Shelagh ([info]ingaborg) wrote,
@ 2009-06-17 13:04:00
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Lack of curiousity can be costly
Dearie me, apparently lots of people are being scammed into giving out credit card details. Somebody phones you up and says they are from BT and have cut your line off because your direct debit has been cancelled. They then "prove" they are from BT by telling you to put your phone down and observe that you then cannot make a call - clearly your line HAS been cut off.

a) it's a very long time since I learned that if somebody calls you, they can tie up your line if they forget to hang up. This is really basic telephone usage stuff.

b) since when did BT (or any other service provider) cut off a service without written warning?

c) apparently if you do give them your card details, they then say it's been refused and can you give them a different one...so they can keep on getting more card details out of somebody who doesn't smell a rat.

Sigh. What part of "don't give your credit card details to somebody who phones you up" has escaped them?

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[info]uk_sef
2009-06-17 12:23 pm UTC (link)
As usual they're preying on the stupid. It's effectively a bottomless resource pool (unlike other markets, which can be extremely limited) because the vast majority of humans are really quite stupid and they do keep breeding more of them.

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[info]ingaborg
2009-06-17 12:26 pm UTC (link)
Indeed. But just as I don't want to be beaten up or raped because I am physically weak, I think the law should try to prevent people being abused because they are stupid or ignorant. However I was absolutely boggled at the quite intelligent-sounding woman on the radio who handed out her credit card details on this basis. OK, she did smell a rat when they asked for a second set, put the phone down and called her bank, so she only lost about £30. But still - I mean, what a lame line! This scam must have been around for decades!

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[info]uk_sef
2009-06-17 12:43 pm UTC (link)
I think the law should try to prevent people being abused because they are stupid or ignorant.
So do I but unfortunately many of the stupid and/or evil are in charge of making the law. So you get stuff like homeopathy being allowed - another bunch who've long been allowed to prey on the stupid and ignorant (including royalty!) - and scams such as religion being not merely condoned but given unfair tax advantages too.

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[info]ingaborg
2009-06-17 12:49 pm UTC (link)
Snigger! I was about to reply "amen!" but then realised that it could be quite an inappropriate remark!!!

I read or heard a homeopath saying "no, we stopped doing double blind trials because they didn't work".

'nuff said, I think.

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[info]uk_sef
2009-06-17 02:33 pm UTC (link)
Another, more pertinent, example of a stupid/evil law (which I spotted straightaway at the time and not in retrospect or with hindsight) is making it possible to withhold one's calling telephone number from going through at the exchanges. Without that, whole bunches of scammers, stalkers, other criminal types and even computerised harassment (ie misconfigured auto-diallers at businesses) would be caught and stopped much more easily. When mobile phones became more available it should have been made necessary to provide (recorded) proof of identity on purchasing one, so that use of those was ultimately accountable (on police investigation) too.

Then again, I want basic life-skills (such as the law of the land, when and when not to call emergency services etc all the way down to phone usage - much more than computer usage) taught in primary schools. People will always be stupid but they needn't all be quite so ignorant of stuff which would mitigate their personal stupidity.

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[info]uk_sef
2009-06-17 12:29 pm UTC (link)
PS Where did you come across this? I hadn't seen anything in recent news via Google. However, an actual search (for BT phone scam) did turn up something similar from December 2006 ... and something quite different where BT themselves are the fraudsters!

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[info]uk_sef
2009-06-17 12:31 pm UTC (link)
PPS I see from you replying while I was constructing this post that the source of info was the radio.

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[info]freyja_bloodaxe
2009-06-17 10:21 pm UTC (link)
BT are devious bastards. They wrote to me twice to say that they needed to increase the amount of my monthly direct debit to £80 in order to ensure that I didn't end up in arrears. Our quarterly bill is about £40. They obviouly expected me to blithely agree and were most confused when I pointed out their mathematical fail. They must be raking in the interest if the majority of customers fall for this one. Or at least they probably were until recently.

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[info]uk_sef
2009-06-17 11:29 pm UTC (link)
I think they're not the only company to have indulged in that particular DD scam. I've heard of it a few times (from other people) over the decades. I'm one of those who generally avoided permitting any DDs in the first place - because I already knew such people couldn't be trusted.

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[info]veronica_milvus
2009-06-17 05:02 pm UTC (link)
At one stage my bank called me because they wanted to discuss whether I still had all my cards - one of them might have been cloned.

They identified themselves with the name of the correct bank, and asked me to give them my password and account number details (so they could check they were talking to me and not my flatmate, cleaner, babysitter, whatever). To which I replied "Are you mad - you could be anyone, shouldn't I be asking YOU for a password?"

And yet, it really was them. I called them back on the regular number to check. But did they really expect me to NOT think they were a scam?

"head desk" as they say.

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[info]uk_sef
2009-06-17 05:24 pm UTC (link)
I've had a real bank member of staff do that to me too. I refused to supply the details, pointed out to them why that was and, I think, demanded to speak to their supervisor. I don't remember the outcome because it was quite a long time ago and it didn't involve me actually losing any money (nor gaining any in compensation!).

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[info]freyja_bloodaxe
2009-06-17 10:16 pm UTC (link)
Yep, I've done this to the bank as well. They generally give specifics (usually, "are you currently in the lobby of Hotel Cheap in Random European City, trying to pay them x currency units?") but if they don't I ask them to tell me my branch's sort code - which they have always happily have.

I actually think the aforementioned scam is quite clever (and obviously heinous, despicable etc). I wouldn't imagine that the majority people know you can't put the phone down on an incoming call, or would remember the fact offhand. Though I guess this might be changing due to the frequency with which one gets phoned by a random friend's bottom, they having sat on their mobile...

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[info]uk_sef
2009-06-17 11:25 pm UTC (link)
It was standard knowledge some decades ago - along with various other land-line tricks/bugs/features. I think it's probably one of those "the younger generation don't know they're born" sort of things.

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