO YOUR FRIENDS & FAMILY. The new telephone 'scam' has arrived in Medway.I received a call from a 'representative' of BT, informing me that he was dis-connecting 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 - the very 'English' John Peacock with a very 'African' accent - & phone number - 0800 0800 152.Obviously the fella realized I wasn't believing 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 dis-connect 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.Did 1471 & phoned his fictitious 0800 number - not recognised.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 know by word of mouth of this scam. The fact that the phone does go off would probably convince some people it's real, so please let as many friends & family aware of this.
Hi AllPlease be aware of the following:Fraudsters, pretending to be from various phone companies, have been calling people on the pretence that there is an outstanding bill and threatening to disconnect their line immediately if they do not pay the bill straight away.The fraudsters have been pretending to "cut off" the customer. Worried about having their line cut off, some people have been persuaded into giving the fraudsters their bank account details.The police are investigating and BT Security is looking into incidents where the fraudsters have claimed to be from BT.Whilst BT does have debt handling procedures which may involve calling customers, BT never carries out disconnections during the call by way of proof.We advise customers never to give out any banking details over the phone unless they are absolutely certain who they are dealing with.If there is any doubt at all, a BT employee will be able to give the customer their employee ID number and an 0800 number to call, where the customer can check that they are who they say they are. The customer can also check their identity by calling 0800 800 150.ThxKerry
