Phone scams: An update

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Wednesday, 06 October 2010 04:17

A number of fraudsters are calling individuals and claiming to be from BT or other popular telephone providers.

Business broadband and telecoms provider, XLN Telecom, provides an update on telephone scams doing the rounds at the moment.

Founder and CEO, Christian Nellemann advises SME owners to beware:

1. Don’t credit it

A number of credit card customers have received calls from individuals claiming to be popular providers such as Visa and MasterCard. The caller then requests that the customer confirms personal details relating to their card (including the security code) allowing the fraudster to take the information and use it to make purchases.

No genuine credit card provider would need to request that these details be confirmed.

2. Cut off point

A number of fraudsters are calling individuals and claiming to be from BT or other popular telephone providers, and procuring either credit or debit card details under threat of disconnection.

3. You've won!

A common scam occurs where an individual is called by an automated service to inform them that they've won a ‘free holiday’ or a cash prize. In order to claim this prize, the individual is requested to press a button on the handset, at which point they are transferred to a premium-rate line at their expense.

4. We missed you!

Be wary of missed calls that begin 0709 – there is a scam in operation whereby upon calling back the missed number, callers are re-routed to a premium-rate line and charged the total cost.

5. A lending hand?

Another scam occurs where individuals with low credit ratings are called by fraudsters claiming to be able to offer them large unsecured loans – by persuading these vulnerable individuals of the benefits of taking out the ‘loan’ they are able to obtain the personal details needed clear out their accounts.

Tags: telephone scams phone scams scams credit card

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