Would be Luton wouldn't it

[Edited by ice man - 10/4/2002 10:24:39 AM]

For Your Information........If it's true.....


Below are details of a scam currently going the rounds in the UK. Our Security Centre have checked the authenticity of this and police have requested that as many people are alerted as possible.

Mellonie Police Report !

The reason this scam is working so well is it plays on your good will!


Picture the scene:-


You are sitting at home and there is a knock at the door. On answering it you are confronted by a respectable looking woman in a suit, who is slightly distressed. She explains that her car has broken down further down the road and she needs to contact her husband to come to her aid. Is it at all possible to use your phone to call him?

You allow her to use the phone, but being the suspicious type you stand with her as she makes the call. She dials the number, and asks to be put through to Mr Smith / Brown / Stevens (Whatever).

She holds the line for about thirty seconds. She continues, "In that case can you ask him to leave the meeting for a minute I need to speak to him quite urgently." She apologises again and explains they are getting him out of a meeting.


A couple of minutes goes by and she starts to speak to her husband. She explains the situation to him, tells him what has happened to the car,is annoyed because she now can't get to her meeting, and asks what she should do now. She listens for a few seconds and then says, "Well as soon as the meeting finishes can you come to Cardiff Road / Leicester Road / Surrey Street (Whatever), where the car has broken down.


Another few seconds go by,"OK, I'll see you in about twenty minutes then." She puts the phone down, and thanks you ever so much for your kind assistance, even offering you a pound for your trouble, but of course you decline, it's no trouble.

She leaves and everything is fine. Or is it?

The day or week before knocking on your door she set up her own premium rate line with a telephone company at the cost of about £150, and she has dictated that calls to that number should be charged at £50 per minute. She has dialled that number. The conversation she has had with her "husband" is entirely fictitious, there is a pre-recorded voice message on
the other end to give you the impression she is talking to someone. She has been on the phone for about five minutes, that call just cost you £250, the majority of which goes into her pocket, and the first you know about it is when you get your bill a month later. To rub a bit of salt into the wound,she hasn't even committed a criminal offence. You've given her permission to use your phone.

Five occasions in Luton where this has been reported in the last couple of
weeks.

If I had £150 for everytime I heard this... :rolleyes:

Oh, and the maximum premium rate number you can set up is £1.50 per minute.

So....................let me get this straight? It's not an offence?
And in that case I have 2 questions:
1 Why are the police bothered?
2 How do I go about setting up one of these lines?????:D:
Alcazar

Please, not again.

Your security people should check their references. Googling for practially any quoted phrase in this reveals the following:

http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/hoax...nsivecall.html

Northamptonshire police were forced to publish a retraction, too.

Finally, here's what the regulator says

Chiark is correct, read about this in the local rag, Person who circulated this look pretty daft!

Iceman

Quote from Jool's first post
Five occasions in Luton where this has been reported in the last couple of weeks.

Damn you are good, do you work for the Police:rolleyes:

Like I said; if it's true..... I work in Copenhagen and this was a 'daft' e-mail I received from home.

I work for an Oil & Gas company, not BT, PTT or Tele DK, so what can I say guys;

Wish I were as wise as some of my fellow scoobynetters. I will endeavour to try harder!

Jools

Anyone want to see a picture of a scoob in an icy lake? :D ;) :p

FFS, not again!!

when this was on here before, before, before..i told our IT security bloke as he was emailing everyone that it was true....he came back and told me he had checked it with the police himself and that i shouldnt get involved in IT security!!!! ****!

Oh dear, shows how guilable I've been.

Yesterday, some old bloke came up to me while I was cleaning my car on the drive. Said he was in a spot of bother and did I know where the nearest phone box was. Immediately, my thoughts turned to this story and instead of offering him to use my phone (which, under normal circumstances I would have done) I directed him to the nearest phone box, about 5 minutes walk away (more like 10 mins at his pace).

Do I feel bad or what.