Royal Mail Postal Scam

[PI Guy]

The following email just came through via an investigators e-forum which may be of interest to this forum.

Subject: Fwd: Fw: Royal Mail Postal Scam . SERIOUS

The Trading Standards Office are making people aware of the following scam:

A card is posted through your door from a company called PDS (Parcel
Delivery Service) suggesting that they were unable to deliver a parcel and
that you need to contact them on 0906 6611911 (a premium rate number). DO NOT call this number, as this is a mail scam originating from Belize. If
you call the number and you start to hear a recorded message you will
already have been billed £15 for the phone call. If you do receive a card
with these details, then please contact Royal Mail Fraud on 02072396655 or ICSTIS (the premium rate service regulator) http://www.icstis.org.uk or your local trading standards office.

 

[DuaneJackson]

you call the number and you start to hear a recorded message you will
already have been billed £15 for the phone call.

£15 for a few seconds on the phone? Surely that's technically not possible?

 

[cjd]

It is a scam but I think the price is wrong. As far as I can see 0906 66 is charged at p0 rates which is £1.49 per minute. (Don't know much about 090 numbers - they're barred from our service - too easy to defraud)

p0 - Calls to Premium Rate Services 149.99 pence per minute

http://www.downloads.bt.com/pricing/SpecialisedNos.pdf

 

[Eagle]

£15 for a few seconds on the phone? Surely that's technically not possible?

I've heard it is and - worse still - perfectly legal.

 

[creospace]

It is possible as my parents were caught out by a similar scam a few months ago and it costed them £25 i think. I know they argued it with BT saying they are resposible for allowing such scams on their networks but not sure how far they got. This was one where someone calls you I think and then something happens?

 

[Ozzy]

You can complain to services such as ICSTIS who are responsible for regulating the premium services industry. How much teeth they have I don't know.

...and technically it is possible, but I thought there was a cap of £15 per call on premium rate services.

 

[DuaneJackson]

That's appaling. I can understand a bill of £15 clocking up if you are on the phone for sometime to a premium number, but not just for a few seconds or even a full minute.

 

[cjd]

Chaps - it's not possible to be billed £15 for answering the call. It's a myth - calls to 090666 are charged at £1.49 per minute NOT £14.90.

This IS fraud; it is NOT legal and should be reported to ICSTIS as quickly as you see it - they will immediately disconnect the number and fine the telecom provider.

 

[PI Guy]

Anyway, the info is there in case it happens to you.

 

[Shay]

Did you guys ever see the scam on BBC3(name has left my brain) where a courier guy would come into an office say he was there to collect a package, receptionist would not know anything about it and then he would try his radio but could get no frequency so would ask to use the phone and in doing so would dial a premium number whilst pretending to talk shop with a fake operator whilst the meter was running. Three of them done it and in the space of about 15-20 minutes had earned £100+ without the receptionist having a clue.

 

[Tail-Swishing]

Yep I remember it - was it not on Rogue Traders,

 

[Shay]

No, this programme was on BBC3 and had two guys and a girl with all sorts of scams and ways to trick money out of people and it was scarily easy!

 

[DuaneJackson]

"The Real Hustle" - scarily easy some of their scams!

 

[fierywebservices]

sounds like something the real hustle would do but at least with them all people scammed get whatever they lost back and we the public get more informed on what goes on and how to protect better against scam artists in the real world

 

[GraemeL]

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